Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“I’m locked in an underground castle, and you think I have any idea which way the wind is blowing?” I scoff at her. “That’s something else about you that’s changed. You used to be smart.”
She hisses between her teeth and backs away. “You know something, some tidbit of information that would be invaluable to me. Do you think I just floated along behind your sister for all those years? No, I watched and listened and learned. Gaining the upper hand is often nothing more than a matter of paying close attention. But Valen is inscrutable, never giving anything away. We know he’s plotting against Gregor. Torture hasn’t gotten the truth from him, no matter what Gregor tries. He won’t admit to his treason, and he hasn’t given us another target. Either he is the traitor or he knows who it is.”
“If Gregor thinks Valen is plotting against him, why doesn’t he just kill him?” The thought just pops out. I’m becoming more like them the longer I’m locked away down here.
“Kill his most powerful general in the war on the humans?” She tsks. “And he is the last of Gregor’s direct line, even if his blood is tainted by the human half.”
“You were a human, Fatima. Have you forgotten that?”
“And now I’m something more. Humans are a species meant for extinction. It’s just occurring faster than nature intended.”
“How does that happen?” I ask.
“Extinction?” She blinks. “By—”
“No, how did you go from having thoughts and feelings to being a vicious bitch with no regard for anyone but herself? Does becoming one of them cost your soul? Are you damned?”
She smirks. “As I’ve said, it’s humanity that’s damned. Not me.” She crosses her arms, drumming her nails along the bare skin of her upper arms. Her beautiful eyes narrow. “What do you want?”
“What?”
“I had to make a deal to get in here to see you. Now I’ll make one with you for the information I need. What do you want, Georgia? Quid pro quo.”
“Out of here.”
She barks a mirthless laugh. “Something actually doable, you little fool.”
I have a question, one that’s never been fully answered. It’s tickled at the edges of my mind, a misshapen puzzle piece that can be forced but still ruins the final image.
“I can tell you who he’s met with—the ones I’ve seen. But that’s all. I don’t know anything else. If that’s of value to you, then we may be able to make a deal.”
She wrinkles her nose. “That’s all?”
“Take it or leave it.” I shrug.
“What do you want in return?”
“An answer to a single question.”
One of her perfect brows arches, then she twirls her finger in a ‘go on’ motion.
“Gregor wants to destroy humanity. But doesn’t that mean he will also destroy vampires?” She opens her mouth, and I hold up a finger. “That’s not my question.”
Her fingers drum faster against her skin.
“I mean, this is obvious. The whole food chain will collapse if the vampire’s primary blood source is gone. Just basic math. Gregor’s end goal is irrational and nihilistic. I think you all know this.”
She doesn’t so much as twitch.
“But the vampires go along with the plan because Gregor’s the king and disobedience earns them a visit from his Specter, which then ends with their heads separated from their bodies. Maybe the vampires think Gregor just needs time to come to terms with his grief. Or maybe, as you suspect, some of them are plotting to take him down.”
“Is there a question?” she asks testily. “I’m not one of your students, Doctor. The lecture isn’t necessary.”
“There is a question. Gregor lost his only full-blooded heir, Theo. He’s a homicidal maniac, so a bloody rampage seems on track as a way to assuage his anger over the loss. But this complete extermination is something different.” I think back to the book with the joined trees, one dead, the other fading slowly. “I only did a few psych rotations, but I studied suicidal ideation. Most suicides destroy only themselves. But some—particularly if they display narcissistic traits—are what are known as family annihilators. They take everyone with them to the grave. Usually, they don’t show outward signs of their descent into destruction. Gregor though, he looks …”
She’s grown more tense, her fingers still, her gaze fixed on me.
“Well, you know how he looks. Like he’s suffering from a wasting disease. Skin gray, eyes sunken—” I grimace. “So my question is this: Is Gregor dying?”
She’s on me in an imperceptible blink, her palm across my mouth, the force of it pressing the back of my head painfully against the wall. “You will never utter that out loud again,” her whisper is a sibilant hiss.
I grab her wrist, but she doesn’t move.
“Never,” she repeats.
Heart racing, I stare into her eyes. And in them I see the truth. The fear. The uncertainty.