Evadne could no longer hold back her tears. They fell freely, glimmering under the lights.
She wanted to say yes... of course she did... but for a moment, she couldn't speak. Not yet.
She turned her gaze toward Casadin. Their eyes met, and instantly his thoughts flowed into her mind.
"Say yes, Princess," Casadin said silently, knowing she would hear him. He smiled... wide and bright, brighter than anyone else in the crowd.
Because both men loved her.
And they both knew they had to compromise.
They wanted to give her everything... but one of them had to live in the light, while the other stayed in the shadows. For Evadne's sake.
And Casadin… he had chosen the shadows willingly, supporting Hades without bitterness or regret.
Hades would be the one to face the world... to hold her hand in public, to show everyone how much they loved her... because she deserved that. Deserved to be loved without guilt.
Evadne looked back down at Hades, still kneeling before her, eyes full of hope.
With tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, she nodded.
"Yes," she said softly, her voice trembling. "I will."
Hades slipped the thin ring onto her finger, and the moment he did, the entire crowd erupted into cheers. The loudest, proudest voice among them belonged to Casadin.
"Kiss!" someone shouted... and the rest joined in, chanting and laughing.
Hades rose to his feet, smiling brightly, and kissed Evadne. She kissed him back without hesitation.
"I love you so much, baby," Hades whispered... but his voice carried through the speakers, and everyone heard it.
"And that, folks," Casadin called out, laughing, "is what they call whispering loudly in her ear!"
The crowd burst into laughter again. Evadne couldn't help but laugh too... especially when she saw Hades blush, even in the dim light. He shot Casadin a glare, only to have Casadin grin and flip him off playfully.
Evadne cupped Hades' cheek, turning his face back to hers. Her gaze was soft, full of affection and unspoken promises.
"I…" she began, but then stopped. Her smile faded, and a frown crossed her face.
She tried to speak again... but her expression twisted in pain.
"Baby?" Hades asked, alarmed. His smile vanished as Evadne suddenly dropped the bouquet of roses, clutching her chest.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Panic filled his voice as he caught her around the waist, one hand cradling her face. "Tell me... what's wrong?"
"I… I can't… breathe…" Evadne gasped, struggling for air that suddenly wasn't there.
Casadin was already beside them the instant he saw the distress on her face.
"Princess, what's happening?" he asked, his voice shaking with fear.
But Evadne couldn't answer. She was gasping, her skin turning pale, her once rosy cheeks losing all color.
"She can't breathe!" Hades shouted, his own voice breaking.
"Dad!" Casadin yelled toward Caspian, who was already rushing forward with Jupiter and the other men. "Medic!"
"What's happening?" Caspian demanded.
"She can't breathe!" Casadin repeated urgently... but before anyone could react further, Evadne suddenly coughed violently... then vomited blood.
The crowd gasped in horror.
"Langdon, the car!" Caspian barked to Jupiter's right-hand man, who immediately moved. Caspian scooped Evadne into his arms and ran toward the parking area.
The once joyous atmosphere dissolved into chaos and fear. The music stopped. Everything blurred into shouts, movement, and panic.
Casadin and Hades jumped into the back seat of Langdon's Maybach. Caspian sat in the passenger seat, phone pressed to his ear, barking rapid orders as Langdon sped down the road, pushing the car to its limit.
"Dad!" Casadin shouted again when Evadne's coughing didn't stop, blood soaking through his once pristine white suit, now turned crimson.
"Keep her upright, son... we're almost there!" Caspian said, voice tight but controlled.
Both older men... Caspian and Langdon... were doing their best to stay calm. But Casadin's voice cracked, raw and helpless. He had never called his father that way before, as if begging him to make everything right.
The usually mischievous Casadin, who faced life with a devil-may-care smile, looked utterly shattered... his confidence gone, his hands shaking as he held the girl he loved.
Hades wasn't doing any better. Tears streamed down his face as he kept calling Evadne's name, trying to wipe the blood from her lips with his cape, whispering pleas between sobs.
The forty-minute drive to CZ Medical Hospital... a private facility owned by the Falcon family and named after Ceres and Zeus... took only ten minutes under Langdon's reckless speed.
Doctors were already waiting by the entrance when they arrived. As soon as the car stopped, Evadne was pulled out and rushed through the glass doors into the VIP emergency wing.
"Make sure no press gets in," Caspian ordered.
Langdon nodded and immediately began securing the perimeter, calling in additional guards.
Caspian, Casadin, and Hades stood outside the emergency room doors, their clothes stained with Evadne's blood, their faces pale and shaken.
