“Let me go,” I beg, voice shaking. Pathetic.
Her lips spread into a full smile. I cannot comprehend what’s happening.
“How?” I say quickly. She wants something from me. If she thinks she’ll get it, maybe she’ll let me go. “How do we still do this? How can I get you out of here?”
She releases her grip and I let out a shaky breath.
“You have to kill him,” she says through gritted teeth. Her eyes wide, looking over my shoulder. “Kill hi?—”
Before I even know what’s happening, a blade slides past my chest and slices straight into her neck with a sickening squelch.
56
Lina
This time, I do scream. The roar builds from so deep in my soul, I couldn’t have stopped it if I’d tried.
My scream is cut off quickly, though, with a rough hand over my face.
My Dread is not gentle as he shoves me back against the bars where the girl I tried to save bleeds out. Her limbs twitching.
I want to continue screaming. I want to kick and bite. I want to do the one thing the girl had demanded.
Kill him.
I want to shove that dagger through his chest. Rage like I’ve never felt courses through me, sinking deep into my soul. I’ve never felt hate like this.
This man, who killed my friend. Who stole me from a life with hope and freedom with the one person I loved. Who killed an innocent girl I wanted to save.
He betrayed me, I realize.
Tears fill my eyes so thick I can’t see. I don’t know what to believe anymore.
All energy seeps from my limbs, and instead of rage, I surrender to waves of sorrow. My body crumples to the ground, sinking into the mud and God knows what else.
The sobs come heavy and hard, and he smothers them with a tight grip over my mouth and nose until my vision peppers black.
I can’t believe I did this. I believed him.
How could I have believed him?
I knew what he was. Isawwhat he was. He showed me.
His fangs ripped into flesh. He’d grinned wide with blood pooling down his chin. And somehow, my stupid gentle mind believed he could be good.
What a fool I was.
His grip lessens gradually, until my sobs soften and I am able to be quiet. I cry again, shoulders shaking.
“Do not let them hear,” he whispers.
“Don’t touch me,” are the first words I’m able to get out. “Don’t ever fucking touch me again.”
Pain flashes across his face before he blinks it away. He has no right to feel pain.
I thought—I thought that, even in darkness, there could be good. I believed. I believed like Astella believed in her parents. Trusted the vision. Trusted the goodness of a world that has always shown the depths of its horror.
My faith is what will doom me, I realize.
