Theo led her down the familiar path. Toward his chambers. Toward the scene, she remembered it too well.
This was before Felicia got engaged to him.
Before Veronica took his words, we'll only be together if she dies, as gospel. Before she became the villain.
This is where it happens.
Where their minds stopped calculating… and slipped into something hotter, hungrier.
She grabbed Theo by his collar and leaned.
The kiss they shared was wild and passionate.
No. Not again.
She stopped.
Not this time.
She shoved Theodore away.
"Veronica?" Prince Theodore asked in surprise.
She straightened. "It's Lady Venenatus. And I am no whore."
"What?" Theo looked at her confused.
"I said no. As much as I want it, I refuse!"
She flinched at her own words. The world died around her as she said them.
"My life isn't a script. A novel. A page in someone scribbled on a piece of paper."
She stepped back.
But she wanted him again. She yearned for his embrace. But she loved herself more.
"Fate doesn't decide my choices. I do. I command my fate!"
"Are you sure?" Theo asked.
Veronica only smiled, as if he were beneath her.
"Yeah, I think at least now, I'm sure. This path I chose, the friends I made, that is real and I want to do my part."
Theo's face melted, like ink smeared off a page.
The world around her dissolved into paper and those pages burned to ash.
She stood inside the tree once more. The Worldheart pulsing before her.
"Do you still wish for its protection? Or destroy it to gain power over fate?" The tree asked.
Veronica showed nothing. No ambition, no second chance, no motive.
"Worldeaters are coming," she said. "Protecting it is my mission, so seal it, forever."
The Worldheart glowed, then vanished in a flash of blinding light.
A hiss answered the silence.
"Thank you," Syrethe whispered. "You have no idea what you did, what you- "
"That's what I came for." She answered. "I'm a Venenatus, I never go back on my word."
But then.
"Well, looks like we failed again, Aucteros." A familiar voice said.
Veronica spun. Her teeth clenched.
Charles. You sneaky bastard!
Aucteros walked beside him, flipping his floating book open with a lazy grin.
"I really should've taken you when I had the chance," he murmured. "Your intelligence is becoming troublesome."
Veronica bit her lip, drank her blood. She felt it. Charles' mental magic trying to push inside her thoughts. But the fog in her mind made her sluggish. Even she barely had control.
"Dammit," Charles snapped. "Oddly convenient her elixir blessing makes it hard to pry her mind open."
Elixir blessing?
Veronica blinked. She didn't have time to think.
"You're alone now," Aucteros said. "This ends with at least one of you pests dying."
"Alone?" Veronica smirked. "Are you still reading from that stupid book. Even with all its knowledge you still can't get a win. So poetic it's pathetic."
She raised her hand.
The snake dropped from her shoulder. Red eyes glowing.
Charles laughed. "A snake? Really? For you?"
Veronica stepped forward.
"Syrethe," she said coldly. "Show me what you can do."
Syrethe's smile split wide. His form exploded in size, fangs gleaming. Giant. No longer emerald-scaled but shimmering with every color.
"Let'sss," he hissed, "rearrange their pagesss."
"Gods above Lady Venenatus, please. You never trained for a fight in a day in your life." Charles smirked as he unsheathed a glowing sword. The sword burst with gold fire. "Aucteros, let me take her out."
"If that is your wish Charles," Aucteros waved him off. "But do not play around too long. Her death is the reason for our arrival, remember."
Syrethe, I hope you're not all talk. Gods above I hate feeling useless.
Charles swung the sword. A golden fire slashed through the air at Veronica. She saw the fire heading toward her she jumped to the ground. The slash of fire barely hit her side. She screamed as the side of her hip ripped open.
"Veronica!" Syrethe yelled.
"Ahhh ahh!" Veronica screamed in pain. Her vision blurred. Her heart raced.
I'm bleeding I'm bleeding… think Veronica! There are no third chances.
She drank her blood. Poison herself to keep her heart in a near dead state.
"At least did my part…" She said laying on the ground holding her bleeding wound.
Killed by Charles' sword again. Guess fate really is cruel.