Page 252

I step closer.

Heat bites into my face.

“The table.”

Lower.

Another step.

“The mask.”

The fire drops again, but not enough.

Not nearly enough.

“The Hunt.”

I step into it.

Pain detonates across my legs.

A scream rips out of me before I can stop it.

Every instinct I have tells me to back up, but I force myself forward instead.

One step.

Then another.

The flames climb to my waist, licking over my clothes and curling around my body. The smell of singed fabric fills my nose. Heat claws across my skin until tears blur my vision.

Behind the fire, Ezra’s eyes fly open.

His whole body jerks against the roots.

He shakes his head.

No.

Of course he does.

Even now, he’d rather stay on his knees and let this fucking thing tear him apart than watch me hurt myself getting to him.

Too bad.

“You gave me a choice every goddamn time,” I choke out. “Because you needed me to make it myself.”

Something sharp wraps around my calf.

A root.

It tightens.

Thorns punch into my skin.

I nearly go down again.

Instead, I reach into the fire, grab the fucking thing with both hands, and pull.