within me, and I let the root take hold and grow. “If you think so poorly of me, why are you still with me?” I asked coolly. “What do you want to do next? Break our bond? Reject me as your mate?”
“I don’t know!” Emma tore at her hair. “I don’t know what to do! I love you, Ethan, but I can’t be bonded to the Phantom. I have to stand my ground on this.”
“Both of us agree Malovia needs to be protected. We’re merely divided on how to do it!” I burst.
“The Phantom isn’t the right way,” Emma pleaded. “We can find the stones. Then we can worry about Gabby and Elijah.”
I let out a disgusted noise. “We’re talking about fanatical nationalists, Emma. Look at history. Look at what happened with the Great Supernatural War. Do you want that to happen again? Because it will with them in charge, and then countless fae will die. The supernatural world won’t survive another catastrophe like that. The Phantom is trying to prevent that war from happening.”
Emma’s voice rose in frustration. “You’re becoming a fanatical nationalist yourself! You’re so concerned with trying to save your country, you don’t realize your actions are going to ruin it! You’re turning into a fascist.”
I despised that word, and that she’d accused me of it. I’d fought my whole life to stop racialists from taking over my home. I wouldn’t be portrayed as becoming one myself. “It seems you’re asking me to choose,” I said, and I crossed my arms.
“I am.” Her voice didn’t waver. Emma stood tall as she said, “If you want to be with me, you have to put aside the Phantom. You need to choose, Ethan. The Phantom, or me.”
I gave a huff. “Are you willing to give up being the White Rose?”
“For you? Absolutely,” Emma said. “I don’t even have to give it a second thought. I have no connection to her. The White Rose is just a costume. She’s not a person, or a part of me.”
Her eyes hardened. “But the Phantom is a part of you. A piece I’m asking you to set free. Your choices and actions become different when you’re the Phantom versus when you’re Prince Ethan. You’re willing to do things you’d normally never consider. You become someone else when you put on that mask, and I don’t like it. If you still want him in your life, then I can’t be with you anymore.”
My heart grew cold. She was asking me to pick between her and my moral code. Her and my country. How could she ask for such a sacrifice? “The Phantom is the only one protecting Dolinska against the Black Claw. If I give up being the Phantom, I give up Malovia.”
“Dolinska has all of us. With our friends, we can protect the country, even save it.” Emma held her breath. “But if you keep working as the Phantom, your attention is going to be divided. And our chances of finding the crystals become even less than what they already are.”
“There are six of us. Surely you don’t need my help,” I said sourly.
“We’re all in this together! We took an oath!” Emma said. “Unifying as one is the only way to stop what’s coming, and it’s never going to work if you want to keep playing your vigilante side-show.”
“Prince Ethan died with his father,” I growled. “You want me to stop being the Phantom? I can’t do that. I am the Phantom now.”
“That’s not true! You’re kind! You’re decent. And loving! Those are all things the Phantom could never be,” she pleaded. “I know you think what you’re doing is some sort of noble sacrifice. But what’s the point of saving Malovia if you have to lose your soul to do it?”
She was close to tears. I didn’t realize how badly she wanted me to let this go, until now. She was begging me to leave the Phantom behind, and choose her.
I’d never admit this out loud. But the Phantom was the only connection I had left to my father. I’d become a vigilante in his name, and swore to continue the work he didn’t get to finish. Though he’d died nearly a year ago... I wasn’t ready to give my father up.
Not even for Emma’s sake.
I hardened my words. “If this is the way things are going to be, then I don’t want any part of it. Break up with me, if you like. But I’m not going to stop being