Victoria POV
Victoria had not slept.
She sat in the chair beside Lilith's bed watching her niece sleep and felt the weight of the impossible choice pressing down on her chest until she could barely breathe.
Dawn light was beginning to filter through the window, pale and grey and doing nothing to warm the cold dread that had settled into Victoria's bones.
Lilith looked peaceful.
Her breathing was steady. Her color had improved from the deathly pale she had been when Elena first stabilized her. The convulsions had stopped. The bleeding had ceased.
She looked like she might actually survive this.
But Victoria knew better.
In two days, Lilith would attempt Elena's transformation ritual. She would try to pull the curse inward and make the death magic her own. And either it would work,,,
Or Lilith would die.
Victoria pressed her hands to her face and tried to breathe through the panic.
