Mercifully, they don’t last long.
Another wolf darts in, dark jaws snapping closed on the boy’s head.
With a lurch of bone-deep horror, I realize it’shiswolf. Anassa let him go and he attacked his own rider.
There’s a terrible wet crunch as the animal bites down. The screams abruptly cease.
But not the horror.
The wolves are fighting over his corpse now. Tearing it to shreds. The boy’s wolf drops down next to him, their severed bond killing him as well, and the other wolves tear him apart next.
The crowd roars as the wolves and their riders start to disperse, leaving what remains of the Kryptos boy in shattered crimson pieces. The Rawbonds are celebrating, lifting their arms and cheering back at the crowd, their faces and skimpy clothes spattered with gore.
Blood and torn flesh paint the ground at their feet, flowing into those little divots. Dazed, I look down.
Realization hits me with overwhelming repulsion.
They’redrains. To carry the blood away from the battlefield so it doesn’t turn the dirt to mud.
This place is a theater of death.
My stomach lurches and I stumble away, desperate to put a little space between myself and that nightmare scene. There are other Rawbonds doing the same. Notallof them are celebrating. Many look as dazed and shaken as I am. One girl has tears in her shock-glazed eyes. Another falls to his knees and vomits on the ground.
Meanwhile, the wolves continue to circle. Their gazes lift to the king as though awaiting further command. Will there be another cull? Is the killing done, or has it just started?
I follow their looks. The king’s smile brings a renewed wave of nausea. It reminds of Jonah’s sadistic grin. He nods regally, lips curling in satisfaction, the keen eyes glinting with something disgustingly close to arousal.
Stark sits a few feet away at the foot of the dais—a place of honor, acknowledging his high rank as a leader of a pack. I’m not even surprised anymore to find he’s staring right at me.
He’s not smiling, and there’s a malicious glitter in his dark eyes. A silent message, as clear as the one I read in Anassa’s when she protected me moments ago.
He wants me dead.
I know it with bone-deep certainty. He called for this display because he knew the wolves would choose me.Iwas supposed to be the cull today—the one torn apart for all to see.
But there will be plenty of other chances to see me die an ignominious death. And the look on his face says he’s looking forward to it.
This is just the beginning.
Behind him, the king lifts his sword once more. The blade thunks against the dais. At once, the aura of bloodlust and impending violence abates. The wolves are calmed.
The Presentation is done.
The trudgeback to the dorm is made in exhausted silence. Even the Rawbonds who reveled in the kill are quiet. Venna and Izabel walk ahead of me, their twin dresses speckled with blood.
I didn’t see them in the fray, but they must have been close at the end. I don’t even have the energy to wonder if they enjoyed it. My mind is on Lee’s—ugh,Killian’s—note. It’s scratching inside my sleeve, burning against my skin.
As soon as we enter the dorms, I head for the lavatory and lock myself in one of the private stalls. My fingers tremble as I unfold the small square of paper.
East garden at midnight. Please, kitten.
I stare at the words, numb.
I shouldn’t go. What can he possibly say to make this canyon-wide lie between us okay? I’ve spent a year of my life, of my love, with a…stranger. The horror I felt when I first saw him standing there still lingers, twisting my insides, the bile rising at the back of my throat.
And the stupidest part is, I’ve missed him so much over the past couple of days. It felt like my heart was being carved from my chest with his absence. Little did I know that he was holding the knife the whole time.
But I can’t pretend that my mind isn’t heavy with questions that I’d like to get answered, primarily: why? Why me? Why lie?Why?
