Page 124 of When the Woods Go Silent

I smile, grateful for the apology, although he’s said it before.

“Why would your mother tell him to kill everyone, though?” I ask as he opens the door to the house.

“She doesn’t leave loose ends. Although, it worries me that she didn’t give the task to me. It shows how much her trust in me has eroded.”

“She would have asked you to kill them? And you... you would have done it?” I’m frozen in the doorway, one hand on the knob before shutting the door and closing myself in with him.

“I would have.”

I should close my mouth and run. I don’t. “Why?”

“To keep her from learning my true plans. Sacrificed the few to save the many. Even though I don’t want this to be a war, it is. Death is part of that, and I would have at least killed themhonorably.” He scowls, and I struggle with the complexity of human morality against whatever this is.

Then again, who am I to judge his morals?

If I were faced with the choice of sacrificing a few to save so many more, could I really choose any different? And if I did, would it do any good?

“You’re starting to understand,” Torrence says softly.

“A rock and a hard place,” I manage.

“I was born into hard decisions - the fae princes, too. I don’t think they want this war, either, but they will fight it to protect their people. I’m doing the same, but the fae aren’t my true enemy.”

“Your mother is.”

He nods and reaches for my hand. I let him take it and pull me inside the house, up the stairs to the room I glimpsed before. The tile and glass walls are clean, free of blood. Sparkling as though ready for a realtor to guide a tour through. My memory paints the blood back anyway.

When I gaze at the deck through the windows, all I can see is Torrence, shoving me out of Arlo’s reach. Torrence, slashing his ice magic into Arlo to protect me. To save me.

I believe he will save me again, if he needs to. Even if it means others will die.

“Why me?” I blurt, still missing that vital piece. He’s admitted that humans mean little to him. He’s warned me multiple times that he doesn’t date, and even though the idea ofdatinghim now seems ridiculously human, he’s still here. Even if I remind him of his sister... that’s not enough reason.

Torrence turns away, staring out into the forest beyond the deck.

“I don’t know, Ruby. I don’t know why, but I know it has to be you. I never expected it. Never wanted it. But it’s always going to be you.”

“Fated mates,” I say, rolling my eyes, and he snorts.

“Gobbelins don’t believe in that. They don’t even form couples. But... fae do.”

The words catch my breath in my throat. Torrence is caught between two worlds, just like I am. Just like Rose will be, if Kier is right.

He doesn’t need fate. Just like me, he can choose.

“Will you hurt me?” I ask, stepping to his side and examining our reflections in the window glass.

“I will ruin you,” he rasps, turning his back on the reflection.

It’s only evidence of how twisted I am when his words settle deep in my belly, twining cords of desire around the very core of me. It’s this heady feeling of need that makes me ask something truly insane.

“If you drink my blood, would you be able to stop before killing me?”

Torrence laughs once, the sound hard and bitter, as though he hates the question already. He pushes off the window and strides out onto the deck, pressing his hands on the railing and staring down into the edges of the woods. I follow, hanging back a few steps, waiting for him to answer.

“I already have.”

The words send shock waves through my legs, and my knees weaken until I have to scramble for the nearest deck chair. My brain flips hurriedly through our time together, looking for all the clues I’ve missed.

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