Moments later, Diana arrived... followed by the Monteverdes, the Falcons, and several close family friends. The once-celebratory night had turned into a nightmare.
Cielo was already inconsolable when they found the three men waiting outside the emergency room.
Romos tried to hold her in his arms, fighting the tremor in his own body, struggling not to break. Everything happening now felt like déjà vu... the same unbearable dread they felt twenty years ago when they lost Ceres. But this time, Romos wasn't sure they would survive it. If they lost Evadne too, in the same cruel way they lost their first daughter, he wasn't sure there would be anything left of them to save.
There was only so much pain a parent could bear... only so many times the heart could shatter before it refused to beat again.
None of them... not Diana, not Nissan, not Angelina... could console Cielo. No words could make her believe everything would be all right, because at that moment, those words meant nothing. All they could do was weep and pray.
Pray that Evadne would live.
Pray that she would somehow survive whatever this was.
Jupiter wrapped one arm around his wife Angelina, who was trembling uncontrollably, while his other hand rested on Hades' shoulder.
Then, after what felt like a lifetime, the emergency room doors finally opened. The doctors stepped out, faces grave and exhausted.
"Doctor, how is my daughter?" Romos asked immediately, his voice shaking as Cielo clung to his arm, barely holding herself upright.
The head doctor looked at them with deep regret and slowly shook his head.
"I'm sorry," he began softly, "we tried everything..."
But he never finished.
Cielo's anguished cry tore through the corridor as she pushed past him and stumbled into the emergency room.
Evadne lay there on the hospital bed, hooked to a heart monitor that had already flatlined. The nurses and remaining doctors stepped aside silently, giving way to the grieving family.
"Time of death, 12:30 a.m., July 25," one of the doctors said quietly.
The words shattered what little composure Cielo had left. She collapsed instantly, unconscious, and Caspian caught her before she hit the floor. He and a nurse carried her out of the room toward another ward, followed by the others who were too stunned to speak.
But Romos couldn't move.
He stood frozen at the foot of the bed where Evadne lay lifeless, his entire body trembling. Slowly, he walked to her side.
"Vee… hon… please wake up," Romos whispered, his voice breaking as he leaned over her. His hands trembled as they cupped her face... her skin already growing cold.
"Open your eyes for Daddy, please… I don't like this joke, Vee. Please, open your eyes. I promise, if you just open your eyes, Daddy will give you everything you want, okay? I won't be too strict anymore… Evadne, please… just open your eyes. Mommy and Daddy still need you…"
Romos fell to his knees beside her bed, his body shaking with grief as he clung to her lifeless form.
"Why? God, why?" he sobbed. "You already took one daughter from me. Why do you have to take another? What did I ever do wrong? I'm no saint... but I'm not a bad man. So why are you punishing me this way? Why?!"
He pressed his forehead against Evadne's hand, crying harder.
"Vee, please… wake up. Wake up…"
In the sterile white hallway outside, everyone could hear him.
The sound of a father's anguish... a pain no one would ever truly understand.
The pain of losing two children.
The pain of having to bury them both instead of the other way around.
Evadne had been their saving grace after Ceres' death... the light that had kept their world from going completely dark.
And now that light was gone, too.
How could they move on from this?
How could they continue living with this kind of pain?
"Uncle…" Diana's soft, tearful voice broke the silence as she stepped forward. Her own cheeks were wet, but she tried to remain strong. "Aunt Cielo needs you," she whispered, her voice trembling.
She said it because she had to give him a reason to keep going... something to hold on to.
At the mention of his wife, Romos blinked through his tears, forcing himself to breathe. Slowly, he leaned down, kissed Evadne's forehead, and whispered something only she could hear. Then he stood, unsteady and hollow, and left the room.
"They need to clean her up," Diana said quietly to Casadin, who sat in the corner beside Hades, both of them silently crying.
"No… Mom, no…" Casadin shook his head weakly, his voice small and breaking. "Please… not yet."
"Babe, give them time," Caspian murmured, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder.
Diana looked at the two young men before her... two boys who had once been inseparable, then turned enemies because of a girl. She had thought they would never find peace again… until Evadne.
Evadne had been the bridge that reconnected them... the light that healed what pride and heartbreak had broken.
"This is not your fault, okay? None of this is your fault," Diana said firmly, her voice motherly but trembling. She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to both their foreheads.
Then she stood, tears in her eyes, and quietly left the room.
Caspian closed the door behind them, turning to the hospital staff.
