Page 7 of Sophie's Ruin
The pressure burned behind my eyes as tears threatened. I wouldn’t let them fall. I couldn’t let the clan leaders win.
My gaze darted to Henry at the same time he looked at me.
Don’t do anything rash,his eyes pleaded.
I felt the amulet’s pull from where it pulsed in my pocket. I could use the Tear to destroy the vampires—to finish what I’d set out to do when I’d first arrived at the estate. Would the amulet let me destroy the very species I was now a part of? It followed my will, but did I have it in me to wish for my own demise? For Henry’s death?
I wasn’t prepared to find out, I realized with a sinking heart. Sacrificing for humanity had not been an impossible choice before, because I hadn’t had that much to lose. But now thatI had Henry… The selfish part of me reared her head, refusing to give him up, to lose us and our future. We deserved to live. Humans deserved to have their world back, but we also deserved a place in it.
“What’s going on here?!” Waylon exclaimed as he burst into the room. I was so shell-shocked by Camilla’s proclamation that I hadn’t even heard him walk into the mansion and approach the study.
My brows shot up in surprise at the same time my stomach dropped.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, as fear spiked. Camilla was planning to kill the border guards who knew the truth, and Waylon had just made it that much easier for her by showing up uninvited.
“Interrupting a very important meeting by the looks of it,” Waylon snapped, quickly taking in everyone in the room. His forest-green eyes narrowed when he noticed Celeste. “You are deciding the future of this country, aren’t you? And you didn’t think a human should be a part of this conversation?” he seethed, his blazing gaze locking on me.
“Waylon,” Henry warned in a raised voice.
“You said you’d still be you after you turned,” Waylon continued, looking at me, “but you’re one of them now.” His face contorted in a mix of rage and disgust. “Let me guess, even with the Dark Witches now destroyed, you vampires won’t give us back our country?”
“This country has not been yours for a hundred years, boy,” Moreau spat, his fangs flashing. “It belongs to us. Humans belong to us. We rule this world.”
All color drained from Waylon’s face at Moreau’s words, but his eyes never left mine.
How could you?!Betrayal burned in them, red-hot and scathing.
I thought I was going to be sick.
“The amulet. Do you still have it?” Waylon asked urgently, as his gaze dropped to my chest. When he didn’t find the Tear there, his feverish eyes returned to my face. “You can put an end to this. To all of this.”
Henry went incredibly still next to me, his breath catching. I stopped breathing, too, as all the eyes in the room locked on me.
“What is he talking about?” Camilla demanded.
“Let’s not lose our heads,” Henry said, moving in front of me to block me from Camilla’s view.
“Sophie, please,” Waylon begged, stepping closer to me. “Use the amulet to destroy them. It’s the only way.”
Time screeched to a halt as the world stopped along with my heart. If there had been any doubt in the clan leaders’ minds about what Waylon was implying, his last words had made everything clear—the amulet that had erased the Dark Witches from existence could also destroy vampires.
Camilla was the first one to bare her fangs with a hiss as she crouched down and unsheathed her razor-sharp claws. The other clan leaders rapidly followed. Henry became an impenetrable wall in front of me as his muscles tensed. His nails turned into claws, and he bent his knees, leaning forward with a vicious snarl. A similar sound escaped Isabelle as she assumed a fighting position next to him. Waylon stopped his approach toward me, his wide eyes flooding with sheer terror.
“Where is the amulet?” Camilla asked, her voice low and guttural.
“Run,” Henry ordered over his shoulder without looking at me, his eyes trained on the vampires before him.
“No,” I said, defiantly lifting my chin.
Adrenaline rushed through my veins, coiling my muscles as I prepared to fight. When I tried to step out from behind him, he threw his arm out to stop me.
“Get out of here. Now!” he growled, hoping to jolt me into action.
“No,” I repeated, not rattled by his tone. My voice was full of resolve as I said, “I won’t leave you.”
I knew we were outnumbered, but the wild, beastly side of me rose to the challenge, ferocious and bloodthirsty. Besides, we had Celeste on our side, her curled fingers spewing crackling white lightning of her magic.
“Get her!” Camilla barked an order, and all the clan leaders snapped into action.
