Chapter 40: A Choice Carved in Blood

The silence that followed Lyra’s words was deafening. Killian’s mouth parted slightly as if forming words he couldn’t quite release. Ivy’s heart pounded in her chest like a warning bell.

“Save me… or save your brother.”

The fire crackled in the hearth behind them, casting flickering shadows across Lyra’s face. She looked so much like a child—and yet nothing like one. The innocence in her eyes was diluted now with wisdom and weariness far beyond her years.

“What are you saying?” Ivy asked, her voice breaking. “What does Asher have to do with this?”

Lyra turned to her mother, gaze solemn. “Isolde didn’t just bind her soul to me. She tethered her essence through twin blood. Asher is the second anchor. Two souls, one rebirth.”

Killian staggered back. “No… No, that’s impossible. He had nothing to do with this!”

“Not knowingly,” Lyra said. “But the spell chose both of you. Twins are mirrors, remember? While I carry her spirit… Asher carries her will.”

Ivy blinked. “Wait… Asher wants this?”

“No,” Lyra replied quietly. “But the will Isolde left behind is growing in him, whispering to him. And soon, he’ll stop resisting.”

---

A Flicker of the Past

Killian stepped into the hallway, pressing his back to the wall. His breath came in sharp bursts, the air suddenly too thin.

Asher. His twin. The brother he had once trusted with his life.

The same brother who had stolen Ivy’s heart… and now unknowingly housed the remainder of Isolde’s soul?

Everything suddenly made a horrible kind of sense. Asher’s erratic behaviour. The way he always seemed drawn to Lyra despite his guilt. His cryptic warnings, his nightmares, the sudden flashes of cruelty.

He wasn’t just broken.

He was becoming something else.

Asher sat alone in the old cottage where he had been hiding out for days. His hands trembled as he stared into the mirror above the fireplace.

His reflection blinked.

He did not.

“I’m losing myself,” he whispered. “Piece by piece.”

A voice answered from within him. “You’re not losing. You’re transforming.”

He slammed his fist into the mirror. Glass shattered. Blood dripped down his hand.

And his reflection smiled.

Mira and Isla returned from the Sanctum with grave expressions. They had met with the remaining elders—guardians of ancient magic and keepers of forbidden lore.

“There’s only one way to sever the tether,” Mira said, her voice grim. “A sacrifice of willing blood. One twin must choose to end their life… so the other may live untethered.”

Killian looked up sharply. “No. We are not sacrificing anyone!”

Isla’s eyes softened. “The alternative is worse. If neither of you chooses, Isolde will consume both Lyra and Asher. She’ll complete her rebirth using their fused essence. And Lyra… will cease to exist.”

Ivy gripped the edge of the table. “What about a binding spell? Something to isolate Isolde’s energy from both of them?”

Mira shook her head. “Not possible. She embedded her soul during the pregnancy. This isn't just possession. It's rebirth. There's no undoing it without death.”

Killian paced the floor in the upstairs hallway, every word echoing like a death sentence.

One twin must die.

He thought of Lyra’s laughter. Her tiny hands reached the hospital that first night.

And he thought of Asher—broken, guilt-ridden Asher—haunted by love and betrayal. The twin who once stood in front of a bullet for him. Who had never asked to be pulled into this hell?

Could he kill his brother?

Could he let Ivy lose the father of her child, even if she no longer loved him?

He stopped outside Ivy’s bedroom door.

Lyra was inside, singing softly to herself. A haunting lullaby in a language no child should know.

That night, Ivy dreamed.

She stood in a forest, the moon silver above her. A woman in a blood-red cloak approached—Isolde, young and alive.

“You came to me willingly,” Isolde whispered. “You agreed. You asked for the child.”

Ivy shook her head. “No… I didn’t.”

“You were desperate. You begged me to spare him. And in return, you offered your womb. I gave you life. But it wasn’t yours alone.”

Ivy gasped. A rush of memory poured in—tears, pain, a circle of fire. Her whispered plea beneath a blood moon: “Take what you must… just don’t let him die.”

When she woke, Ivy was soaked in sweat, her hands trembling.

She had bargained with Isolde.

She had invited her in.

“I know what I did,” Ivy whispered to Killian as dawn painted the sky in gold and ash. “I made the deal. I let her in.”

Killian’s expression darkened. “What are you saying?”

“I didn’t know she’d stay. I thought I was saving you. But it wasn’t you who was dying that night. It was Asher.”

She swallowed hard.

“I made the wrong choice.”

Killian’s voice cracked. “Then maybe it’s time… to make it right.”

The front door creaked open slowly. Everyone turned toward the sound.

Asher stood on the threshold.

He looked… not like himself. His eyes were darker. His skin paler was. But somewhere beneath the corruption, Killian could still see his twin.

“I heard everything,” Asher said hoarsely. “Lyra. Isolde. The sacrifice.”

Killian stepped forward. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I do,” Asher said. “I feel her inside me, brother. She’s winning. If I stay… she will take Lyra.”

He stepped closer, looking at Ivy.

“You didn’t mean to choose me that night. But you did. And now I get to choose.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out a blade—a ceremonial dagger used in soul-severance rituals.

“I’m ready.”

“No,” Ivy cried. “There must be another way!”

Asher smiled sadly. “There isn’t. But maybe… this time, I get to be the hero.”

As Asher lifted the blade, Lyra burst into the room.

She was glowing.

Her hair lifted with unseen wind. Her voice echoed with two tones—one her own, and one ancient and dark.

“STOP.”

Everyone froze.

“I’ve made my decision,” Lyra said, stepping forward.

She reached for the blade in Asher’s hand.

And smiled.

“I choose her.”

Ivy’s breath caught. “What… what do you mean?”

Lyra turned slowly to face her mother.

“You invited her in. You made the pact. You are the final tether.”

Her eyes shimmered.

“She chooses you now.”