Declan's POV
I didn't think for once how Avira would react to our rejection, or imagined how she would handle it. If I had, I wouldn't have gone through with it.
But I was self-centered like always, and only thought about myself, and how rejecting her would make me feel.
But now as I watched her cry, heartbroken, I felt not just like a monster, but also like my whole heart has ripped apart, and there was no turning back now.
"You said you'd do anything and everything to protect me," Avira said, reminding me of the promise I made to her only a few hours ago, but there was nothing I could do. I could not tell her it was all we needed to do to be able to save her dying wolf. We could not tell her because Gamma forbade us to, and because the effectiveness of the spell depended wholly on the genuineness of her rejection.
