Charles's POV
I believed I despised her enough to witness this moment without flinching.
Watching her bleed out, growing weaker with each passing second, slipping toward death.
I should have harbored enough hatred to remain cold and unmoved in a situation like this.
But hatred had abandoned me completely.
I could not bear to watch her fade away, despite all the times I had convinced myself I wanted her gone, wanted her to pay for what she had done.
I could not even abandon her the night I learned a violent storm was approaching the island. I knew terror would consume her, that she might crumble under the pressure, so I had remained nearby, waiting in case she needed someone, though she would never ask.
But this moment was different. Here I sat, feeling her life drain through my fingers.
The toxin had invaded her bloodstream, and I could sense its deadly progress through her body, wrapping around her heart like poisonous vines, stealing her breath by breath.
