Moonlit Vows Of Vengeance-Chapter 49: The Inevitable Price

Much later on....

I didn’t sleep that night.

Not a single second.

Jesse’s words repeated in my mind like a pulse I couldn’t quiet. "For you? Yes."

I sat by the window until dawn crept across the sky, golden and silent. The warmth meant nothing. I felt cold to my bones. The world outside the palace was stirring to life, but inside me, something was breaking.

I rose as the first bell of the day echoed through the palace walls. My boots hit the ground with purpose. I didn’t bother braiding my hair or straightening my tunic. I just walked fast, determined. past the guards, through the endless white halls, toward the one man who had the answers.

The King.

Two royal guards stood at his chamber door. One flinched when he saw me. The other bowed slightly but moved to block my path.

"He is still eating—"

"Let me through," I said, my voice low and firm. "It’s very urgent."

The taller guard hesitated, sniffed the air, then opened the door.

The king sat alone at a long obsidian table, finishing the last of his morning meat. His golden robes shimmered like flame in the sunlight spilling through the stained-glass windows. He didn’t look up when I entered.

"I wondered what’s so urgent," he said casually, cutting into a slab of roast with clawed fingers. "Tell me."

I didn’t bow. "You told me Jesse holds the last Moon Fragment."

He took his time chewing. Then nodded. "Yes, he does."

"And the only way to retrieve it is for him to die?"

He looked up now. His eyes were as cold as the mountain lakes—clear and ancient.

"The fragment is sealed inside his heart. Not metaphorically, Bella. Literally. The Moon Goddess placed it there before you were even born. Only through willing sacrifice could the piece be brought out."

I crossed my arms. "There has to be another way to get it. One that doesn’t involve him dying."

"There is not," he said simply. "It has to be willingly given. And it must be ripped out by his own claws. In front of you."

I stared at him, stunned. "You want him to tear out his own heart?"

"That is what must be done."

"And you’ve known this all along?" Because you called him to the palace since.

He shook his head, assessing me. "No. Like I said it before sensed it recently when you returned from the marshes. The moment you stepped back into the throne room, the magic trembled."

My lips parted, but I had no words. I could still feel Jesse’s voice in the dark, his regret, his promises.

"And what if he refuses?" I asked quietly.

"Then the Moon Goddess will never be restored," he said. "And the shadows devouring our lands will consume everything. Including him."

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking.

"This isn’t fair," I whispered. "It’s not fair."

"He played his part," the king replied. "As have you. But now the final act begins. You were always destined to be the end of him, Bella. That was the price of the Moon’s return."

I clenched my jaw. "And what if I refuse to allow him do it?"

"You won’t," the king said, rising. "Because you understand what’s at stake. The Nightlands are already bleeding. The spirits scream every full moon. This world dies piece by piece while the Moon sleeps. Imagine what the chaos world would do."

He stepped forward, towering over me.

"You don’t have to kill him," he murmured. "But you do have to be the reason he chooses to die. That is your task. That is your fate."

I left without a word.

The halls were emptier than usual, but I barely noticed. My legs carried me forward, but my heart was dragging behind.

What kind of twisted love demanded death?

And worse... what did it say about me that I could see him doing it?

Jesse, for all his cruelty, had changed. That much was clear. And though my heart didn’t forgive him, some part of it... remembered him. The boy he was before the betrayal. The way he once kissed me beneath the eclipse. The way he laughed like the world couldn’t touch us.

He was not that boy anymore.

And I was not that girl.

Still, as I reached the moon garden, I realized I’d walked straight toward him. My wolf had chosen the path even when I didn’t mean to.

He was there—leaning against a tree, eyes closed, as if waiting for me.

"Athena," he said without opening them.

I folded my arms. "You always did have an annoying sense of timing."

He smiled. "I felt your scent. I came out to meet you ."

I walked up beside him. The wind blew through the pines. The scent of moss and stone and distant rivers filled the air.

"I spoke to the king," I said after a pause.

Jesse didn’t move. "And?"

"There’s no other way," I whispered.

He opened his eyes now—those stormy, dark eyes—and looked straight at me.

"I figured," he said quietly. "It’s in my chest, isn’t it?"

I nodded.

"Then I wil rip it out." My heart hurt.

"There’s no other way.."

My voice broke. "Jesse..,."

He exhaled deeply, then reached up and ran a hand through his hair. An action he’d be doing more frequently than before.

"Don’t feel bad, Bella," he said without hesitation.

I blinked. "You didn’t even think about it. Can’t you be selfish?."

"I’ve already thought about it," he murmured. "Every day since I lost you. Since I lost everything. I’ve felt miserable but now if I get to look you in the eyes one last time... and give you something that matters..."

He stepped closer, just a breath away.

"Then it’s a good way to go."

I shook my head, tears stinging behind my eyes. "You’re really such an idiot."

"Maybe," he said softly. "But I’d rather die an idiot than live a coward."

He reached up, brushing a strand of hair from my face. I flinched but didn’t move away.

"I won’t ask for your forgiveness," he said. "I don’t deserve it. But I hope... that when this is all over... you’ll remember me not as the man who broke you, but as the one who tried to fix it in the end."

I swallowed hard.

"I don’t know what to say." I said, voice raw. "I..."

He nodded. "You don’t have to say anything else at all. I understand."

"His eyes glistened. "I love you, Bella."

I didn’t respond but I held his hand.

We stayed there for a long moment, the wind howling around us like wolves mourning the inevitable.