Their words were like thorny barbs wrapping around his soul, he and Lilith had noticed the strangeness of the mountain themselves. “What are you saying?”
“That had either one of you had an affinity for ice this wouldn’t have happened. But Lilith is a daughter of earth and you of fire. The chalice knew that and challenged accordingly.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What Rumpel is trying to say,” Danika sighed, “is that the chalice and not the mountain changed its environment. Using your weaknesses against you both. Once Lilith found it, it would have given her a choice.” She spread her arms. “In order to gain the power of the chalice, its terms must be accepted and whatever it was Lilith agreed.”
“So this can never be undone? I don’t accept that. We have the chalice of hope, I can make her drink from—”
Danika grabbed his hand. Her eyes were sad and her mouth tipped downward. “It’s been used, Giles. The magic is no more. It is simply a cup now.”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing, my friend, your Lilith is gone.”
“For what it’s worth,” Rumpel said, grabbing his shoulder, “I’d always hoped that girl would become your perfect mate. I recognized a fire in her even as a child and I spared her for you, Giles, because you were not only my right-hand man, you were my friend, and I wanted you to have your happiness someday.”
To hear the validation of what he’d figured out for himself brought him little comfort. His prince, who’d rarely done something for nothing, had all but told Giles that he was free to pledge himself to his wolf.
But what did it matter when his Lilith was gone?
Soul crushed and heart shattered, he leaned over his lovely wolf and mourned the life they’d never have.
Agonized, Giles picked Lilith up and rocked her in his arms. Tears he’d never known he could shed steamed from the corners of his eyes as he gazed at her beautiful face.
“I never got to tell you the truth of how I felt, Lilith. I’d been a fool, so close-minded and believing that things should always continue on as they were meant to be. But you knew from the beginning that sometimes rules should change. I was a coward.”
Unmindful of the eyes watching him, he poured out his soul to her, knowing it was far too late for her to hear him now, but needing to spill his heart all the same.
It was hard to accept that she was gone. For when he touched her cheek, it was as smooth and warm as it’d always been.
But both Danika and Rumpel had whispered spells of wakefulness, and at one point Danika had even assumed this might be nothing more than a sleeping curse. But no amount of wand waving had helped.
Lilith continued to sleep the sleep of the dead.
He rocked his Lilith back and forth, vowing that he would honor her memory forever. Eventually the footsteps faded away, and then finally even Danika’s buzzing wings had grown silent.
Leaving him alone in the great hall with Lilith.
“I should have told you.” He choked on his words and shook his head. “I’m sorry, little wolf. So sorry that it took me so long to accept the truth.”
He’d need to return her to her family and once he did, he knew he’d never go back there again. The thought burned like acid and made his soul shrivel. Lilith had brought him laughter and joy; she’d made an ancient man remember what it was to live again. To laugh again.
“I could never repay you for what you’ve done. For how you fought so hard to save me from that tomb of ice, you sacrificed yourself for others, you were the true hero this night.”
Then, leaning in, he planted one final kiss to her pearl pink lips. A very slim part of him wishing the fairytales were true, that true love’s kiss would be enough to wake her from the curse. But she never stirred.
Sighing, he brushed his fingers through her hair. “In all the worlds, there will only ever be you. I love you, my wolf.”
The words were breathed from the very fibers of his soul, and as he released them into the world he felt the quickening of them move like an electrical charge through the room.
There was no flash of lightning or roll of thunder, but suddenly there was a sharp burst of energy that imploded from within him and poured straight through her.
Lilith’s eyes snapped open and she gasped a hard breath, as her fingers curled into Giles’ arm.
“Lili?” Her name fell from his lips like a prayer, and when she looked at him he could not contain his laughter. “Lili!”
Wrapping her up in his arms he crushed her to him, breathing her in, terrified to ever let her go again.
“Knight?” she asked in a quivery voice.
“Oh, my darling. My beautiful, brave, little wolf,” he cried and kissed her brow, desperate she know the truth, that she know it all. “How is this possible?”