"Let them be for a while," he said softly.
The doctors nodded and stepped back, leaving Hades and Casadin alone with Evadne...
with their love,
their grief,
and the unbearable silence that followed the sound of a flatline.
Hades crawled toward Evadne, his body trembling as if his strength had abandoned him.
"Baby, you need to wake up," he pleaded, voice breaking between sobs. He couldn't believe it... how the happiest moment of his life had turned into the worst within seconds.
This was supposed to be one of the best days of their lives. That was the plan.
Even before their road trip, Hades had already asked Casadin for permission. He wanted to do things the right way... to formally ask Evadne, in front of everyone, to be his girlfriend. Because no matter how strange their relationship was, Hades wanted her to experience the things every girl deserved in love.
And Casadin had agreed.
He'd told Hades, with quiet strength and trust... trust that Hades had once broken, but Casadian was willing to give him back... that he would support him for Evadne's happiness. But he warned him not to reveal anything too early, just in case Evadne accidentally read Casadin's mind.
So Hades had planned everything carefully, in secret.
He made sure every detail was perfect... every second hidden from her so she wouldn't sense it in anyone's thoughts.
And now… she was officially his girlfriend.
Not because their parents wanted it.
Not because the world expected it.
But because they had chosen each other.
Because they loved each other.
"Baby, please," Hades whispered, pressing his forehead against hers. "You can't do this. You need to fight this. You're stronger than this... please. You haven't even lived your life to the fullest yet. You spent twenty-one years of hell in Solmara… you deserve happiness here. You can't leave now."
Tears streamed down his face, falling onto hers. "You still have so many people to annoy, baby… We still have to go back to the Noir Village, remember? You still need to learn how to use the mana rings… please."
He pressed his lips to her cold ones, kissing her desperately, hoping she'd kiss him back. "You promised Lyxaria you'd help them find a Narf to bring them back to Solmara, remember? You always keep your promises. So please… wake up."
Casadin, who had been crying silently, froze at Hades' words. His mind clicked into focus.
"The Bloodletting…" he whispered under his breath, wiping away his tears. His knees were shaking, but he forced himself to move toward Hades.
"Hades," Casadin said urgently, "the Bloodletting."
But Hades didn't respond. He was spiraling, lost in grief, clinging to Evadne and whispering her name over and over.
"HADES!" Casadin shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him away so he would look at him. "The Bloodletting! What did Nebyros and Lyxaria say about the Bloodletting?"
Hades blinked through his tears, confused.
"What's happening to Vee right now," Casadin said, his voice trembling but firm, "it could be because her demi-human and human blood are at war inside her. So what did Nebyros and Lyxaria tell us about the Bloodletting?"
"I… I don't know…" Hades stammered, still dazed.
"You know!" Casadin shouted, shaking him. "You're the one who always pays attention to everything! They told us... you have to remember!" His voice cracked with desperation.
He had always relied on Hades to listen, to understand the things Casadin ignored. Now he hated himself for not paying attention back then... too busy being in awe of Evadne's power, too caught up in her light to notice, to pay attention to anything and anyone else.
"Brother," Casadin said, voice trembling, "Princess is counting on us. She needs us... and she's waiting for us to save her. So get your shit together and remember!"
Tears fell freely down his face. "She's counting on us."
Hades shut his eyes, forcing himself to breathe. He tried to recall their days in the secret Noir Village... every word Nebyros and Lyxaria had said.
"They said the Bloodletting is… a painful ceremony," Hades said slowly, remembering. "Because you have to kill half of yourself. So to survive it, they engulf themselves in fire... because fire protects them. It's their element."
Casadin's eyes widened. "Princess is a Narf. Her element isn't fire... it's water. She said it before. Water protects her."
He looked toward Evadne's body. "She needs to be in the water. We have to submerge her!" Casadin said, rushing to her side and moving to lift her from the hospital bed.
"What if it doesn't work?" Hades said weakly, doubt flickering in his eyes.
"HADES!" Casadin barked, his voice sharp, snapping him back to reality. "I said pull yourself together! We're not thinking of what ifs right now. The worst has already happened. What could possibly be worse than this?!"
Hades stared at him, breathing hard.
"So move!" Casadin roared. "Now!"
Because Casadin was right. There was no worse "what if" than absolute death.
Whatever it took...
however reckless, insane, or impossible it sounded...
they would do it.
Even if the world thought they'd lost their minds,
they would try.
Because if there was any chance...
any at all...
to bring Evadne back into their arms,
they would take it.