“Come on!” he shouts, ready to run after again, but two things are stopping me. One, I see a puddle of fresh oil on the ground on the asphalt near where we are sitting, and two, I can hear the roar of an engine in the distance. We don’t have much need for vehicles when we can run almost as fast as o
Emory I hear a beeping sound, faintly, in the background, and I know that it’s some kind of machine. I remember hearing them in the hospital when Lola was born. For a moment, I am back there, and I am wanting to hold the baby but also want to see her mother, and I’m told that she died in childbirth
“He sacrificed himself for her,” Kane explains. “They had a car waiting on the other side of the wall, closest to their clan lands. Jacob slowed Rainer up so that Opal could get away. She’s gone now, and I’m pretty sure she managed to slip through our border patrol, too. I’m going to go call her fat
Emory Lex looks different when he comes in. It’s not just that he’s got smudges of dirt all over him and his clothing is torn, something I can’t imagine from the polished Lex I saw at dinner the other night and in the library earlier, but his countenance has changed. “Hello,” he says as he walks t
I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly, thinking I should ask for some medicine to help me sleep now. I’ve been so tired the last few days, it should be easy enough even without the medicine, but my shoulder is aching a little, and I feel drained, but my mind is blasting off at a million miles
“I like your optimism,” he says. “But… unfortunately, in my experience, bitches like Opal tend to get away with this kind of shit.” “Maybe you’re right,” I tell him. “Only time will tell.” “Well, listen,” he says, clapping my leg again, though not hard. “I know you’re tired. I’m gonna get out of y
KaneIt’s difficult for me to decide what to do first, call Vampire King Peter to see if he has Opal and demand justice for what his bitch daughter has done here or to go interrogate Jacob. In the end, I decide to head to the dungeon first. I want to see the face of the asshole who tried to kill my
“That’s true,” I agree. “But you didn’t. You had to know there was some risk involved in this, didn’t you?” He only looks at me blankly. “Were you always supposed to be the one to take the fall when it went to shit? Or did you just come up with the short straw?”“We weren’t supposed to get caught,”
MichaelI pace the foyer, running my fingers through my hair over and over again as I listen to the voices of Emelda and Alma drifting down the staircase. Lowe walks in from the kitchen with an armful of firewood, his face drawn with fatigue. I nod at him in greeting as he walks past me toward the
“What did they do to you?” I press. I wave my hand at the mess of jars, herbs, and healing… potions, not just tonics. Actual potions. Potions made by a witch.“What didn’t they do is a better question,” she murmurs, turning away. “Emelda–”“I was a girl,” she whispers over the simmering water and c
MichaelThree hours later, in the dead middle of the night, I stand in the doorway leading into the cozy guest room I brought Faye into what must have been weeks ago. I guess that much time has passed since then. It feels like seconds, honestly. I feel like I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath
MichaelAlma and Lowe speak in quiet tones in the foyer while he helps her into her thick coat. The usual, ceaseless sprinkle of rain has finally turned to sleet–a vicious mix of freezing rain and the first hints of snow that’s going to make the village an icy mess when day turns to night. Lowe pus
MichaelFaye’s room is chaotic. Nurses and the physician crowd her bed to the point I can’t see her through the fray. I push through them, seeing her pale and writhing, arching off the bed in pain. “What’s wrong with her?!” I shout. Faye murmurs, white foam tinted with blood bubbling from her lips
Six Weeks AgoFayeMy slippers pad across the pale marble tiles. I hike up my dress–pink, just like the slippers I spent hours upon hours embroidering with little stars and white flowers. My hair fans out around my shoulders and down my back in my haste to reach my father’s office. Cara, my lady’s m
MichaelI find my mom out in the garden. I had a feeling she’d be here, surrounded by petals and green plants–things that keep her grounded to the nature shifters crave. She’s kneeling, her fingers deftly pulling up weeds–or something. She straightens and lifts her head as I approach, reveling in he
Faye“What are you doing here? I thought you returned to Scarlett Thunder?” Michael gives Cole a skeptical look, but Cole rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his broad chest. His dark hair catches the light and gleams as he replies, “My mother thought it would be best to return a few days before
FayeThe next morning, I wake up alone in the little inn room. Soft gray daylight filters through the curtains, illuminating the rumpled sheets on the bed and my clothing from yesterday still hanging near the fireplace. I blink into the shadows, rubbing my eyes as a figure appears to my left, pulli