49

I gently helped Aleks sit down on the soft grass and gently took his head to rest on my lap. Only the moon gave me enough light to clearly see the radiant blue of his eyes.

He just looked at me while his lips trembled and more and more blood came out of his wound. Crying bitterly, I stroked his cheek and he, too, took his bloody hand and brushed my hair away from my face, gently tucking it behind my ear. "It's alright." He whispered and exhaled heavily. It took all of his strength to share, and I didn't want to give up hope that everything would be fine. "Save your strength, everything will be fine. Everything will be fine." I kept repeating, saying it more to myself than to him.

The tears were running warm down my face and I wasn't sure if they would ever stop. "Yes Melody-" he gasped. "Everything will be fine."

He ran his fingertips down my cheeks and then put his hand back on the wound. The feelings that flowed through me at that moment could not be described. I wished so badly that everything here was just a bad dream, but it wasn't, but the shock didn't let me realize it yet.

"See you again." He smiled and gave me a satisfied look while his gaze changed. It seemed to me that he didn't feel any more pain, because the pain was gone and his lips stopped trembling. "In another life," I breathed softly, looking down at him, and even in this hopeless situation, this man managed to give me hope for a reunion and put a smile on my lips, from which the salty taste of my tears wandered into my mouth.

"Melody I wanted-" he took a deep breath, and waiting for his words, I was painfully aware that he would never finish that sentence, causing me to cry out in bitterness again.

His eyes, fixed on mine, lost their luster, as if his soul had taken the warmth and the blue color with it, leaving me nothing but his blank stare. "No....No....", I whimpered again and again and felt the pain deep in my chest, would have liked to die with him so I wouldn't have to feel it anymore. I would never have thought that one could feel such pain that took one so much that one longed for death.

When I heard a noise next to me in the forest, howling like a little puppy, I was pulled back to reality without wanting to. I thought of Damien, who needed me and was waiting for me, but before I could think about any more of this, Aiden grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet and towards the cabin. "Let go of me." I yelled at him, wanting to go back to Aleks to say goodbye, but he didn't give me the chance to get to him again.

My gaze lingered on his corpse until Aiden slammed the door in my face and roughly threw me into the corner of the cabin with Emma, who didn't seem to have realized what had happened. But I couldn't tell her, I couldn't comfort her, I couldn't cope with the pain that was making me die inside.

"Not a peep!" Aiden threatened us and quietly left the cabin while I tried to swallow the pain to devise a plan to get rid of him, because no matter how things turned out for me, a man like him should never be king will.

It was difficult for me to think straight, only sadness overcame me and let me plunge deep into the darkness, which seemed cold and lonely. "What happened?" Emma asked, glassy-eyed and trembling in her voice, but I avoided her gaze and got up to find something to rip open that damn bastard with.

Determined, I searched the entire cabin, which contained only old sheets and picture frames too fragile to harm anyone. "Melody you scare me.", I heard Emma's crying voice behind me, but I didn't turn to her, couldn't look into her eyes and stood without moving with my back to her. My pulse was racing with anger that made me clench my fists so hard my palms started bleeding from my fingernails digging in.

"Everything will be fine," I breathed to myself and looked over at a pan that was sticking out unassumingly from under a sheet. I ran excitedly over to the sheet, ripped it up, gripped the handle of the pan between my hands and looked over at Emma, who was watching me with irritation.

"As soon as he's on the ground, you run Emma, and no matter what you see or what happens to me, you keep running all the way to your camp. Please make sure-" I stopped myself to take a deep breath. "Please make Damien free."

I looked at her frightened face and I realized that what I was asking of her was far too much, but I didn't have time to think about it further because I heard his quick footsteps coming towards the cabin.

Ready for anything, I positioned myself behind the door, gripped the handle tighter, and nodded to Emma, who nodded back in agreement and stood up. The bottom of her clothes was covered in blood and I immediately realized that I wasn't the only one this disgusting bastard had gotten his hands on.

Lost in thought, I stared back at the door from Emma's pants, took a deep breath, and when it opened and he was standing in front of me, I hit his head with all my might, knocking him over instantly.

