CHAPTER 218: I FAILED

ARTEMIS’ POV

I gently drop her thin, cold, lifeless wrist by her side, brush a lock of hair away from her face, and stare at her for a moment. Long enough to feel too much and to wonder what could have been.

If I had been nicer to her, if I had helped her fully escape the influence of her father and realize her own self-worth.

If we could have been real actual friends, simply existing side by side as comrades, what would it have been like?

I clench my fist, turning away from her. It’s too late now, and there’s no more time to wonder and regret. Sera’s in grave danger, and every moment I spend wallowing in the what-ifs is a moment more she spends in that hellhole.

I allow myself to dwell in the pain of her death and my regrets before I move forward, deciding the time to mourn could come once all of this is over.

Once I make Gideon pay for all his inhumane crimes.

I make a solemn promise to her lifeless form to take him down and bow my head forward before I walk towards the