~ ROSELLE ~

"Okay," I say quietly, because what else can I do? "Tell him... tell him I accept. And I’m sorry. Tell him I’m sorry for everything."

Nikolai’s expression softens, and he steps closer to me. His hand reaches out and gently tilts my chin up so I have to meet his eyes.

"I need you to listen to something," he says, his voice carrying the weight of authority. "I’m not going to tell you that you’re making the right decision. Because I don’t think you are. But I am going to tell you what’s going to happen if you leave."

My stomach twists with dread.

"Ronan has been more of himself since he found you," Nikolai continues carefully like he’s trying to make me understand something crucial. "You’re like a light in his life, Roselle. Before you came, he was dying. Not just physically from the curse, but emotionally, spiritually. He was a shell of a man going through the motions."

He pauses, letting that sink in.

"But you changed him. You made him want to live. You made him believe in the possibility of a future. You made him happy in a way I’ve never seen before."

"That’s exactly why I have to leave," I say desperately. "Because I can’t give him what he needs. The curse will—"

"The curse might not do anything," Nikolai interrupts gently. "That’s the thing about the future, Roselle. It’s uncertain. You’re making a huge decision based on a possibility. You’re sacrificing something real and beautiful for something that might never happen."

He releases my chin and steps back, giving me space to breathe.

"And you need to understand the consequences of that decision," he says quietly.

"The pack is going to suffer too," Nikolai continues. "Ronan is a good Alpha, but he’s also a man in love. Take away the woman he loves, and you take away his reason for being strong. He’s going to go nut. He’s going to isolate himself. He’s going to become the broken, cursed man he was before you arrived."

"So what?" I ask bitterly. "You’re saying I should stay? That I should risk my life and his life because he might be sad without me?"

"No," Nikolai says firmly. "I’m saying you should tell him the truth. I’m saying you should give him the choice. I’m saying that if you’re going to destroy both of your lives, at least do it honestly."

His words hit hard.

"But you won’t, will you?" he asks, studying my face. "You’ll leave quietly, and let him think it was his fault. You’ll let him believe that he did something wrong, that he wasn’t enough for you. You’ll let him torture himself with that knowledge for the rest of his life."

"That’s not fair," I say, my voice breaking. "That’s not what I’m doing."

"Isn’t it?" Nikolai asks softly. "Because from where I’m standing, that’s exactly what you’re doing. You’re sacrificing yourself on the altar of his happiness, and you’re going to make sure he knows exactly why. You’re going to make sure he feels guilty for the rest of his life."

Tears stream down my face, and I shake my head vehemently.

"I’m trying to save him," I whisper.

"By destroying him," Nikolai says, not unkindly. "That’s what you’re doing, Roselle. You’re destroying the man who loves you more than anything in the world. And for what? To protect him from a curse that might never even touch him? To give him a chance to find a ’true mate’ that might not even exist?"

He reaches out and grabs both my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.

"Look at me," he commands. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t love him. Tell me that you’re not making the biggest mistake of your life."

I open my mouth, ready to say the words I’ve been saying to myself all night. But they won’t come. Because they’re not true. They’ve never been true.

"I can’t," I whisper.

"Then why are you leaving?" Nikolai asks, and his voice is so gentle, so understanding, that it breaks something inside me.

"Because I have to," I say, but even I can hear how hollow the words sound. "Because I’m not his true mate and the curse will—"

"The curse is a problem for both of you to solve together," Nikolai says firmly. "Not a problem for you to solve by sacrificing yourself. Do you understand me?"

I nod slowly, but I don’t think he believes me. Because I’m not sure I understand it myself.

"I’m going to organize that place for you," Nikolai says, moving toward the door. "Somewhere safe, somewhere that Ronan can monitor without being intrusive. You can stay there while you figure out what you’re going to do next."

He pauses at the door and turns back to look at me one last time.

"But I hope you reconsider," he says quietly. "Because I don’t think you’re saving Ronan. I think you’re breaking him. And I don’t think you’re strong enough to live with that."

Then he’s gone, and I’m left alone in the room, his words echoing in my mind like a curse of their own.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am making a terrible mistake. Celeste said the same thing. His life is his choice to make.

The thought drags me back to the first week I arrived at the pack, to how foolishly I’d listened to Mara without questioning him. I acted on impulse, ran away, and nearly got him killed.

What if I’m making that same mistake all over again? What if, in trying to protect him, I’m only putting him in even greater danger?

What if he leaves... and one day I receive the devastating news that the curse has finally consumed him before he ever gets the chance to meet his mate?

Maybe the future I’ve been clinging to, the one where he survives long enough to find the woman fate chose for him—is nothing more than a fantasy I’ve written in my own head.

Maybe reality is far crueler. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of my life blaming myself, wondering if I doomed him the moment I walked away.

No. need to talk to him. Really talk to him, and... together, we can figure this out.