The mountain beckoned me deeper.
The tunnel sloped left, then right—a few misshapen steps carved into slick stone.
The moans grew louder. A wail cut through the low murmurs. Someone screamed.
The fire snarled and sizzled, threatening to erupt out of me.
Clenching every muscle, I turned a corner and—
Found two guards with their backs to me.
In front of them was a little girl. A filthy little girl dressed in rags, holding out an empty wooden bowl.
They laughed and shook their heads at whatever she’d asked. The taller one kicked her, sending her bowl flying. She slammed to the ground with a cry.
In a fugue of heat and fury, I shot forward and severed one guard’s throat before stabbing the voice box of the other.
The little girl huddled and sobbed, not looking up as she covered her head. The men’s blood rained down their chests, covering my hands as they toppled quietly to the floor.
The fireroared.
I staggered backward. The cave walls shimmered red. Every bone in my body throbbed as if the burning venom threatened to get free—pushing against my ribs, testing its cage of bone and flesh.
I doubled over, balling my hand in my stomach as I tried to control it.
It just kept building.
A hairline fracture cracked across my chest, splitting my skin and revealing glowing muscles beneath.
Fuck...
What if Rook and I hadn’t evolved, after all?
What if the unlocking of fire and ice by the river was just the beginning? What if it’d just been waiting? Waiting for me to be stupid enough to leave her?
I groaned as the fire gnawed at my insides like blazing rats—
Something hesitantly soft landed on my wrist—almost too faint to feel.
My head snapped up, eyes locking onto the little girl who jerked her fingers off me and held up her empty bowl. Offering it with one hand, she extended her other arm in sacrifice.
“Please?” she whimpered. “I’ll give you my blood if you give me food.”
More heathowledthrough my chest.
No older than six or seven, her skin was littered with silver scars. Just like my arms had been when I’d lived in Cinderkeep.
Why was she trading blood for food?
Where the hell did she come from?
Sweating and shaking, I dropped to one knee. Wiping the glistening, still-warm blood from the slaughtered guards onto my thighs, I did my best to stay human.
The little girl fought her terror and eyed me, her black hair knotted and covered with hay, her bare feet so thick with dirt, it looked like she wore socks.
“Please?” She trembled, her rags shivering. The tattered holes around her torso revealed ribs beneath. “Food? Give me food for my blood?” Shoving her scarred arm under my nose, she wrinkled her tiny nose. “I’m hungry.”
She peered into my eyes...
