Lucien moved as fast as his panther had.
Leaping over the massacre on the floor, he charged after Lydia and grabbed her around the waist. Spinning her so her back pressed against his front, he clutched her close and murmured, “I’ll give my condolences to your father when I get out of here.” Then he dragged his blade over her neck, severing her flesh and trachea and—
I passed out as thick spurts of blood rained over everything.
Chapter Forty-Seven
I PLACED HER DOWN GENTLY ON the bed that was now officially unoccupied.
I’d made a mental note of which girl lived in each pavilion and this one no longer had a guest.
Rook’s old one—with its smashed furniture and inconvenient corpses, would be taken care of by Marcus’s cleaning crew and handy crematorium. But for now...she would stay here.
Gathering Rook’s long hair, I laid it over the pillow and brushed aside lingering strands from her red, slightly swollen cheek. My hands balled to resurrect the ones who’d hurt her and kill them all over again.
Whisper paced, his long tail lashing with impatience. He snapped his jaws, his muzzle coated with congealing crimson.
“Will you stop?” I hissed. “Go away if you can’t calm down.”
He dropped to his belly and glowered at me.
Ignoring the opinionated panther, I ran my fingers over the cut on Rook’s neck, the bruises on her arms, and the marks on her wrists.
My temper stayed dangerously high, my heart pounding.
I’d been able to fight my way through the flames of the vitalsync core while killing, but now...I groaned as yet another gush of fire pushed me closer to that excruciating edge.
I didn’t have long before I did exactly what Rook had done.
My lips thinned in a smirk.
What a pair we made. Both of us unable to stay conscious in times of pressure. Both of us crippled with agony we couldn’t stop.
At least her wounds weren’t serious and the ones who were responsible were dead.
Sitting by her side, I pulled out my dagger and fisted the hilt.
My jaw clenched.
I’d been a fool.
I thought I had more time. I’d plotted my escape for so long, it’d become more of a dream than a reality.
But...I was done.
It was now or never.
And I didn’t know how I felt about that.
On the one hand, I’d been begging for this moment for twenty years. But on the other, I wasn’t ready to face the outside world and all the carnage that would come with it.
My fingers throttled the knife as my need for vengeance turned violent.
If I survived the next few days, the slaughter would begin.
I would take what I was owed.
One screaming life at a time—
