“I think we should leave Sophia where she is until we make the sacrifice and die. Once I’m gone, Aislin can free her,” I say quietly to Alex, staring down at the floor.
His breathing turns ragged as he growls, “What the hell is wrong with you? It sounds like you’re fucking giving up.”
“I’m not giving up.” I lift my gaze to his and instantly shrink back from the rage in his eyes. “I’m doing what we have to, Alex, to make it so that damn portal doesn’t open.”
“It sounds to me like you’re just giving up,” he snaps. “And what about our daughter? Are you just going to give up on her, too?”
“Our daughter will be fine.” My voice quivers, but I press on, making sure I say what I need to. “The spell will protect her. As soon as I die, she’ll be born healthy and happy. And Aislin promised me she’d take care of her.”
“So, you’re just going to leave our daughter to be raised without a mother and father?”
“No, she’ll have a mother.” And a father, too, but I can’t tell him that just yet. “Please, don’t be mad at me, Alex.” Tears bubble in my eyes as I wish I could tell him everything. I know, however, if I do, he won’t allow it to happen. “I need you right now.”
His expression softens as he catches sight of my tears. “There has to be another way,” he whispers, sounding like he is in pain.
I put my hand on his cheek, wanting nothing more than to take his pain away.
There’s so much more it feels like I need to say, but with the little time I have left, I decide I don’t want to spend it arguing with him. So I lean in and press my lips to his, kissing him with everything I have in me. He kisses me back with an equal amount of passion, slipping his fingers through my hair and tipping my head back.
“I don’t ever want to stop kissing you,” he says, breathing heavily against my mouth.
“I know,” I whisper back.
He rests his forehead against mine, trying to catch his breath. “I just wish . . . you knew . . . how I really feel.”
The moment the words leave him, my energy level plummets. My limbs become heavy, my lungs feel tight, and my pulse dulls to a faint lull.
“I think I might already know,” I whisper, my entire body shaking with fear, with excitement, with something I can’t describe.
Then, with a deep breath, I push to my feet, cross the room, and pick up the rainbow candle I got from the black magic store.
“What is that?” He looks confused and tired, his skin suddenly a lot paler, and bags have formed under his eyes.
I bite back a smile. “It’s a candle.”
He rolls his eyes, but the corners of his mouth quirk up. “Thanks for the obvious answer,” he teases then reaches out and takes the candle from my hands. “But I’m guessing by the excited look on your face that it does something.”
“A witch gave it to me.” I don’t bother mentioning what I gave up to get the candle, even if, without my locket, my neck feels bare and exposed, just like my emotions do now. “It’s a Power of Entrapment candle.” Millions of images flood my mind, some real, some made up of what’s going to happen the moment I light the candle. “It’s supposed to trap the power of a witch in their body, at least while the wick is burning, but Aislin and I thought that maybe . . . It could trap the star’s power in ours for a little while so we could have a break and just be . . . well, us.”
Some of the exhaustion diminishes in his eyes, and desire and desperation take over. He rotates the candle in his hand, staring at it. “How do we know it’ll work for sure?”
I grab a lighter from my desk drawer. “There’s only one way to find out.”
I fumble to light it, and then we hold our breaths as the wick burns. There’s no magical sparks, no chanting sound effects. There’s only silence and the beat of our hearts.
Then, just like when Alex and I met in my dreams, the electricity of the star sizzles out inside my body.
“I can’t feel the buzzing anymore,” I say, staring at him in awe.
“Me, either,” he whispers, unable to take his eyes off