Chapter 79 – The Cost of Love

POV: Liora

The moment I let the power go, I knew there was no turning back.

For weeks, I had been standing at the edge of this decision, pretending there was still time to find another answer. Maybe Kael would recover on his own. Maybe the healers would discover something they had missed. Maybe all the warnings about my scars and my limits were wrong.

Standing beside his bed now, with my hand pressed against the torn flesh beneath the bandages, I knew exactly how foolish those hopes had been.

There was no miracle coming.

I was the miracle.

And miracles always demanded payment.

The power moved through me before I could think about stopping it.

Heat surged beneath my skin so violently that my knees almost buckled.

I sucked in a sharp breath.

The pain started immediately.

Not afterward.

Not gradually.

Immediately.

Every previous healing had hurt, but this felt different. Bigger.

The scars scattered across my body ignited at once.

My arms.

My chest.

My back.

Every mark burned as though someone had poured molten metal directly beneath my skin.

I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached.

The room disappeared.

The healers.

The guards.

The walls.

Everything faded until there was only me and the overwhelming force tearing through my body.

The energy flowed out of me and into Kael.

I felt it happening.

Felt his injuries meeting my power.

Felt shattered flesh beginning to mend.

Felt damaged organs struggling back toward life.

The bond reacted immediately.

For the first time in days, it felt fully awake.

Pain traveled through it.

Not his.

Mine.

The healing continued anyway.

Someone said my name.

I barely heard it.

The heat spread deeper.

Not into my skin this time.

Into my bones.

Into places that should never have been touched.

My vision blurred.

I forced myself to stay standing.

Across from me, the lead healer suddenly stepped closer.

"My Lady—"

I didn’t hear the rest.

Something inside me twisted violently.

A horrible sensation ripped through my chest.

Not physical.

Something deeper.

As if pieces of me were being pulled away and burned for fuel.

My hand trembled against Kael’s body.

The power flickered.

For one terrifying second, it almost stopped.

A gasp escaped me.

The resistance hit without warning.

My body was fighting back.

Not because it didn’t know what to do.

Because it knew exactly what it was doing.

Every instinct inside me suddenly screamed the same thing.

Stop.

Stop now.

You cannot afford this.

I nearly listened.

For one terrible moment, I nearly did.

The pain had become unbearable.

The scars felt like open wounds.

My heartbeat was uneven.

My breathing was worse.

Even standing required effort now.

The healing wavered.

Then Kael shifted weakly beneath my hand.

The smallest movement.

Barely noticeable.

But enough.

Enough to remind me why I had started.

I closed my eyes.

Forced another breath into my lungs.

And pushed harder.

The resistance broke.

Not completely.

Just enough.

The power surged forward again.

A violent pulse shot through my body.

The agony became so intense that I couldn’t stop the cry that escaped me.

The room spun.

The bond flared.

And suddenly I felt it.

The first burn completing.

The sensation was unmistakable.

One of the scars disappeared.

Not physically.

But spiritually.

Like a candle finally burning through the last of its wick.

A strange emptiness followed.

A hollow place where something important used to be.

My body swayed.

The healer caught my arm before I collapsed completely.

"My Lady!"

I pulled away immediately.

"No."

My voice sounded wrong.

Weak.

Raw.

But steady enough.

I looked down at Kael.

His breathing had changed.

It was stronger now.

More stable.

The terrible gray color had begun fading from his skin.

The first healing had worked.

And it wasn’t enough.

I already knew that before anyone said it.

The damage had been too extensive.

Too severe.

One burn wasn’t enough.

It had never been enough.

A terrible silence settled over the room.

Because everyone understood it too.

The healer’s expression confirmed everything.

One more.

One final healing.

One final sacrifice.

My hand shook.

Not from hesitation. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

From exhaustion.

I could barely feel my legs anymore.

My vision kept drifting in and out of focus.

The scars across my body burned hotter than ever.

Somewhere deep inside me, something felt broken.

Not damaged.

Broken.

The difference mattered.

I could feel it.

The voice returned.

Quieter than before.

Not warning.

Not arguing.

Simply observing.

As though it had already accepted what I was about to do.

I stared at Kael.

At the man who would probably hate this decision if he survived long enough to understand it.

At the man who had begged me not to save him.

At the man I was choosing anyway.

A strange calm settled over me.

Not peace.

Just certainty.

I knew exactly where this path ended now.

There were no more illusions.

No more bargaining.

No more pretending I could somehow escape the cost.

I already knew what the second healing would take.

Everything.

I slowly lifted my hand again.

Nobody tried to stop me.

Nobody could.

The moment my palm settled over him again, the power responded instantly.

This time there was no resistance.

No struggle.

No fight.

And somehow that frightened me more.

My body wasn’t arguing anymore.

It wasn’t trying to protect itself.

It wasn’t trying to survive.

It had simply accepted the outcome.

The second healing began.

The heat returned.

Stronger.

Deeper.

The scars ignited with terrifying force.

Pain exploded through every part of me.

But underneath it all, I felt something else.

Collapse.

Not approaching.

Already happening.

My strength drained so quickly that I almost couldn’t remain standing.

Dark spots appeared in my vision.

The room tilted.

Voices sounded distant.

Far away.

Like they belonged to another world.

The bond remained.

Kael remained.

Everything else slowly faded.

My fingers curled weakly against him.

The healing continued.

And for the first time since this began, fear disappeared completely.

Not because everything would be fine.

Because I finally understood the truth.

There had never been a version of this where nobody paid.

There had never been a way to save him without losing something in return.

Maybe that was what everyone else already knew.

Maybe that was what Amelia had tried to warn me about.

Maybe that was the lesson hidden beneath every sacrifice that came before mine.

Nothing this powerful came free.

My vision dimmed further.

The room blurred into shadows.

The pain remained.

But even that felt distant now.

The final burn had begun.

And as darkness slowly crept across the edges of my sight, one clear thought settled quietly into my mind.

Not regret.

Not fear.

Not even sorrow.

Only understanding.

So this is what it costs.