Chapter 24
Samuel’s POV
I didn’t see it coming–her words hit harder than any blade ever could.
Felicia stood there, calm and unmoved, while I felt like the floor had dropped out from under me.
“No,” I muttered, shaking my head slowly. “No, you don’t mean that…”
But she did. She meant every word.
I felt the sting behind my eyes before the first tear even fell. Damn it. I hadn’t cried in
years, but here I was, completely wrecked in front of her.
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All I could see was the look in her eyes- strong, steady, and heartbreakingly final.
And all I could think about was the past.
There was a time she’d waited for me. A lifetime ago, Felicia had loved me with everything she had, holding on even when everyone told her I was gone for good. She spent her youth in quiet devotion, mourning
- me.
Only to find out, in the cruelest way, that I hadn’t died at all.
I’d left her.
Left everything behind to be with Larissa, thinking I was making some noble sacrifice. But what I really did was betray the one person who had loved me unconditionally.
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And now?
Now, she looked at me like I was a stranger.
Tears spilled down my face as I took a step closer. “Felicia… is there really no chance for us? None at all?”
Her answer came like a blade to the chest.
“There hasn’t been for a long time,” she said coldly.
And just like that, my heart cracked.
No growl. No rage. Just pain–raw and suffocating.
I was just about to get to my feet when the door, which had been closed this whole time, suddenly burst open.
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Kevin ran out like a damn hurricane and pulled Felicia into his arms, clutching her like she might vanish if he let go.
“What are you talking about?!” he choked out. “I’m not gonna die out there and leave you behind! I’ll come back safe, and I’ll stay with you forever.”
“Of course you will,” she said. “You have to come back safely.”
Kevin, clearly still nervous, muttered, “But… if I really do die out there… maybe just wait a few years, okay? Then if someone better comes along, someone who really loves you… marry him.”
Felicia reached up and pressed her finger gently to his lips. Her brows drew together.
“No one else,” she said. “There won’t be
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anyone else but you.”
And just like that, he was speechless. His ears turned bright red, and he pulled her close again, nodding like a fool.
They’d forgotten I was even there.
I couldn’t help it–I let out a bitter little laugh, barely a breath of sound. What was the point of staying? They didn’t need me here.
I turned, planning to leave quietly.
But just as I rose to my feet, a flash of movement caught my eye.
Whizz!
An arrow sliced past my face, close enough that I felt its heat.
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And it wasn’t aimed at me–it was headed straight for Felicia.
I didn’t think. There wasn’t time. My body moved before my mind could catch up.
I threw myself forward, slammed into Kevin, and wrapped myself around Felicia just as a rain of arrows came screaming through the air.
They hit me. All of them.
Pain exploded in my back, fire spreading through every nerve. I tasted blood, thick and hot, as it flooded my mouth.
But still, I forced a smile.
She was safe. That’s all that mattered.
Felicia was frozen, staring at me like the
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эт
b
world had just flipped upside down. She didn’t even have time to scream before the next wave of arrows came for her.
Kevin shifted on instinct–full wolf form–and dragged her behind cover. He scanned the shadows and spotted figures darting in the trees.
“Take them down!” he barked to the guards.
The assassins, realizing they’d been seen, didn’t hesitate. They vanished into the forest, giving us the first sliver of breathing room.
Kevin was back at my side in a second, crouched over me, checking my injuries. His jaw clenched when he saw them.
“The arrows… they’re poisoned.”
I’d taken eighteen. Eighteen poisoned
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arrows. I could already feel the fire crawling through my chest, spreading from organ to organ. I wouldn’t make it through the hour. Maybe not even the next few minutes.
Felicia was still staring at me, blood on her face. My blood.
I managed another smile.
“Back then… when you gave me that
Moonshade fruit, remember?” My voice was weak, but steady. “I told you I’d protect you. Always.”
“And now I have. One more time.”
My vision blurred. My limbs were going numb. I reached out, wanting to touch her face–just once more.
“I swear, Felicia… if there’s a next life, I’ll do it
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right. I’ll protect you from the start. I won’t let you get hurt again. Ever.”
My hand rose halfway… then dropped, heavy and useless, before I could reach her.
Darkness pulled me under. And this time, I didn’t fight it.
Felicia’s POV
Samuel was dead.
I didn’t cry. I couldn’t.
Kevin reached for my hand and held it tight, grounding me when my soul felt like it had drifted somewhere far, far away.
“I’ve already sent people to investigate,” he said gently, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. “We’ll find out the truth. I promise.”
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I nodded numbly, my eyes fixed on Samuel’s lifeless body. He looked so still–so quiet–it didn’t feel real.
For a split second, I was back in that other life. White–haired, alone, cradling his broken body as he died in my arms.
Back then, there was no Kevin. No My dad. No one I could lean on. Just a cold, hollow world I never wanted to live in–a story I never wanted to be part of again.
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