sting iron a

ng sweeter-jasmine and decay. I was chained again, but not in the pack's detention cells. These chains were black

underg

e

here screams never

rnous chamber. Stalactites dripped somewhere far above. And in the center of

were

irteenth

black silk dress that pooled around her like spilled ink, hair loose

Terror

nd the sound echoed off

ins. They didn't budge.

oftly. "The Hollow. Where the fi

tself moved her feet. When she reached me, sh

ss. I thought-" Her voice crac

Silver collar. Tranquilizer da

e going to execute you at dawn. The coun

ed himself to that

." Her fingers brushed the new mark on my collarbone-two drops now, s

di

hing between my chest and hers. When she breathed, I f

ate

much I did

n me,"

ack runes circled them like bracelets, glowing t

wh

her shoulder at t

irteen bloodlines. They've been waiting three hundred years f

you'r

e chose me as host. It chose you as

. "You think I'm going to help you murde

y, "you're going to help m

ed between us,

thing that broke

my lap, right over

were raw, animal sobs that shook her whole body. I

elf in the cellar during my twentieth birthday and swallowed wolfsbane until I blacked

ed at my thighs

it took was my

stopped

of it through the bond-grief so vas

found me holding what was left. She covered it up. Told the pack he'd been ta

found myself threading my chained fingers thro

r," she said

're

's heart in f

it. You warn

you withou

you back,

ent s

es red-rimmed, and lau

fucked,"

greed. "We

deep in the mountain. The

sed. "They

ho

They want to

thrones be

he color of dried blood, faces hidden behind bone-white masks carved in

ene

forward, mask etche

ed. "Anchor. The Ho

cing herself bet

teady now. "The bargain was for

d. "The curse chose diff

said. "Afraid of what happens

through the

ound my wrists tightened, cutting deep

yes flashing blac

nd I'll show you what happens w

her mask. I saw it in th

withstand the Hunger's call for one night unchai

I can't?

's eyes f

Covenant takes what's left of

ward me. "No.

s alread

hain

ared. The ir

legs, blood dripp

an clap

ches we

wallowed t

the Hun

ld, endless, ravenous. My vision bled to black and silve

lene screa

chanting in a langu

curse, clear as a b

eed me, or I take

ed to m