About eight minutes into assassin training, I decide that I hate it.Anton claps his hands at me, making me jog around the room in faster and faster circles, calling it my training exercises and telling me I’d never even make it through the Candidacy at the Academy at this rate. It’s funny for about
“Group home,” he answers, giving a little nod. “It wasn’t at all bad, so don’t get any ideas about me being some poor lorn abused child. And we weren’t underfed and wanting, we just didn’t have…this.” He casts his hands out at the elaborate expanse of comfort and luxury and junk food I just conjured
Unsurprisingly, Laila loves the TV.She spends the first half of the movie staring at the screen in rapt awe while Anton and I kind of just…watch her. Then, when she breaks through her shock, Laila spends the second half of the film going through every feeling in her emotional rolodex, laughing hyst
But Orion moves on, shifting his eyes to Laila now. “And I also wanted to say, to both of you – to all of you – that I really want to spend more time with you. Not as a Prince, not as part of the Games. Just as…people. I’d like to be your friends, if you’ll let me.”Laila just stares at Orion in sur
“Oh, wow,” Anton says, straightening from his place at my side to gaze out over the black lake, shimmering like a flat expanse of rippled obsidian before us. “That’s…incredible.”And he’s right. I stare in awe at the sight before me – the lake, ringed by a wide expanse of dark pines, shining with th
Even more of a dreamboat than he was before.Which is…dangerous.I check myself more than once from staring at him rather blatantly as he laughs, concentrating instead on my dinner plate. But that doesn’t sufficiently distract, because it just reminds me that he can cook too. Damn it.“Seriously, th
“J-Jesse?” I breathe, staring at my favorite cousin, blinking hard to ensure that he’s not a mirage.Jesse stares right back at me, his face the mirror image of my complete shock. But when he whispers my name and takes a step towards me, I know that he’s real – because there’s no way that some imita
I can’t help but laugh as I move to Jesse’s side and wrap my hands around his arm. “Anton is here because granny gave him to me. As a present!” Anton gives me a dirty look, but he can’t help the smile that chases it.“What?” Jesse asks, utterly confused, looking down at me.“And these are our friend
“No!” she sputters out, stumbling a few steps towards me, shaking her head so hard her pretty blue-green hair flutters out all around her. “No, Junie, don’t make me go! I want…I want to stay here! And help! I mean…” she bites her lip. “It will be nice to be able to visit home. But I want to stay wit
“I’m sending you home too,” I say quietly, doing my best to look each in the eyes. “I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed that you didn’t get the wish.” They murmur a variety of responses back to me, most of them relieved. One by one they step forward and I take their ha
“Does…” I whisper, my eyes still fastened to Orion as my eyes move over him, feeling the powers that radiate from him now. “Does that mean you have all of the powers of Darkness too? From…from the wish?” “No,” Orion murmurs, looking down at his hands and flexing them, experimenting with the feel o
Beatrice is the last to go, staring at me in shock, realizing finally that she bet everything on the wrong horse. I bare my teeth at her, fangs extended, and Beatrice’s eyes go wider as she trembles and finally submits, going to her knees and bowing her head. “Good,” I say, my voice returning to n
Laila’s knife sinks deep between Death’s shoulder blades and the final scream of a God fills the air as Death falls to his knees. The magic stops mid-stream, like a tap being suddenly turned off. I groan and tilt forward against Anton, who catches me and holds me against his chest. “Shit, June,”
“Just a little longer, June. She’ll do it.” But what if she doesn’t? What if…what if I’m inches from oblivion, and this is it? My heart strains in my chest, my wolf shaking like a leaf from snout to tail. But still, I will myself to hope. To trust in my friend. “I know,” I reply, letting my ey
I gasp, my shoulders trembling under the sheer weight of Death’s magic that flows over and around us, my shield barrier straining and buckling under its might. “June,” Anton breathes, eyes wide as he looks up at the magic streaming over us in an unending torrent. “Shit – are you –“ I crouch besi
The wish presses against Death for a moment and then sinks into him, dissolving into his chest. He sighs with happiness and what looks like ecstasy, tilting his head back to the sky as the magic disappears into him. Beatrice steps away, tucking her hands behind her back, beaming at the God she jus
Before I can get more than three steps after Laila, Anton lunges forward, his paws landing on either side of me as he snatches at the back of my gown with his teeth, holding me back. His fierce growl reminds me that I need to stay here – that Death took Laila because he wants me to come rushing onto