Chapter Forty-One:
Kathryn…
She watched silently as Moriarty quickly drank the antidote. She was grateful that he trusted her so completely still to not question her actions. He never gave her the impression that he thought she was deceiving him. A bitter breeze blew through the frozen cave and she pulled her greatcoat tighter around her.
Moriarty gave her a look of slight accusation. "What are you waiting for, Kit?" he asked her. "Are you waiting for me to die?"
She shook her head. "Not at all," she replied, hearing a rifle ready to fire in the distance. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or if she really heard it. "I'm simply waiting for you to realise you've just taken the antidote to the Elixir."
He stared at her for a moment. Then he threw his head back and laughed. "You foolish girl," he said. "There is no antidote to the Elixir. It can only run its course."
"You misunderstand me," she said. "You've always misunderstood me. You underestimated my abilities. You always have. Did you think that I wouldn't be able to find it?" She laughed at him in her turn. "What did you think I was doing the past few months? You know I constantly thirst for knowledge!"
He was shocked; it was on his face. "No… It cannot be," he said. "You would not do that to me!" He crossed to her and cupped her head in his hands. "You wouldn't… Would you?"
She pulled away from him. "My love for you died when you betrayed me," she said bitterly.
"I never…"
"You created what I am," she said. "It's because of you that I will never be accepted in the higher society to which my father belonged…" A tear rolled freely down her cheek. "That betrayal will be avenged and the world will be liberated from your evil."
"Your 'holier than thou' act will get you nowhere," he said, mocking her. "You can't buy your way into Heaven by killing me, Kit. No one like you will ever be forgiven of so many crimes to be allowed into God's Heaven. So, stop trying to sound noble."
She scoffed. "Whoever said I wanted to go to Heaven?" she asked. "I forfeited that right years before I met you. Now, I just want to redeem myself in the eyes of the people I will be leaving behind when I do eventually die. To save my family's name." She raised her hands above her head and stretched, yawning. "So, good-bye, Professor James Moriarty." She turned her back to him and heard the gunshot. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him and gagged. His skull had been shattered and his face was distorted hideously.
"Kathryn!" a cry echoed in the cave as a deep, but quiet rumbling sounded. "Kathryn, hurry! Before the cave mouth freezes over!"
It was Skinner, she was sure of it. The rumbling grew louder and Kathryn ran as fast as she could to the entrance of the cave. But, no matter how fast she ran, she wasn't fast enough. She reached the mouth of the cave just as the thick wall of ice sealed itself. She could see a shape on the other side of it. It was blurry, but she was certain that it was Skinner. She put her hand up flat against the ice. His met hers on the opposite side. "Farewell, my love," she whispered, stepping backwards, away from the ice.
