“You never knew,” she said bitterly. “Your parents pushed me away. They never accepted me—forced me out. I had to hide my pregnancy or they would’ve destroyed me. Destroyed our baby.”
No. That wasn’t true. My father would never—he wasn't a murderer.
I tried to speak, to break through the storm unraveling on the other end of the line. “Ronan—please—” But I never finished.
His voice returned. Cold. Unrecognizable.
“I’ll send someone to help.”
The line went dead.
The phone slipped from my grasp, hitting the cave floor with a soft thud. I stared at it in disbelief. No. That couldn’t be it. He wouldn’t leave us. He wouldn’t trade his own son for a past he once let go of.
But he had.
The sound of Elior’s breathing pulled me back, ragged and thin.
“Mama… is he coming?” he asked, voice a bare whisper.
I tried to summon strength, tried to smile, but my lips trembled too much to form it.
“He’s just… delayed, sweetheart,” I whispered. A lie. One I clung to because I didn’t know how to give him the truth.
Elior blinked slowly, offering a small nod. “Don’t cry, Mommy…”
His words broke something inside me. I cradled him tighter, despite the pain radiating through my own wounds—blood soaked my clothes, my side, my legs. I was too weak to fight. Too broken to run. And outside, the rogues were still prowling, waiting for the scent of final breath.
But that’s not what shattered me.
It was the realization that my son was dying in my arms. And the man who was supposed to love him, protect him—
Had chosen not to come.
My voice cracked as I leaned down again, desperation consuming me. “Hold on, baby. Just a little longer. You’re going to be okay…”
Elior looked up at me one last time. A soft smile curved his lips—gentle, forgiving.
Then his eyelids lowered.
His body stilled.
And the soft rhythm of his heartbeat… faded.
Selene’s POV
Nobody came to rescue us.
Trapped in that icy, pitch-black cavern, I held my son as the final breath left his small chest. I wailed until my lungs burned, sobbed until my voice broke, my body trembling as I desperately fought—fought with every shred of strength—to keep him breathing.
I pleaded with the Moon Goddess to spare him. I begged until I was breathless.
But she never listened.
She never has.