Page 120 of Land of Shadow

Gene, Wyatt, and Evie are waiting, the tears in their eyes pulling more from my own.

“Soon, okay?” Gretchen rolls into the elevator. “You know where to find us.”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

“We love you.” Evie tries to smile. “Remember that.”

“I will.” I choke the words out and press the button to send the elevator down.

Once the doors close, I sink to the floor and muffle my cries in my arm as best I can. I can’t bear to watch at the window as they leave, but I hear the trucks start up about ten minutes later. Their engines loud in the stillness of the dead city.

When the sounds die away, I force myself to my feet, my heart torn into so many pieces I’ll never be able to put it back together.

* * *

“Did you know?”I ask it the moment Valen enters his apartment.

He isn’t the least bit surprised that I’m sitting here in the dark waiting for him. “Which part?” he sighs and takes the seat across from me, his eyes luminous in the dark.

“Juno.”

“She knew what she was getting into the moment she agreed to Gregor’s deal.”

“That’s not an answer. I need the truth. All of it.”

He stares back at me.

“If I don’t get it from you right here, right now, I’m walking out that door, down the stairs, and out into the street in the fucking dark.”

His jaw flexes.

“You think I’m fucking around? I just saw my sister sitting in her own filth, her eyes empty!” My voice rises, and I don’t care who hears me. The people I care most about are already gone. I stand and take a step toward the door.

He’s on me instantly, so quickly I can’t react. He pins me to his couch, his glowing eyes all I see. “Youwon’tput yourself in danger.”

“I will. I swear I will if you don’t tell me the truth!” I yell in his face.

He rises with that phantom speed, and before I even know what he’s done, his refrigerator is jammed against the door. Bent out of shape and impossible for me to ever get past.

I sit up. “Answer me. Did you know what Theo was doing to her?”

He meets my gaze again. “Yes.”

My stomach drops. I should’ve known what his answer would be, but it’s no less of a sucker punch when he confirms it. “Did you do it, too?”

“No.” He paces in front of me. “I don’t get off on torturing humans.”

“But you didn’t help her?” My tone is scorching, so much anger churning inside me that I feel like I might burst.

“As I said, she knew what she agreed to. I couldn’t interfere.”

“You couldn’t or you wouldn’t?” I practically spit the words at him.

“Your sister is not now and never has been my concern.” He kneels in front of me. “You are.”

“Bullshit!” I kick away from him, tucking my legs beneath me. “If you cared about me at all, you’d know that my sister is the most important thing to me. The only family I have left! Get away from me.”

His fangs hint at the edge of his lips, his gaze so intense it could burn me. “I’ll never leave you.Never. Not in this life or any other.”

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