"Stay here and rest, I'll be back soon."

I sit down on a chair in the front room of the palace while Cain attends to the chaos outside. He gave me a blanket to wrap around my soaked clothes but my body is still trembling. I'm becoming dizzy and the moment I take a look at the window and see the deceased bodies, I am limping towards the bathroom. I throw up into the toilet bowl, sliding to my backside as I bring out the cry from my lips.

I don't know if it's the salt water that's causing my sickness or if the horrific day has finally caught up to me. I take a long sip from the water at the tap, glancing at my bruised face in the mirror.

My face isn't as bad as I thought, there are a few marks along my cheek and jaw but the bruises are not as dark as when I had my motorcycle accident. I lift my wet shirt up and I gasp at the sight of a large, purple beast stuck to the centre of my ribs. I remember that blow, Thea didn't hold back.

Now the adrenaline rush is over, I can feel the pain. It is like a curse placed upon my body. I hold on to the wall for support as I leave the bathroom and sit back down in the lounge. I sit in a different position so that I can't see the bodies. The palace is silent, I am not used to it being this quiet. I keep expecting to see Bella walk through the door and give me a scowl like she usually did, or a slave to come up to me and ask me if I need anything like they usually did. I set all the souls free that she killed but they're still dead. They're still gone. They're never coming back and the emptiness of the palace only confirms that.

I sit for so long that I almost fall asleep. I can't believe that I'm alive, that I survived whatever the hell that was, that I survived Saffron. My only wish now is to see Jackson and Christian. I am waiting with extreme agitation for Blake to bring them back. What if they were hurt during the flight? What if Saffron's creatures caught up to them? This is the most anxious I've ever been, I don't know what happens now.

I don't know where we all go from here. Cain will probably forgive the creatures that took her side and he'll probably move a whole new batch of humans into the palace as though the ones dead on the lawn were never here. He only cares about me so it came as no surprise that he didn't even show a flicker of sadness for the poor humans. Or maybe he does feel something but he's hiding it.

I can't hide it. I overheard a creature telling Cain that Saffron murdered ten babies inside the nannery. The little girl she flung across the field was saved by Marina but ten babies lost their lives. Ten mothers and fathers are going through the worst day of their lives and there's nothing I can do to help them.

I think long and hard about what I am actually doing. Cain wants to discuss something important with me but he wouldn't tell me what it was, he's waiting until we're alone and I've calmed down. I bite on my nail as I watch him through the window, he stands in the middle of the path with a circle of creatures around him, giving them orders as he points towards the lawn. He's telling them to move the bodies.

He's been through hell too the last few days, he didn't tell me what happened to him but I can guess that it was bad. We have that in common. I didn't tell him what happened to me either, I didn't want to relive it, though I could see in his eyes that he worked it out.

Marina walks through the door carrying a hot beverage and I glance at her before looking back to the window. She closes it behind her.

"I made you a hot chocolate," she says. "I heard the sugar is good for shock."

"I'm not in shock," I mumble.

She passes it to me anyway and I take it, muttering gratitude under my breath. "If I knew all of this would happen then I never would have left."

"You've been gone for weeks," I say.

"I know. I'm sorry. The planet that I visited had a different time cycle to this one. I was only there for a day but over a month passed here. I got here as fast as I could after I learned of Cain's predicament. I had to consume the completed soul there just to be able to stop her hand. You defeated one of the most powerful beings in the universe, Aurora you should be proud."

She smiles at me and I glare at her. Her smile drops instantly and she takes a seat beside me. I take a sip of the hot chocolate to hide my annoyance.

"Maybe that wasn't the right word to use," she says. "But Saffron's gone, you killed her."

"Only because she transitioned back to her human form," I say. "She couldn't resist giving me some final words."

"Even in her human form she was close to unstoppable. You can't tell me that driving that blade through her heart didn't feel great, that it didn't feel like it was your purpose."

She's right. It did feel great. It felt incredible. I remember the flash of light as her body exploded, my mind commanding her soul from the blade to travel to its true home—preferably something a lot like hell. I remember smiling my way down to the ocean because I was on an amazing high from being able to do the one thing that thousands couldn't. But Marina isn't just talking about Saffron, she's talking about her species. The purpose I was born for.

"Has he showed you any signs of hunger yet?"

"No."

"Hm." She rubs her chin and leans back, watching him through the window along with myself. "Maybe I was wrong, maybe it will be years."

"You seemed pretty confident that it wouldn't be."

"It's written on the bell. I mean, it's in a riddle, but I thought I interpreted it correctly."

"Was a mysterious new blade a part of that riddle?" I mutter.

"No," she says. "That surprised me too. We are the only ones that remember it, Blake doesn't even remember looking at it. That means our creators do not trust him."

