CHAPTER 79: CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE: DAMIEN’S STORY XVIX: A THOUSAND YEARS AND ONE.

"Don’t look up," Alex whispered again, his voice thick, strangled as though every word tore a piece out of him. "I don’t want you to see me like this."

But Mira’s trembling hands wouldn’t listen.

They reached for him anyway. This was the man who had been her light, her shield, the reason for her endless smiling. Her fingertips brushed against his jaw, and she felt it: the trembling. The wet warmth that wasn’t sweat, but tears.

"Alex..." her voice cracked, "please... let me see you."

He couldn’t.

The great king Alexandria bowed his head, his shoulders shaking as the tears he had held for too long finally broke through. They spilled down his face in silence, dripping onto her hands like rain on parched earth.

"Mira..." he breathed her name like a dying prayer. "Every time I close my eyes, I see you smiling. That’s how I want to remember you. Not like this... not walking into death."

Her heart twisted painfully. "You can’t stop me, Alex. You know this."

He laughed bitterly, still not raising her head. "Of course I can’t. I’m the king of men, yet I can’t even protect the one person who makes this cursed throne worth sitting on."

Mira’s tears slipped down her cheeks in streams. She reached up and forced his face toward hers and her heart broke.

Alex’s eyes were red and his cheeks were streaked with tears. The man who never bowed to anyone was on his knees, his soul shattered right in front of her.

"I can’t lose you," he whispered, shaking his head helplessly. "Not after everything. Not after all we’ve suffered. Please... I’ll find another way—"

"There isn’t another way," she interrupted softly. "You know that."

He turned away, his hand clutching hers tightly as if sheer strength could anchor her to this world.

Mira smiled faintly, her eyes soft even through the tears. "You can curse the world all you want, my love... but not fate. Fate doesn’t listen. It only takes."

A silence heavier than grief settled between them.

Only the faint hum of the relic filled the room, glowing faintly with ancient light that seemed to mourn with them.

Mira lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it gently. "Promise me something," she said quietly.

Alex still maintained his gaze on the floor. "Anything," he rasped.

"When I’m gone," she whispered, "don’t let Damien grow up hating himself. Tell him I loved him. Tell him I gave everything I had so he could live. So he wouldn’t have to carry my sins."

Alex’s breath hitched. "No... no, don’t talk like that—"

"Promise me, Alex," she said firmly this time, her eyes glistening with conviction. "Promise me you’ll love him for both of us."

He bowed his head, tears dripping onto her wrist. "I promise," he choked out. "I promise, Mira..."

Her lips trembled, forming a broken smile. "Thank you, my king."

Mira reached up to him and joined her lips with his.

It was not a kiss of passion but it was the kind of kiss that carried every moment they wished they could steal back. Her lips trembled against his, soft and fleeting like a dying flame, yet fierce enough to burn every memory into their souls.

Alex’s hands found her face, cupping it as though he was afraid she might vanish if he let go. His thumb brushed against her cheek, wiping away a tear that was replaced by another. He deepened the kiss — slow, desperate, and lingering — breathing her in one last time, committing her scent, her warmth, her heartbeat, to the core of his being.

When their lips parted, Mira’s forehead rested against his, her breath trembling.

"You were the best thing that ever happened to me," she whispered, her voice breaking, "in this life... and the next."

Alex’s breath came out in ragged gasps. "I want to go with you," he pleaded, his voice raw and trembling. "If you die, I want to die too. Don’t ask me to live in a world without you, Mira... I can’t."

Her smile was soft and heartbreaking. "You can’t," she said gently. "Because I’ll still be here." She placed her hand against his chest, right where his heart beat violently beneath his ribs. "As long as this beats, I’m alive in you."

Alex closed his eyes, pressing her hand tighter against his chest, as if to trap her there forever. And then he kissed her again this time harder and fiercer than the last. A collision of love and grief it was: a farewell sealed by souls rather than lips.

When they finally broke apart, Mira’s tears mixed with his.

Neither spoke. There was nothing left to say.

