“You know when.”
“No. Tell me.” Why did Astrid’s words sound like a script? Nix frowned and looked more carefully into Astrid’s blue eyes. Did she really believe what she was saying?
Astrid sputtered. “You’re not even listening to me.”
“I am, actually. My ears are wide open.”
“Snarky bitch.” Astrid grabbed a handful of Nix’s blood-orange colored hair and tugged forcefully. “You thought dyingyour hair red would make all the guys interested in you? You care so much about what you look like and stealing all the alphas—”
“How many times do I have to say I don’tCARE—” Nix started, but a strong slap interrupted her. “Stopfucking slapping me.”
“Like you could do anything about it. You’re just a powerless slut who can’t even shift.” Astrid lifted the small surgical blade in her left hand. “Do you think they will still like you when you look like a monster?” Astrid smiled. “By the time I’m done with you, no alpha will want you.”
“Uh, Astrid,” the other girl said nervously. “That wasn’t in the plan—”
Aggravated, Astrid replied, “I don’t care what they wanted.” She lifted the blade to Nix’s mouth. “You think the guys in this school will still want to kiss you when you have this scar?”
Astrid slit Nix’s lips in a downward cut from just above her mouth to below the curve of her bottom lip. Warm blood trickled over her mouth and chin. Nix whimpered at the shock of pain but kept the hurt from her expression.
Anger sparked in Nix’s lungs, radiatingwarmth. Heat. More sweat dotted Nix’s forehead as the Evernell poison weakened in her system. They must have given her a smaller dose than what her captor used to give her.
“Astrid!” the other blonde yelped.
“What…happened to you?” Nix muttered around the blood. She remembered Astrid in her past life as a mean girl, but nothing like this had ever happened. A few cruel words, sure, but mutilation?Something is wrong with this timeline.
Why?
“You think anyone will want to look at you after I do this?” Astrid laughed when she cut a large line into the side of Nix’s face, seeming to follow the angle of her cheekbone.
She…did it. ShecutNix.
Hot streams of blood flowed over Nix’s face as the voice of her captor speared through her. “My special little birdie. Are you going to cry for me? You know I love it when you cry.”
Fear. Anger. So many damn memories—an overwhelming rush of them slammed through Nix.
The cuts Astrid left on her face stung, but it was the triggered memory of her cage, of her torture, that ignited something dark and powerful inside of Nix. Even through the poison, Nix felt her skin heat, invisibly searing. Nix smelled smoke.
“Maybe I shouldcut‘whore’ into your forehead, so everyone willalwaysknow what you are.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Astrid’s friend asked her. “This isn’t what they said to do.”
“Who is ‘they?’” Nix asked and tugged on the rope.Yes. Movement. Nix tried to distract them as she wiggled her wrists, trying to loosen the restraints. “What did they tell you to do to me? Who doesn’t want me to go to the stupid dance?”
Because Nix was pretty sure the culprit was Elle.
“Now she is asking questions,” Astrid’s friend whined.
“Maybe we should just kill her.” Astrid ran her fingers through her hair and scratched at her scalp. “It would get all of this to just, finally, stop.” She scratched her scalp.Scratch, scratch. Astrid closed her eyes and winced in pain.
“Does it…feel like someone else is in your head, Astrid?” Nix asked. Could Elle have bespelled more than just Persius?
“Fuck you.” Astrid flung the small blade out, but Nix leaned to the left just in time to avoid it.
“Stop!” Astrid’s friend grabbed at Astrid’s wrists, trying to secure the blade. “You can’tkillher. Think of what they will do to you! They said she can’t die.”
“What makes her so special, huh?”
“My mates will kill you if you hurt me,” Nix told her, looking up from under her messy red-orange hair. “Actually, they will probably make youwishfor death.”
