Chapter 383: I’m Sorry I Couldn’t Save Her

The pain was beyond anything Lilith had ever experienced.

Beyond anything she had imagined pain could be.

It was not just physical. Not just the feeling of her body tearing itself apart. It was deeper than that.

Her magic was shattering.

She could feel it breaking, each magical channel snapping like overstressed rope, each connection to her power fracturing, each piece of herself that made her a Morvaine witch dissolving into nothing.

The curse had rejected her.

Had fought back against her attempt to claim it with the full force of divine wrath.

And Lilith was losing.

The death magic was consuming her now. Not slowly like it had been for weeks. Fast. Violent. Absolute.

It wrapped around her heart and squeezed.

Wrapped around her lungs and crushed the air from them.

Wrapped around her mind and pulled her consciousness toward the darkness.

Lilith tried to scream but she had no breath left.

Tried to fight but she had no strength remaining.

Tried to hold on but there was nothing left to hold onto.

The bonds were breaking.

She could feel them....the three golden threads connecting her to Nicholas, Sebastian, and Lucian. They were stretching. Thinning. Unraveling strand by strand.

Nicholas first. The bond that had been steady as bedrock now fraying at the edges.

Then Sebastian. The warmth and protection dissolving into cold emptiness.

Then Lucian. The wild desperate energy flickering and fading.

All three of them slipping away.

All three of them losing her.

I’m sorry, Lilith thought. I’m so sorry. I tried. I tried so hard.

But trying was not enough.

The curse was too strong. Too ancient. Too absolute.

And Lilith was just a girl who had been foolish enough to think love could break divine punishment.

The darkness closed in.

And Lilith stopped fighting.

Let herself fall.

Let the curse take her.

Let death come.

***

Sebastian watched Lilith convulse in the ritual circle and felt his entire world ending.

Blood was pouring from her nose. From her ears. From her eyes. So much blood that it was pooling beneath her head, soaking into her white robes, staining the salt circles red.

Her body was seizing so violently Sebastian could hear bones cracking. Could see her limbs twisting at unnatural angles. Could see the magical backlash tearing her apart from the inside out.

She was dying.

Right there in front of him.

And he could not reach her.

"LILITH!" Sebastian lunged forward, trying to get to her, trying to break through the ritual circles and pull her into his arms...

Invisible force slammed into him and threw him backward.

Elena’s magic. Holding him outside the protective wards. Keeping him away from Lilith even as she died.

"LET ME GO!" Sebastian screamed. He threw himself against the magical barrier again. And again. Each impact felt like hitting a brick wall but he did not care. "SHE’S DYING! LET ME GO TO HER!"

"If you break the circle, you kill her faster!" Elena shouted back. She was kneeling beside Lilith, hands glowing with white light, desperately trying to stabilize the failing transformation. "The backlash will destroy you both! STAY BACK!"

"I DON’T CARE!" Sebastian roared. "LET ME GO TO HER!"

He slammed into the barrier again. Felt Rhen rising inside him, demanding they shift, demanding they break through whatever magic stood between them and their dying mate.

Through the bond, Sebastian felt Lilith fading.

Felt her consciousness slipping away. Felt her pain diminishing not because it was getting better but because she was too far gone to feel it anymore.

Felt her dying.

"NO!" Sebastian hit the barrier again. "NO NO NO! LILITH! STAY WITH ME! PLEASE!"

But she couldn’t hear him.

Could not respond.

Was already too far gone.

Sebastian fell to his knees and pressed his hands against the invisible wall separating him from Lilith.

"Please," he whispered. "Please don’t leave me. Please."

Rhen was howling in his chest. Long mournful sounds that had nothing to do with the curse and everything to do with their mate slipping into death.

And there was nothing Sebastian could do except watch.

Watch and beg and break.

***

Victoria watched the transformation fail and felt ice settle into her bones.

She had known this might happen. Had prepared for it. Had spent two days gathering components and researching forbidden magic and making plans for exactly this scenario.

But knowing it might happen was different from watching it actually occur.

Watching Lilith convulse and bleed and die in that ritual circle...

It was worse than anything she had imagined.

Elena was trying everything. Victoria could see the white light blazing from her hands, could feel the desperate healing magic being poured into Lilith’s failing body, could sense Elena’s absolute refusal to give up.

But it was not working.

The curse was too strong. The backlash too violent. Lilith’s body too broken.

She was dying.

And Victoria’s backup plan was about to activate.

"DO SOMETHING!" Nicholas’s voice cut through the chaos. "VICTORIA! YOU’RE A WITCH! DO SOMETHING!"

Victoria was already moving.

She crossed to where she had left her prepared bag, hidden in the corner of the ritual room, spelled to be invisible unless she specifically looked for it.

The bag containing everything she needed for resurrection.

Lilith’s blood. The dead necklace. Components from the Alphas. Research. Maps showing where Thalia was hiding.

Everything.

Victoria grabbed the bag and turned back to the ritual circle.

Lilith had gone still.

Completely, terribly still.

The convulsions had stopped. The blood had stopped flowing. Her chest had stopped rising.

Elena pulled her hands back and pressed them to her face.

"No," Elena whispered. "No no no...."

She placed her fingers against Lilith’s throat. Checking for a pulse.

Nothing.

Elena tried again. Different location. Desperate.

Still nothing.

"She’s..." Elena’s voice broke. "She’s gone. The transformation failed. The curse...it was too strong. I couldn’t..." She stopped and looked up at Victoria with devastation in her eyes. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t save her."