I take a breath of relief. I'm not crazy after all. I didn't imagine it.

"Can they do that?" I say. "Can they help all lifeforms?"

"I imagine they created all lifeforms," she says. "You are just as precious to them as us. Like I said, we were a mistake. Well, that's what I've always believed. The truth could be that they created us to serve the purpose of wiping out life because it became too populated for their liking."

"And now they are trying to preserve it."

"Yes." Marina takes a deep breath, almost like a hum. "I hope I will get the chance to finally meet them when I die."

"They spoke to me," I whisper. "At first it was Cain's voice inside my mind, maybe because they knew I'd trust it. They saved my life, twice."

She twists her head with amazement. "You are so lucky. I've always wanted to hear them. It's strange, they have all of this power to create and even to bring the blades to us, but they remain hidden." She casts her gaze to the sky, searching for something unseen inside the clouds.

"I just want this to be over," I say, wiping the tears from my cheeks. "I'm so tired."

Marina reaches over and takes my hand. "You can't touch the bell while your soul is split," she says. "He has to transfer it back, I'm sorry."

"I know."

The door opens and Cain enters. I wipe my remaining tears from my cheeks, composing myself until I'm brave enough to look at him.

"Is Jackson and Christian back?" I say, turning my head to the window.

"Marina, could you leave us? Tomas is waiting outside. He'll fill you in."

"I'll see you soon," Marina says to me, before rising and walking past Cain in the doorway.

"Come with me," Cain says, flicking his hand.

I stand up and limp towards him, my ankle is badly sprained and it may be a while before I can walk properly again. I fold my hand around his arm and he supports me as we head for the staircase. He doesn't say a word as I spend some time trying to walk up the steps, he takes a step with me every minute, his patience unwavering.

"Where are we going?" I say. "Why did you dismiss my question about Jackson?"

He doesn't respond. I'm starting to get scared. He remains quiet all the way up the staircase and up the next one, he leads me into my bedroom and I enter it hesitantly. His silence is really starting to make me panic. I freeze in the doorway, refusing to move any further.

"Jackson and Christian aren't coming back," he says.

I watch as he walks over to my wardrobe and takes out a large travel bag from the bottom. He starts packing some of my clothes into it.

"What do you mean they're not coming back?"

"They and the rest of the humans that survived last night are pardoned. They will remain at the other side of the world, there is a secluded village there that the animal-eaters patrol, they will live there."

I don't understand. I hold the side of the door as I drag myself into the room. He takes my favourite jacket out, looking down at it with a frown before he looks back to me. "Do you want to wear this or should I pack it?"

"Why are you packing my things?"

"You are joining them."

"What? No." My voice is firm as I waddle towards him, he distances himself immediately, taking the bag over to my bed. "Cain. Look at me."

He keeps his back to me as he takes my things out from my nightstand, including the photograph of my parents. "You can't stay here, Aurora. Today was the closest that I ever want to come to watching you almost lose your life."

"But I didn't lose my life. I'm here. I survived."

"You almost died because of me. Being with me makes you a target, not just to Saffron but to thousands out there. As far as the council are aware, Saffron killed you. I have an army of my kind willing to lie."

"Is this because she beat you a few days ago?" I demand. "Did it make you feel inferior or something? Like you're not strong enough to protect me? Saffron is gone, Cain!"

He turns around and meets my eyes, they are so sad, like he's going to break down at any moment. "You don't belong here. You don't belong with me. I have to let you go. We have to let each other go."

"No," I say, choking on my cries. "I don't believe that."

"You are miserable here, Aurora!" he shouts. "I have been keeping you imprisoned in a cage for months and I cannot be that selfish with you anymore. You deserve so much more than a prison, you deserve to be free. This is me setting you free."

"I am happy with you," I say. "I am the happiest that I've ever been when I'm with you."

"Stop lying to yourself," he mumbles. He brings the bag to the table and drops it on top. "Pack whatever else you need."

I fold my arms, refusing to move.

"Fine," he says. He charges over to the shelves and collects a few objects in his hands, he drops them into the bag and then zips it closed. "Are you going to get changed out of those wet clothes or do you want the rest of them to see you like that?"

I wipe my nose as I move towards the wardrobe, I remove my wet shirt and shorts, replacing them with a thin sweater and soft pants. He holds the jacket out to me and I snatch it from his hand.

"This is what's best for you," he says. "It's the only way to protect you."

"How are you going to protect me from a thousand miles away, Cain?"

"Marina will stay with you," he says. "She's always wanted to live among humans so she'll finally get her wish."

I stick a thumb up to him sarcastically as I zip the jacket up. "So I guess I'll see you in a few years then when you turn up to feed on me."

