Chapter 77: Chapter 77 – The Decision No One Can Make For Her

Chapter 77 – The Decision No One Can Make For Her

POV: Kael

Pain was a strange thing.

When it was bad enough, it stopped feeling sharp and became something else entirely. A weight. A presence. Something that settled into your bones and stayed there until you couldn’t remember what it felt like to exist without it.

I was aware of it long before I opened my eyes.

The pain.

The weakness.

The fact that every breath felt like my body was borrowing time it didn’t actually have.

Voices drifted around me, fading in and out of focus. Sometimes I recognized them. Sometimes I didn’t. The healers were speaking. Someone was giving orders. Footsteps crossed the room.

None of it stayed with me.

Only one thing did.

Liora.

Even before I saw her, I knew she was here.

The bond had been strange since the pregnancy. Some days it felt muted. Some days it felt like it was buried beneath layers of something neither of us understood. But right now, despite the fog clouding my mind, I could feel her.

Close.

Terrified.

Trying very hard not to show it.

The realization settled heavily in my chest.

She came.

Of course she came.

I wanted to tell her she shouldn’t have.

I wanted to tell her to leave.

I wanted to tell her that none of this was her responsibility.

But my body wouldn’t cooperate.

Opening my eyes felt like dragging myself out of deep water.

The ceiling came into focus first.

Then the room.

Then her.

Liora stood beside the bed, looking paler than she had this morning.

No.

Not this morning.

How long had I been unconscious?

Hours?

A day?

I couldn’t tell.

Her hand rested against the edge of the bed so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

The moment our eyes met, something inside me sank.

Because I knew that look.

I had seen it before.

The same expression she wore whenever she had already decided to sacrifice something and was simply waiting for the moment she had no choice but to do it.

The healer was speaking.

"...the damage is extensive."

His voice sounded distant.

"...multiple internal injuries..."

Further away.

"...without immediate intervention..."

That one reached me.

Intervention.

I didn’t need him to explain.

I already understood.

The room suddenly felt colder.

My gaze shifted back to Liora.

She wasn’t looking at the healer anymore.

She was looking at me.

And for the first time since waking up, I felt afraid.

Not for myself.

For her.

Because I knew exactly what she was thinking.

She thought she could save me.

The problem was that she probably could.

The cost was what came afterward.

Months ago, I would have let her do it.

Months ago, I would have been selfish enough to accept it.

Back then I hadn’t fully understood what her healing was doing to her.

Back then I hadn’t known what those scars really meant.

Now I knew.

Two.

That was what she told me.

Two chances left.

Two burns.

Two times she could push her gift before there was nothing left to give.

The memory alone made my stomach twist.

I watched her stare at me and realized something that made the fear worse.

This wasn’t one burn.

Even in my current condition, I could tell.

The injuries were too severe.

Too deep.

Whatever had been used against me out there had been designed to make sure normal recovery wasn’t possible.

This would take everything.

And judging by the expression on the healer’s face, he knew it too.

I swallowed hard.

The movement hurt.

My throat felt raw.

But I forced the words out anyway.

"Liora."

Her eyes immediately snapped to mine.

Relief flashed across her face so quickly that she probably thought nobody noticed.

I did.

I always noticed.

"You shouldn’t talk," she said quietly.

I almost laughed.

Even now.

Even standing on the edge of losing everything.

She was still trying to tell me what to do.

My chest tightened.

Gods, I loved this woman.

I gathered what little strength I had left.

Every word felt expensive.

Every breath felt borrowed.

But I needed her to hear this.

Not as her Alpha.

Not as the man responsible for protecting her.

Just as Kael.

Just as the man who couldn’t bear becoming the reason she died.

"Liora."

Her jaw tightened.

I saw it.

The moment she realized what I was about to say.

"No," she whispered.

I ignored her.

Because if I stopped now, I wouldn’t get another chance.

"Don’t."

Her eyes closed briefly.

Just briefly.

But it was enough.

Enough to tell me I was right.

She had already been considering it.

The healer shifted uncomfortably beside us.

No one interrupted.

No one moved.

The room suddenly felt too quiet.

I forced myself to continue.

"Don’t do it."

The words came out rougher than I intended.

Barely audible.

But she heard them.

I knew she did.

Because her entire body went still.

A dozen emotions crossed her face so quickly I couldn’t separate them.

Fear.

Anger.

Frustration.

Heartbreak.

Something dangerously close to desperation.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

The silence stretched between us.

Heavy.

Painful.

Real.

I wished I could sit up.

I wished I could take her hand.

I wished I could explain this properly.

But all I could do was look at her.

"Liora."

My voice cracked this time.

"I know what it costs."

Her lips pressed together.

Still she said nothing.

"I know."

The bond trembled faintly between us.

Not because of my pain.

Because of hers.

Because she was trying so hard not to feel it.

Not to let it affect her decision.

The realization nearly broke me.

Even now she was carrying this alone.

Still.

Always.

"You have children to protect."

The words felt strange.

Not because they weren’t true.

Because I still wasn’t used to saying it.

Children.

Mine.

Ours.

A future I hadn’t dared imagine until recently.

"You have a future."

Her eyes glistened.

She immediately looked away.

I hated that.

I hated seeing her hurt.

I hated being the reason.

Most of all, I hated knowing that no matter what happened next, this decision would stay with her forever.

If she saved me, she would carry the consequences.

If she didn’t save me, she would carry those too.

There was no version of this where she walked away untouched.

And somehow that felt more unfair than my own death.

I took another painful breath.

"Liora."

She finally looked at me again.

This time there was no anger.

No frustration.

Just exhaustion.

The kind that settled deep inside a person after being forced to choose between impossible things for far too long.

I held her gaze.

"If it comes down to me or you..."

My voice nearly failed.

I forced it through anyway.

"Choose yourself."

The words landed between us.

Neither of us moved.

Neither of us looked away.

For a long moment the room disappeared.

The healers.

The guards.

The fortress.

All of it faded.

There was only her.

Only us.

Only this impossible choice.

Then something shifted behind her eyes.

Not agreement.

Not acceptance.

Something else.

Something that unsettled me far more.

Because I suddenly realized she wasn’t arguing.

She wasn’t promising anything.

She wasn’t telling me I was wrong.

She wasn’t reassuring me.

She was simply looking at me.

And in that silence, I understood something that made my chest tighten harder than the injuries ever could.

Liora had already made a decision.

I just didn’t know what it was.

And somehow that terrified me more than death ever had.