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  I dreamed.

  “I don’t love you,” I lied. I was standing on the balcony, overlooking a field on a bright, clear day, but my chest felt cold and empty.

  “You don’t mean that,” he whispered beside me.

  “I do,” I breathed, not daring to look at him.

  I heard him make a sound as if stifling a cry and watched him out of the corner of my eye as he descended the stairs and left.

  I was glad he was gone because then he couldn’t see my tears as I felt my heart break.

  I had to do it, I told myself again. It was the only way to save his life.

  I sprinted down the hallway in the dim light. The castle was old, obviously not lived in for ages. The torchlight flickered off the walls, off empty sconce holders, off closed and locked doors.

  I came to a giant ornate wooden door and stopped. It was covered in an embossed pair of entwined snakes, or perhaps dragons.

  As I reached out to touch it, the serpent heads shot out at me, alive now, hissing and snapping. I jerked my arm back quickly and watched as they returned to their original places and became wood once more.

  Knowing I wouldn’t get anywhere that way, I continued racing down the hall. At the end was another pair of doors much like the others, except wrought in both metal and wood, and without any animals. I pushed the rightmost one and the door swung open silently.

  Inside the room, I saw Dimero chained to the back wall, the witch to one side, and a pair of glass doors leading to a balcony open on the other.

  “I won’t let you kill him!” I shouted at the witch. “I did what you told me to do!”

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  “Ah, but you didn’t tell ME,” she countered. “Say it now, in front of me, three times, and I will let him live.”

  I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. “I don’t love him,” I said once.

  Dimero moaned and moved his head, coming to consciousness.

  I blinked back tears and said again, “I don’t love him.”

  He opened his eyes and looked at me, pleading. “Don’t say it,” he breathed. Even though it was just a whisper, it echoed around the empty stone room loud enough for all of us to hear.

  The witch pointed at him and electricity shot from her finger to his body. He jerked and screamed.

  “Stop it!” I cried out.

  The witch laughed. “You know what you need to do for it to stop,” she said.

  I closed my eyes and at the top of my voice I shouted, “I DON’T LOVE HIM!” I felt my world shatter at that third proclamation. I fell to my knees, heartbroken and exhausted. “Now let him go, please.”

  The witch laughed again and looked to Dimero. “You’re mine now,” she told him.

  “Never,” he spat at her. “I will never love you, I will never willingly be yours.” I glanced up and saw him looking at me. “I love you,” he whispered.

  My body shook and I couldn’t hold onto the lie any longer. “I love you too,” I said. “I love you, I love you.”

  The witch screamed and pointed both hands at Dimero. Fire and electricity shot at him and he screamed. I jumped up and charged the witch, hitting her with all the force I could. She fell to the floor below me, her magic cutting off. I screamed and punched her in the head over and over until she stopped moving. I could still feel her breathing, but I didn’t care anymore. I raced over to Dimero and unchained him, carrying him gently to the balcony, where I hoped the fresh air would help him.

  “I love you, I love you,” I repeated over and over. “Please don’t die. I’m sorry I lied. Please come back to me. I love you.”

  I held him in my lap and felt for his breathing and his heart. They were both so faint. A soft rain began falling and I started crying, repeating the same things over and over, but his life signs just got weaker and weaker.

  A sudden noise from the room made me jerk my head up. The witch was standing, pointing at me.

  “You will die for this,” she swore, and unleased fury at me.

  Time suddenly stopped. The rain hovered in the air, no longer falling. I heard a voice in my mind and felt a sense of calm that I knew I shouldn’t feel in that moment.

  “I can save you,” it said.

  I looked around, searching for the source of the voice. “Who’s there?”

  “I can save you,“ it repeated. “I can kill the one who seeks to harm you, but your man will die as well.”

  “I don’t want to live without him,” I whispered, holding his body closer to me.

  “Then I can save both you and your man, but it comes at a price.”

  “What’s the price?” I asked.

  “I can take your souls from your body and protect them. But I will need to take the soul of the other as well. I will keep the three of you safe for many years, until sometime in the future when you will be reborn. You will not know who you have been and you will not know each other, but you will have the chance at life and at finding each other again someday.”

  “I’ll do it,” I said. “Any chance is better than none at all.”

  The air around me began glowing brighter and brighter, until I couldn’t see anything but white.