Chapter 5 DEATH'S COLD EMBRACE

Lyra's POV

Twenty hours until they killed me. Less, maybe. The clock on Grandmother's wall ticked like a countdown to execution.

I flipped through the true grimoire with shaking hands, searching for something, anything that could save me. Most of the spells required ingredients I didn't have. Time I didn't have. Power that the moonbane had stolen.

Then I found it.

The Severance Ritual. Grandmother's notes covered the margins: Dangerous. Forbidden. Last resort only. Creates death so convincing even mate bonds break.

Perfect.

"Fake your death, disappear, figure out the rest later," I muttered, memorizing the complex symbols. "Not the best plan, but better than actually dying."

First, the pendant had to go. I ripped it off my neck and threw it into the fireplace. The moonstone shrieked as it burned, releasing purple smoke that smelled like rotting flowers. My magic rushed back like water through a broken dam.

"Oh," I gasped. "Oh, I missed you."

Phoenix fire danced across my skin, stronger than before. Angry. It knew what had been done to us.

The greenhouse. That's where I'd do it. No one went there at night, and the glass walls would contain any magical explosion. I gathered what I needed: silver knife, white candles, salt for the circle. My hands moved without trembling now. Fear had burned away, leaving only determination.

The greenhouse smelled like earth and growing things. Peaceful. Safe. I drew the ritual circle with my own blood, each symbol perfect. Grandmother's training hadn't been for nothing.

"By fire and blood," I began, kneeling in the circle's center. "By magic freely given..."

The words tasted like copper and smoke. Power built around me, making the air thick. Hard to breathe.

"I sever the bonds that tie me to this world. I embrace the shadow of death. I walk between..."

Pain.

Not normal pain. Not even magical pain. This was wrongness made physical. My body convulsed, and I understood with crystal clarity what was happening.

The moonbane. Still in my blood. Corrupting the spell. Twisting it into something else.

"No," I gasped, but the ritual had its teeth in me now.

My phoenix fire turned inward, eating me alive. Not fake death. Real death. True death. The kind you don't come back from.

I screamed.

The greenhouse door burst open. Through tears and flames, I saw them. Damon and Selene, drawn by the magical disturbance. They stood at the edge of my circle, watching.

Just watching.

"Interesting," Selene said, like I was a science experiment. "I didn't think she'd try something this drastic."

"Is she actually dying?" Damon asked. No concern. Just curiosity.

"Look at her flames. White hot. That's life force burning." Selene pulled out her crystal vial. "This is better than the extraction. Purer. The moonbane is making her magic consume itself."

I tried to speak. To curse them. To beg. But only screams came out. My body was turning to ash from the inside. I could feel myself disappearing. Not just dying. Ceasing.

"Lyra?" For one second, Damon's voice held something. Confusion? Regret? But then Selene touched his arm, and his face went cold again.

My skin cracked like dry paper. Fire poured out, but not my golden phoenix fire. This was white. Empty. Final.

"Get ready," Selene held up the vial. "When she burns completely, her essence will rise. We need to catch it."

They waited. Watched. Like I was a candle burning down to nothing.

My last clear vision: Damon pulling Selene against him. Holding her. Comforting her like this was hard for her. Like watching me die was an inconvenience.

"Finally," he murmured into her hair. "We can be together properly now. No more pretending. No more pathetic little Lyra following me around like a lovesick puppy."

Those words hurt worse than dying.

My body collapsed into ash. I felt myself scatter. Thoughts breaking apart. Memories dissolving. Everything I was, everything I'd ever been, turning into nothing.

But my magic... my magic rose. A glowing cloud of golden essence, beautiful and pure. Selene caught it greedily in her crystal vial, sealing my power away.

"It's done," she said.

The last thing I knew before the darkness took me: they walked away holding hands, stepping over my ashes like I was dirt on their shoes.

Then nothing.

No thought.

No feeling.

No me.

Just the endless dark where phoenixes go when their fire finally burns out. When betrayal cuts so deep that even magic can't heal it. When love turns to ash and takes everything with it.

I was nothing.

I was nowhere.

I was gone.