The Sinful Pact

Chapter 21: Planning the Next Move

Dante and I sat in the garden, the air thick with tension and the remnants of Alistair's power still lingering around us. My wrist throbbed, the mark faintly glowing like a cruel reminder of how deeply tied I was to him.

"Are you okay?" Dante asked, his voice soft but filled with worry.

I nodded, though my hands were trembling. "I'll survive. What about you?"

He winced, rubbing his shoulder where he'd hit the ground. "I've had worse. But we can't stay here much longer. He'll come after us again."

I swallowed hard, the weight of the situation pressing down on me. "The ritual didn't work," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "He stopped it before we could finish."

Dante's jaw clenched, frustration flashing in his eyes. "We'll try again. There's more than one way to weaken him. But we'll need to be smarter about it."

I looked at him, my chest tightening. "Dante... what if we can't break the bond? What if he's right, and it's unbreakable?"

He reached out, taking my hand in his. His touch was warm, steadying. "We'll find a way, Leona. I promise you that. Alistair isn't invincible, no matter how much he wants us to believe he is."

His words gave me a spark of hope, though it was small and fragile. I wanted to believe him, to trust that we could win this fight. But the fear of failure lingered, a shadow that refused to leave.

"We'll need help," Dante said after a moment. "There are people who know more about bonds and rituals than we do. If we can find them, we might stand a chance."

"Where do we start?" I asked, my voice steadying as a plan began to form.

"There's a place," he said, his tone thoughtful. "A library hidden in the northern woods. It's old, but it has texts that might help us. Alistair won't expect us to go there."

I nodded, determination rising in my chest. "Then that's where we'll go."

For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt a glimmer of hope. The road ahead was uncertain and dangerous, but at least we had a direction. And I wasn't going to let Alistair win not now, not ever.