Extra Scene, Act 1, Chapter 9 (Lavina’s POV)

The fresh air brushes against Lavina’s face, but she barely notices it. The noise of the party doesn’t even register in her mind, and the scent of eucalyptus doesn’t reach her despite all the plants on the balcony.

All her senses are completely eclipsed by the person beside her, the one who makes her heart pound in her chest every time they look at her with the most beautiful eyes Lavina has ever seen. The emotion she feels is so overwhelming that her eyes begin to fill with tears. The words leave her mouth before she even realizes she’s thinking them.

“Tell me to go with you.”

Her words are almost a plea, a desperate attempt to convince herself that she’s not dreaming, that what she sees reflected in MC’s eyes is real. She’s dreamed of that look so many times that she fears it’s just another product of her imagination.

And that it can only exist there.

MC blinks a couple of times, surprised. “What?”

Lavina’s mouth goes dry, but she forces herself to swallow and takes a step forward.

“Tell me to go with you,” she repeats in a whisper. “Tell me to go, and I’ll go. If you want me to accompany you…” Lavina feels her lower lip trembling. What if they don’t want her to? She pushes those thoughts away before they can take hold. “Just saying yes will be enough for me to decide.”

Lavina has to hold her breath when MC closes the distance between them even more, their voice lowering to match hers.

“If you tell me to stay,” MC takes her hand. “I’ll stay.”

Oh, how tempting that sounds. But among all the flaws Lavina possesses, selfishness is not one of them.

The redhead looks away, her spirit crumbling along with her shoulders. “I can’t ask that of you, you must go. I can’t be so selfish as to prevent you from saving the world because of me.”

“Then what? What’s your decision?” MC insists, as eager to hear the answer as Lavina is to give it.

“I… I don’t know, I just…” But she does, and when Lavina looks back into MC’s eyes, all doubt disappears from her face and voice. “I just want to be with you.”

That’s it. That’s what it has always been about. Lavina doesn’t want glory, she doesn’t want riches or the fame that saving the world might bring them. She only wants to be with those she loves. With her friends, her brother, and, especially, with MC.

And right here, with the hopeful light of the candles and the gentle glow of the stars above them, Lavina gives herself permission to imagine that maybe, just maybe, that dream can come true.

Tonight her shadows aren’t that dark.