Page 52 of Land of Shadow

“Please,” Juno whispers. “Please don’t. I’m doing everything I can. I?—”

“Silence,” Gregor hisses.

The gargoyles stop in front of him and pull Candice to standing as if she weighed nothing more than a doll. Her head lolls to the side, her eyes fluttering open as she looks around the room. Confusion blooms in her expression, quickly followed by terror.

“Candice!” I lean forward to crawl to her, but Valen’s hand comes down on my shoulder in an unforgiving grip, holding me in place.

“Juno?” Candice’s voice comes out as a whisper. “What is this? What?” She looks at Gregor, and a visible tremor goes through her. “What?—”

“Don’t hurt her!” I plead and fight against Valen’s hold, but I get nowhere. “Please!”

Gregor ignores me, his eyes on Juno. “Do as you’re told. Find the cure. Open the camps. Donotdisappoint me.” Gregor opens his mouth, two white fangs shooting impossibly out from his canines.

I instinctively flinch, Valen’s grip tightening on my shoulder. Then Gregor sinks his teeth into Candice’s throat. He rips his head back, tearing her flesh to shreds as her lifeblood pours in a cascade onto the white marble.

Her eyes seize on mine. “Georgia …” is the last word on her lips, the last thing she ever utters.

“No!” Juno and I scream.

The blond steps forward and bites into the other side of her neck, but he doesn’t release her. He drags her backwards like a lion taking an injured elk to its den. Crimson streaks the white marble floor as Gregor gently dabs at his bloodied mouth with a handkerchief.

I scream and scream, my mind caving in on itself with fear, with disbelief, with pain. This time when the needle sting kicks in, I’m thankful for the black oblivion that awaits.

16

The sun streams in. I’m in my bed. Fully dressed.

I’m not even completely awake when I start crying.

Candice. Her terrified eyes flash through my mind, the way she called out to me.

“Oh, god.” I lean over the bed and dry heave, my stomach churning as tears blind me. “No, no, no.” I lie on my side and curl up into a ball. “This can’t be real. It can’t.” I press my palms to my face. Everything replays in slow motion, every moment I spent in the presence of Gregor. I keep hearing Candice’s voice. It’s loud. Her dying plea. It rings in my ears so sharply I think they might bleed.

I lie like that for a long, long time. Not moving, barely breathing. It’s as if I think that staying still might make it all be some sort of a dream. It isn’t. Iknowit isn’t. I can still smell the tang of her blood.

Candice is gone. Killed by a monster. A real one.

Juno, what have you done?

* * *

“You didn’t work today.”Valen’s voice wakes me from a tortured sleep.

He’s standing in the shadows just inside my bedroom.

“Get out.”

“Youmustwork.” His tone is steady, almost gentle.

I turn to him, his face in shadow. “Get the fuck out!” I scream so loud it feels as if something in my throat tears. Burrowing under the covers, I know I can’t hide from him, from what happened. I do it anyway, my breaths coming quick and shallow as I hear Candice’s cry again and again.Georgia.

“Breathe.” He’s closer now.

“Get away from me.” I curl in on myself, like a dying animal trying to protect its soft belly despite the gaping wound in its throat.

“If you don’t do the work, he’ll kill you.” He says it softly. A simple fact uttered in a velvet voice. “He’ll hurt you first, in ways you’ve never even imagined. And then you’ll die.”

“Just let me fucking die then.” My whole body shakes.

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