For a long moment, they just held each other. There was only them. Her heartbeat against his chest. His trembling fingers pressed against her back. The scent of his hair. The warmth of his tears.

It was love at its purest and its cruelest.

Finally, she pulled back.

Alex caught her wrist immediately, desperate, terrified. "No... not yet— please—"

"I have to," she whispered. "He’s slipping away."

Damien stirred faintly on the floor, a weak cry escaping his lips. The red marks on his skin pulsed darker and redder with every minute movement. The curse was feeding on his very being...fast.

Mira turned toward her child, her face etched with unbearable love.

She pulled away from Alex’s arms and walked to where she laid him. She lifted him into her arms again. His body was burning, yet his small hands still sought her neck instinctively.

Her heart trembled at how light he had become over a few hours. His body was covered in red, disturbing bumps yet it didn’t seem to bother her. Not even a bit.

"You’ve been so strong," she murmured. "But you don’t have to fight anymore. Let me carry it for you."

Alex’s vision blurred as he watched her step toward the relic. "Mira, wait—please wait—"

But she smiled over her shoulder, her eyes glistening with tears and peace all at once. "If there’s another life after this... find me again, Alex. I’ll be waiting. Just like I always have."

Then, before he could stop her, she dropped the hair she had plucked from his head on the altar where the relic stood. She them pressed her forehead to Damien’s and whispered an ancient incantation.

The relic flared — a blinding burst of blue and gold — as her body began to shimmer. The light wrapped around her like ribbons of fire and wind, swirling with power too divine to comprehend.

"Mira!!!" Alex roared, stumbling forward, his voice echoing painfully across the chamber.

But she didn’t look back.

The light thickened, rising higher and higher until it touched the ceiling. Mira’s body lifted slowly, her hair floating like silk in the windless air. Her tears sparkled as they fell — one by one — onto Damien’s skin. Each drop that touched him burned away a patch of the curse, replacing black veins with soft, healthy color. She was suppressing his curse...she was using her own life to hide it.

"Mira!" Alex shouted again, his voice raw, desperate. He slammed his fists against the invisible barrier surrounding the altar. "Please, come back! Please—"

"I love you..."

Her voice echoed faintly, carried by the light. "Take care of him... for me..."

Silence. Then the light barrier exploded.

Alex was thrown backward by the force of the explosion. The chamber shook and the relic’s glow faded to a faint blue. When the dust settled, he scrambled up, coughing, eyes darting everywhere.

"Mira?! Mira!!!"

But she was gone. The hair left on the altar looked like burnt hay but Mira wasn’t there.

Only Damien remained on the cold stone floor sleeping peacefully or rather unconscious. His bare skin that was rippling with red bumps was clearing until everything disappeared. The dragon’s curse had vanished...it had to.

Alex’s chest heaved, his mind refusing to accept what his eyes saw.

"No..." he whispered, crawling toward the place she had stood. "No, no, no..."

No words could define the pain and emptiness Alex felt at that moment. She had just vanished from his sight yet his body craved her immediately. How was he supposed to live without her in his life? Alexandria looked worse than a living corpse. But there was nothing he could do. She was gone.

Alex sank to the floor, cradling his son and staring at the empty air where Mira had stood. "Mira... my love..." he whispered harshly as the pain surged through his veins and into his heart. It was a dull, sharp ache that tore his entire being apart. "I’ll find you. In this life or the next, I swear, I’ll find you." he said painfully.

The silence that followed was suffocating. Only the sound of his broken, soft, muffled and endless sobs filled the chamber .

Outside, dawn broke over the kingdom — soft light pouring through the high windows, falling upon the king’s bowed figure and his sleeping child.

He looked up at the relic once more and for a brief second — just one — the faint scent of lilies filled the air, and Alex could have sworn he heard her voice whisper,

"Don’t cry, my love... this isn’t goodbye. Just... wait for me."

He looked up sharply but the scent was gone. Only the echo of her voice remained.

Alex pressed a trembling kiss to Damien’s forehead, hold

ing him close as tears ran freely down his face.

"I’ll wait," he whispered. "Even if it takes a thousand lifetimes... I’ll wait."