taking his hands in hers. He tried to avoid her eyes but she wouldn’t
let him, forcing him to look at her. “No. You heard her — you
can’t come back. Not if you choose this. We’ll lose you.”
His voice came out far calmer than he thought it would. Look-
ing at Minnie, he realized just how much he would be giving up to
devote himself to this new path. “I have to. They killed my father.
I can’t let them get away. And it’s the only way to know you’ll be
safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you, not again.”
“You’re hurting me,” she whispered.
Now his voice caught in his throat, a solid lump of pain lodged
there.
She went on. “You’ll have to leave us. All of us. Who knows
when you’ll come back?”
“I’ll hunt them down and finish this. As fast as I can.”
Minnie’s eyes glistened with tears. “But . . . what if the per-
son who comes back isn’t you anymore? Arthur, you’re not just
sacrificing Charles’s only chance at living. You’re sacrificing
your own soul. You’re going into the dark and I’m scared —
I’m so scared you’ll never be able to come home. It can’t be
worth it.”
Arthur leaned toward her. He wanted to take her in his arms,
to kiss her, to tell her that he would choose her. But he couldn’t.
The rage and pain burned too bleakly in his heart. The Ladon
Vitae had taken everything from him. And now he would lose
Minnie. But he’d make them pay. He’d end this.
“It’s worth it to me,” he said.
Minnie stumbled back as though Arthur had struck her.
“Arthur,” Cora started, but Minnie shook her head.
“No,” she said. “Leave him. He isn’t choosing us.”
Cora and Charles stood, balancing Thomas between