"A daughter!"
"She wasn't yours!"
"You still killed her!"
Cassius fell to his knees. "No. No, I couldn't."
The room stilled as if someone had pressed pause on the TV.
"And so the truth reveals itself." Sariel put his arm around my shoulders. I was too weak to do anything but lean against his cold body.
"A daughter," Ethan hissed. "You would kill an innocent human."
"Abomination," Sariel said in a deadly tone. "Another Dark One. No Dark Ones have been born since Cassius — since my sin."
Cassius flinched.
I wanted to hug him.
His own father thought him an abomination.
"No more Dark Ones must live." Sariel sighed. "And now that Aziel is dead, I am almost appeased. You see, balance was shattered the minute Cassius allowed the Dark One to breathe."
"I couldn't." Cassius shook his head back and forth. "She was innocent."
"So one of you will take her place." Sariel nodded. "One of you will take her place, and balance will be restored. It's as simple as that." He turned his head to me. "Choose, human."
"Wh-what?"
"Your destiny. You must choose."
"I don't understand."
"Who lives? Who dies?"
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Ethan
ADRENALINE PULSED THROUGH MY BODY AS madness overtook me. All I knew was that I had to kill him — kill him for taking something important from me. But what?
"Kill, kill, kill," the voice whispered in my head.
Cassius wasn't fighting back. His eyes were white, haunted. It didn't register that he was giving up. I just wanted him dead.
"Dead, dead, dead," the voice continued to chant.
"Ethan, No!" Genesis screamed.
I wrapped my hands around Cassius's neck, ready to snap, ready to kill. When his eyes met mine, something had me pausing.
Why was I strangling him?
Why was I so upset?
I looked down at my hands, the same hands gripping his neck. Blue blood trickled from my fingertips.
"Damn it." I pulled back, chest heaving as my hands shook.