Lilith had always known revenge.
It fed her when love couldn't. It shaped her spine, sharpened her smile. She had planned it for years—how she would one day watch the last of House Vael fall.
Cassian’s house.
And now, she had the chance.
The spy knelt before her, trembling, bleeding. “The last of them, my lady. His uncle. The one who ordered the raid on your village. He’s unguarded. The blade is yours.”
The dagger—the one Cassian dropped the night he saved her—glinted in her hand. Cold. Faithful. Familiar.
She looked up. Cassian stood at the threshold.
He already knew.
His face didn’t twist. It didn’t break. Just... waited.
“I won’t stop you,” he said quietly. “But if you do this… we both know what comes after.”
Not his death. Not his anger. Hers.
She would lose herself again. The girl she used to be would crawl back into the dark and drag the new one with her.
Lilith stepped closer. “He butchered my mother. Ordered children burned alive. You knew.”
“I did,” he admitted. “And I hated him for it. But I stayed loyal… until I met you.”
Her grip tightened. “Why didn’t you kill him?”
“Because I thought vengeance would cost more than it gave. I didn’t want to become the monster who made me.”
Silence stretched between them, thick and trembling. The dagger was heavy now—not with steel, but with choice.
She looked down at the weapon.
Then dropped it.
It clattered on the stone. Final. Absolute.
Cassian didn’t smile. He just crossed to her and took her shaking hands in his.
"You chose us," he said.
"No," she whispered, tears sharp behind her eyes. "I chose me."
And maybe, just maybe, that was what love truly was—letting go of the blade you once lived for.
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