Page 161 of The World Undone

“You’ve come.” His voice was higher than normal, his lips quivering slightly at the corner. He was afraid. “That’s good. Though perhaps a bit sooner than I’d planned for.” He winced. “Tell me, have you considered my offer?”

There was another loud crash, and then a soft scream that was cut off almost as quickly as it started. Jarrod’s fingers trembled at his sides, his eyes shifting from side to side, as he watched whatever was unfolding unfold.

He licked his lips, glanced quickly at me, then raised his hands up in surrender as he took a step back. “Now, Ms. Bentley, you have to understand.” He stumbled, his breathing erratic as he tried to create more distance between them. “I’m trying to serve the greater good—to help humanity. We can work tog?—”

He was going to run. Teleport. I read the decision on his face the moment he made it.

Apparently, so did Max, because she came into view in a flash, her hand wrapping around his neck.

To outside observers, it would be a strange sight—this short, lean girl, hardly half the size of this man bulked with muscle, holding his life in the palm of her hands. But I knew the depths of her power, felt it make a home in my own marrow.

Jarrod’s eyes widened as he read his death in her eyes.

“Wait.” Darius came into sight, eyes shifting briefly to me with a small nod of acknowledgment.

Max only tightened her grip as her other hand shot deep in Jarrod’s chest, where I knew his heart would be pumping a panicked rhythm against her knuckles.

“Yes,” Darius said, voice soft like he was speaking to a frightened animal, “kill him. But I have an idea before we leave his body.”

Picking up the small blade Jarrod had dropped, Darius sliced a deep line into the man’s arm, collecting his blood in a small jar.

It was a strange sight, watching the room suddenly still and quiet as Darius stole the council member’s blood.

“There,” he said, fastening a lid on the container, eyes sparkling with delight. “Kill away, my dear.”

I grunted in disbelief. Was he really focused on his own stomach right now?

Max said nothing. She merely withdrew her hand, Jarrod’s heart along with it.

He collapsed at her feet, his death surprisingly anticlimactic.

When she took a step towards me, her gaze cutting to her brother, then back again, I realized that she was covered in blood. Her dark clothes were soaked with it, her arms painted red.

Jarrod wasn’t the only person they’d encountered then, on their way into this hell hole.

I failed to conjure much pity for those who died at her hands. Not after what they’d done.

Her eyes were black, pupils blown wide, her expression flat, like she was only partially here with us.

She got that way sometimes, when she used too much power—like she gave a little of herself over to it, in exchange for more strength.

“You’re okay,” she said, her jaw rigid, like she was fighting desperately to contain the storm of fury etched into her bones. She turned to her brother again. “Both of you?”

I nodded, my body still stiff and sore from whatever Jarrod and the drude had done to me while I was asleep.

Her eyes fell to the tubes dangling from my arms, nostrils flaring at the sight, her anger almost palpable in the air. The tips of her fingers sparked when she twitched them, like the hellfire was aching for a chance to scorch this place to the ground.

Wade, Atlas, and Eli came into view, the five of them huddled together so that they could get a good look at me and Ro.

They were all covered in gore, all wearing identical masks of fury that were slowly melting with relief.

It was done. The council was dead.

I took a deep breath, and when I exhaled, it felt like I’d shed an entire boulder’s worth of weight from my chest.

Max glanced down at Jarrod, sparing him only a momentary glance. “His death was too quick. I should have made him suffer.”

“No amount of torment would have been enough.” Darius nudged the corpse with his foot, mouth dipping into a frown. “At least it’s done.”

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