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“Goddamn it! Let me go, Rook!”

Rook hesitated, then slowly loosened his grip. Stepping forward on trembling legs, I halted inches from the chasm’s lip, letting the freezing mist swirl around my ankles without flinching.

“You want to jump for me?” I asked Malachi. “Fine. But I’m going over the edge with you.”

“No,” he snarled, panic flashing across his features. “Zinnia, step back⁠—”

“You still don’t get it,” I said, holding his gaze. “You don’t get to declare that your life is worth less than mine. You don’t get to play the martyr and leave me to carry the wreckage. If you’re going into that dark, we go together, and we tear whatever is down there to pieces.”

A ripple of uncertainty disturbed the Entity’s black gaze. “You would destroy yourself for him? After everything?”

Turning toward the vessel, I lifted my chin. “I’m refusing to let you weaponize his guilt. Malachi doesn’t get to decide that dying is the only way to love me, and you don’t get to use his remorse as leverage.”

“Then what do you propose?”

“A new bargain,” I said, my voice cutting cleanly through the chamber’s chill. “One where nobody dies unless they choose it without coercion.”

A mocking hiss escaped the Entity’s throat. “Every bargain in this House requires sacrifice.”

“Then I am the sacrifice.” The words came without hesitation. “I will pay the price. On my terms. Not yours. Not his. Mine.”

Malachi grabbed my wrist, his grip bruising. “Zinnia, stop. What are you doing?”

“What should have been done when Evangeline first signed her name.” Pulling free from his fingers, I turned back to the creature on the dais. “You want my blood. You want my consent. You want the final Vale heir to fulfill the contract. Fine. I will give you everything you need to close the ledger, but only if you release them.”

“Them?”

“All of them.” I swept my arm across the floor, pointing to Dahlia, Malachi, Rook, and Khaos. “You release my sister. Release Malachi, Rook, and Khaos from their functions, contracts, and debts. They walk out of this foundation alive, whole, and permanently free. No claims. No strings. No returns.”

“And what does the heir provide in exchange?”

“In exchange, I stay,” I said, keeping my pulse steady even as my hands shook. “I become the final sacrifice. I complete the transfer. I let you consume my blood, my body, and my choices to settle every debt this building holds.”

“No!” Malachi lunged toward me, his voice cracking with raw terror. “Zinnia, you can’t⁠—”

“I can.” Turning to him, I met his wild gaze with absolute certainty. “And I am. Because this is my choice. Not yours. Not the House’s. Mine.”

The subterranean chamber groaned as the stone buckled, dust raining from the arches above. Black flames in the sconces flared blindingly bright.

“Interesting. You offer yourself freely?” the Entity asked.

“Yes.”

“You consent to the transfer?”

“On my terms. Yes.”

“And you acknowledge that once the transaction is sealed, there is no reversal?”

“I acknowledge it.”

The Entity’s expression relaxed into something chillingly soft. “Step forward.”

I moved toward the dais, but Malachi caught my upper arm and spun me back against his chest.

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded, his voice breaking. “Please. We can find another way out. We can fight it together.”

“It has always been you, Malachi,” I murmured, lifting my hand to touch his cheek, feeling the rough stubble and the heat of his skin beneath my fingers. “From the first performance to this cellar. There is no other way to break the loop, and you know it.”