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I flex my wrist to draw attention to the dagger pressed into Alaric’s side. “To level the stakes, first release one of them and then we will release our hostages together.”
Kitty begins sobbing uncontrollably. The guard holding her snaps at her to stop, but it only makes her cry harder. He backhands her across the face, snarling. The hit rings out, sharp and vicious. Her head snaps to the side and when she straightens, her skin is red and already swelling.
I clench my jaw so hard my teeth ache. The only thing keeping me in place is the determination that no blood will be spilled today. Perhaps when I return for Alaric, I will kill him, too.
“Run, Clara! Don’t trust her!” Father shouts. He struggles against the vampire holding him back.
My heart squeezes in my chest. Once this is all over—
But I don’t have the chance to finish the thought before Elizabeth rounds on him, her movements are almost too fast for me to follow. She grips the sides of his head, and twists in a single, violent move.
A sickening sound echoes through the field and fades. Father’s body crumples to the ground with a dull thud.
It must only be a second, though it feels like a small eternity passes before Kitty’s scream rents the air.
“Shut your fucking mouth or I will do it for you,” Kitty’s guard spits the threat, looking as if he would like nothing more than to follow through.
Father….
Shock keeps me frozen in place. The possibilities of my tiny family reuniting and any slender chance we stood of mending the fissures that formed between us flash before my eyes. Gone. All of it gone before it even had a chance. A sob works its way up my throat, choking me.
There is still time to save your sister,Varin reminds me.
“All right,” I call out. “I will let him go.” My hands tremble as I take the dagger and slice through the rope woven with false strands of night-forged silver.
Kitty runs toward me, sobbing before Alaric’s binds fall to the frozen ground. I don’t notice when he steps away, only that cold air replaces the warmth at my side. My full attention is on my sister. I open my arms to her, ready to protect her from further pain. She stumbles when she’s only a few feet away. Her face contorts.
Then she is falling. I lunge forward and catch her.
A silver bloom unfurls into crimson in the center of her chest. I don’t understand what I am seeing until I lower us to the ground. My mind doesn’t want to accept it because if I do, if I know, then it might break me.
A gleaming arrowhead protrudes from her chest.
No… no, no, no, no, no! I cradle her against me.
Not Kitty.
She was supposed to be safe.
She was supposed to be happy.
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” It’s the only thing I can say. Kitty’s face blurs. Hot tears track down my cheeks with every blink.
She shudders in my arms. Coughs. A trickle of blood pools in the corner of her mouth. Kitty parts her pale, cracked lips to speak. Blood stains her teeth an awful red.
“I told you to kill him.” She coughs again, wheezing for breath. “You should have killedhim.”
Those words are a jagged, rusted knife hacking at my already wounded heart. I know she doesn’t mean them—she can’t. She never knew the truth of what he did for her. Still, I can’t blame her.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I am stuck… trapped in this moment. Even when Kitty’s body goes limp in my arms, and her gasping breaths fade, I cannot escape. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
A shadow falls over us, bringing with it a harsh cold that pierces down to my marrow.
“This is the least of what you deserve,” Elizabeth hisses from above. “Did you honestly thinkyoucould win againstme?”
Her hand snakes out and grabs me by the hair. She wrenches my head back at a painful angle. I am forced to release my sister’s body as Elizabeth pulls me to my feet. “Even if you brought an army, you would have only accomplished giving them an early death as well.”
I grit my teeth.