Emma's blue eyes sparkled in shock as she, like me, looked down at Camilla, who lay on the floor in front of us and didn't move for a moment. My mind went completely blank and all I could hear was the sound of the pan slipping out of my hands and hitting the wooden floor with a dull thud.

"Oh god," I whispered to myself, kneeling next to the short-haired one, who was slowly beginning to move and gasping in pain. "I'm so sorry." I wanted to help her up, but she angrily slapped my hand away, got up and grabbed the back of her head. "Are you out of your mind?" she yelled at me angrily, but I only heard her words softly.

Holding my breath, I rose, looked past her through the open door, watched the sun slowly bring light into the darkness, and staggered past her to walk, with a heavy heart, at the lifeless body that still lingered in front of the hut lay and brought back the worst memories of my life.

"No!!! Oh god no!!!" Emma yelled from behind me, but I didn't turn around, just dazedly ran on to kneel right next to him.

I didn't care if Aiden came, I would say goodbye even if it was the last thing I do.

Tears tried to fill my swollen eyes again, but I swallowed hard and tried to pull myself together as I carefully closed his eyes and took his hands in mine. With my eyes closed, I prayed for the grace of God, even though my goddess was different from what people believed. I prayed for life after death, a life in which we would meet again, and only when I was done sharing my wishes and hopes did I give him one last kiss on his ice cold cheek and reluctantly let go of his hands. "Remember, you should let me go, not the other way around." I breathed at him and then got up to gather all my anger and destroy this lousy thing.

I looked behind me at the cabin, watching Emma as she clung to Camilla and buried her face in her chest. "Where is he?" I asked Camilla and ran towards her, but she just unknowingly shrugged her shoulders and stroked Emma's back soothingly, but she broke away from her to run towards her brother, crying bitterly.

I didn't turn to them, wanting to show her the respect of being able to say my goodbyes in peace, as I did, and while I looked up at the sky, where dark clouds and the faint shining sun were moving past, Camilla came towards me and caught my attention. "I know you're going through enough, but there's still someone we owe it to save," she whispered, looking past me at Emma.

Lost in thought, I looked into her eyes and briefly thought back to the first day I saw her. At the time I thought I felt something like hate for her, but it wasn't until last night that I knew what hate even meant and what it felt like. An all-consuming feeling that gets stuck right in your heart and threatened to destroy everything in you. But where there is hate, there is also love, which made me see something.

Love, which I always imagined as something pure that should be beautiful and wonderful, turned out to be a pain that could destroy you, and worst of all, I loved not only the one man, but also the other man who was probably in was being tortured at that moment or worse. I suddenly recognized my feelings for both of them very clearly, as if someone had shown me that love is not always good, but also brings something bad with it. "Do you think it's possible to love two people at the same time and still love them in a completely different way?" I asked softly, eyes fixed on Camillas, who took my hand and caressed my cheek. "Yes, I really believe in that, but sometimes you have to let go of one

As she spoke, she turned my shoulder to Aleks and stood close to me. "You will never forget him, but please don't let Damien meet the same fate. We have to go immediately, even if it seems impossible for both of you." Her voice broke and I looked at her face, where small tears broke loose to fall. She still loved Damien, as did I, and she was right. If we didn't leave immediately, I would never have the chance to tell him that. It was a sign Damien came up with when Aleks kissed me. He was my mate, my soul mate, someone who took up more and more space in my heart the more time I spent with him, and he had nothing to do with all the bad scenarios.

"We're going," I resolutely pulled Camilla behind me and stood behind Emma, who was still crying, face on his chest. "Emma, we have to get out of here immediately." I carefully put my hand on her shoulder, but she didn't react. Not even the third and fourth time, but I just couldn't bring myself to tear her away from him. "You go. I'll stay here with her." Camilla said and let go of my hand.

"You can't. They won't let Damien go without proof of Emma's existence, and besides, we don't even know where Aiden is. If he catches one of us individually...I don't even want to imagine what would happen then," I answered her and held my hands to my abdomen, which was still aching slightly from the abuse he had inflicted on me.

Only minutes passed, which seemed like an eternity, in which I stared into the forest and Emmas wept inside my loudly beating tears.