He sighs. "Aurora."

"It's fine. I'm glad you can just send me away like the last few months never happened, it makes this a lot easier to deal with, knowing that's how you really feel."

"You think this is easy?" he demands. He starts walking towards me, his eyes locked on mine as he crosses the short distance.

"Do you think this has been easy for me, Cain?" I say. "Watching your kind slaughter and eat my friends while I fall in love with their King? Do you think that's easy?" I fall into the chair at the table and I hold my head in my hands. "Before I met you, everything was clear. I would be owned, I would be fed on, I would die. That's what I would go to sleep thinking about every night for eight years."

He holds his hand out to one of the chairs, his body leaning slightly. "What do you think about now?"

"I think about how much you've changed me too," I say. "How you made me braver and stronger. There has to be a point to this, a point to why we met, to why we feel like this. And it can't be found if we're across the world from each other."

"I will not risk your life anymore," he says.

"What about my soul?" I glance up at him, moving the hair from my face as I rub my nose with my sleeve. "I was in the room with you and I became depressed. You think this won't change it?"

"I don't care about your soul, Aurora!" he roars. "You can become uncompleted, you can become the least pure on the entire planet, I don't care. I care about your life."

I shake my head. "If you cared about my life and my happiness then you wouldn't do this."

I don't think there's anything that I can say that will change his mind. He looks back at me with his head high, with his chest moving out further away from his body.

"Do you know why you feel this way?" he says. "Because you are attracted to my disguise. If I displayed an unattractive male then I don't believe you'd feel for me so much. It's a trick, Aurora. When you look at me, you see me as a human. I think a part of you always has."

"Maybe," I mumble. He has a point. I've been attracted to that disguise since the moment I met him in his bedroom. But love? That came much later, that came from parts of myself that I never knew existed.

"When you saw my true form, you were terrified. That is what I truly am. I can't ever change it."

"I don't want you to change it," I whisper, my voice trembles as I meet his eyes. "And I wasn't afraid. I was at first but on that beach. . . when I touched you. . . I became bonded to you in a completely different way. We are a different species, we are from different worlds, but I have never been surer that I was looking into the eyes of something that I was destined to meet."

He smiles a little, remaining silent as I stand uneasily to my feet. I can't look at him, I don't want to leave right now. After everything we've been through, how can this be the end? Living on the other side of the world in secrecy is a dream for most humans out there, they'd kill for it. Am I the one that's being selfish?

"It's time to go," he says, walking around the table.

"No, don't, stop." I place my hand out to halt him but his chest meets my hand and my fingers curl against his shirt.

"I wanted a life for us," he whispers. "Since the moment I fed from you, I've wanted nothing more than to be human and walk beside you as your equal. But wanting it and having it actually happen to me are different. I am terrified of these emotions. I am terrified of being human and loving you so much that I can't even think straight. I just want you to be safe and happy and that is more important to me than anything else."

"I don't want to lose you." I cry into his chest and he holds me close to him.

"You're going to have a great life," he says. "I'll make sure of it. Marina is being told what is happening, she is waiting downstairs to take you."

I lean away from him; my eyes are so teary that I can't even see. I close them as our lips collide. This kiss is different. There is no passion, no heat, no longing or frustration. There is only a moment tainted by sadness and a heart-breaking goodbye. He is the first to remove his kiss and I keep my eyes closed, savouring it for a tiny bit longer. His eyes are just as teary, the tears don't fall down his face like mine do but it is the first time I've ever seen him close to crying. He touches my cheek in the way that he does, the way he has done for weeks. The way that makes my heart flutter like I'm growing my own set of wings within my chest.

"Please don't do this," I whisper.

He turns sharply and grabs my bag. "It's already done."

We walk back down the staircases in silence. Everything about this feels wrong. I can't change his mind and that is even more frustrating. I know why he is doing this and I understand his reasoning behind it but I never imagined it would hurt this much. This is just a sneak peek into the future, to when I make the ultimate decision and end his life. How the hell am I ever supposed to go through with it?

Cain passes Marina my bag at the front entrance and she frowns at me. I go with her willingly but there is a trail of despair and affliction that follows me.

"It's a long journey. I'll have to paralyze you, okay?" she says.

I nod my head, wrapping my hands around her neck as she lifts me into her arms.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Marina asks Cain.

Cain glares at her. "You have your orders."

Marina releases her wings. I take a deep breath, keeping my eyes on Cain as she hovers us into the sky. He stands on the path, looking up at us. I become hopeful that he'll change his mind at the last moment and call us back down but as his body becomes further away—along with the palace and his pained, broken stare—I realize that this is actually goodbye.