“It’s not. You’re underestimating Valen. You’re underestimating all of them. Gregor wouldn’t even know this base existed if you hadn’t brought vampire prisoners here. You and General Lopez must’ve dragged in a Dragonis and put everyone at risk.”
His brows furrow. “What?”
“You heard me!” I throw up my hands.
“We have never brought a Dragonis anywhere near this place. That would be suicide.” He stills for a moment, his expression going sober. “The only one who’s here with any drop of Dragonis blood isyou, Georgia.”
I blink, my entire body going cold to the bone. “No.”
“Think about it. Gregor never knew about this base, never targeted it until now. And all of the sudden, we’re in thecrosshairs?” He shakes his head. “It didn’t even occur to me. I brought you here, and you have the enemy in your blood.”
“No.” I back away from him.
He continues, figuring it out as he speaks. “Valen has known about the base for months. He’s been here before, but he’s always been able to shield certain things from Gregor.” He doesn’t say it with pleasure. Grim and factual, he looks away. “No other Dragonis …”
I sit heavily on the hard couch, my blood loud in my ears. Me. I’m the reason Gregor knows about the base. And if he knows about the base—I shake my head. No. No, no,no. I press my hands to my face.
“Georgia, we’re safe.”
“No.” Panic closes my throat. I can’t say it out loud. I can’t.
If Gregor knows about this base because of me, then he knows I’m alive. He’s known all along that Valen has been lying about Carlotta killing me.
My gorge rises, and I swallow the bile. He’ll never let Valen live. He’s just toying with him now, and Valen has no idea. He’s walking into a woodchipper.
Gage is talking to me, but I can’t hear him. My vision swims, awareness trickling through my blood like icy fingers. I smell death, rot, the stench of human decay.
Come to me. A voice, cold and unforgiving. It echoes in my mind as my world turns to black, as I sink into a mire of corpses, all of them grasping for me, their mouths yawning.
Someone screams, the sound high and piercing.
It’s me.
I’m screaming.
I can’t stop.
I’ll never stop.
17
VALEN
Idrop down the narrow shaft, falling swiftly until I drag my fingers along the stone and slow to a stop as I step into the manor, the hell my father created. One that I’m damned to occupy.
“You’re back.” Druin is waiting, his posture strained, a silver dagger in one hand.
I stride past him. The anger that raged inside me when I’d realized he let Georgia walk right into Captain Howard’s trap has faded to a dull sliver. It’s barely a cut compared to the loss of my entire world. My mate. My heart. Gone. I hesitated before I renounced our bond, before I was able to give her up completely. I was weak, desperate to feel her one last time, one more moment of her warmth, her brilliance.
That’s all gone now. Never to return. Everything is muted. Even my seething rage, my hate, my instincts.
“Aren’t you going to …” Druin’s voice fades as I return to my thoughts. He’s a child in a game of ancients, and I owe his father many debts, the same as he owes me. I won’t take Druin’s life. Not tonight. He’s prepared for a battle I don’t intend to wage.
My time here is short. I can feel the tug beneath my skin, the pull toward Gregor. He’s summoning me. An endless call that demands blood. Indiscriminately. Constantly. A hunger that will never be sated.
Mindlessly, I descend the steps. Druin is at my back. Perhaps it would be a kindness if he plunged that blade straight through my heart.
“Where’s my sister?” Juno blocks the entrance to my rooms.
