Chapter 822 – Voren, what have you done?

Chapter 822: Chapter 822 – Voren, what have you done?

Voren tightened his arms around Seraphine, holding her close as though his embrace alone could stop her from suggesting anything else about sacrificing her life.

The thought of losing her was unbearable, and her words had brought back memories he had spent months trying to bury. His father had once told him how his mother had been willing to exchange her own life for his, and that decision had set off a chain of events Voren could barely bring himself to remember, let alone discuss.

He had already lost too much time with his mother because of that sacrifice, and he would never allow Seraphine to make the same choice. "If anyone’s life should be exchanged, it should be mine."

"No." Ravyn’s voice came out low and strained, but there was a firmness in it that made Voren turn toward him.

"The Moon Goddess is right. Espe was my child too, and yet I was the one who ordered her death. I knew she was innocent, I knew she had done nothing to deserve what happened to her, and I still gave the order. I allowed Daisy to put those evil thoughts in my head because she birthed a son who in the end was not even mine."

A bitter laugh escaped him, but it quickly broke into something that sounded more like a sob. He lowered his eyes to the table, staring at his trembling fingers as though he could find an answer in them.

"Do you know what hurts the most, Voren? I had started looking forward to those twins. I never thought I would, not after everything Daisy did, but somewhere along the way, I began imagining what it would be like to hold them in my arms. I wondered whether they would have my eyes, whether they would look like me, whether one would be quieter than the other. I even caught myself thinking about the kind of father I would be to them."

His lips trembled, and he pressed them together, struggling to keep his emotions under control.

"I had already begun making room for them in my life. I was beginning to accept that they were mine, that they were innocent, and that they deserved to be loved regardless of who their mother was. I even worried about whether Mary would accept them, whether she would love them as her own if I made her my Luna. I was afraid of losing her because of those children, and now you’re telling me I have to choose between their lives and the lives of your unborn pups."

He looked up at Voren, his eyes glistening. "Tell me, how am I supposed to live with that?"

Voren opened his mouth, but Ravyn raised a trembling hand, stopping him before he could respond.

"I know what you’re going to say. I know they’re innocent, and I know they don’t deserve to die for their mother’s sins. That’s what makes this so unbearable. If they were anything like Daisy, if I had even the slightest reason to believe they would grow up to become like her, perhaps this decision would be easier. But they’re just babies, Voren. My babies. They haven’t even had the chance to take their first breath, and I’m already being asked to accept that they won’t live."

His voice cracked, and he looked away, swallowing painfully before continuing.

"But tell me something. What happens if Daisy survives the banishment? What happens when she realizes those children are the only connection she still has to me? She will use them. She will come back with tears in her eyes, pretending to be a changed woman, and she will expect me to forget everything she has done because she gave birth to my pups. She will use their existence to force her way back into my life, just as she has used every other opportunity to manipulate me."

Ravyn’s expression hardened, though the tears in his eyes refused to disappear.

"She can’t use Bryan to get to me because his real father is dead, but those twins would give her another chance to reach me. And I know myself, Voren. I know how much I once loved that woman, how blindly I trusted her, and how much damage she was able to cause because I gave her that trust. I will never allow her to have that kind of power over me again."

He drew a shaky breath, his gaze dropping to the table once more.

"I wanted those children. Goddess, I wanted them more than I ever thought I would. I wanted to hold them, watch them grow, and give them the kind of childhood Espe never got to have. I wanted to do things differently this time. I wanted to be a better father."

His voice fell to a whisper, and for several seconds, he struggled to continue.

"But if keeping them alive means allowing Daisy another opportunity to destroy the lives of everyone around me, then I cannot do it. I cannot keep putting other people’s lives at risk because I’m afraid to let go of something I want."

He finally raised his head, looking directly at Voren, and although his face was wet with tears, his decision was unmistakable.

"I will carry the guilt of losing those pups for the rest of my life. I will always wonder what they would have looked like, what their voices would have sounded like, and who they might have become. I will grieve pups I never got the chance to hold, and no one will ever be able to tell me that they deserved what happened to them."

His jaw tightened as he forced the next words out.

"But I would rather live with the pain of losing them than allow Daisy to use them to hurt another person. I have already allowed that woman to take too much from me. She took my judgment, my peace, my daughter, and the man I once believed myself to be. I will not let her take anything else."

Ravyn swallowed, his voice barely above a whisper when he spoke again.

"This is for the best, Voren. I don’t want to lose my children, but I have made my decision. If a sacrifice must be made, then let it be made. I would rather mourn them as a father who loved them than watch Daisy turn their lives into another weapon against the people I care about."

Silence fell over the room until it was interrupted by the beeping of Ravyn’s phone. When he checked the alert, his gaze darkened dangerously. "Voren, what have you done?"