Page 52 of Shadow's End

“It will indeed, especially if you don’t start being honest with me, Maelle.”

“So, you wish honesty?” She shifted again, her toes pressing against the streaks of sunlight invading her sanctuary. Her skin did not immediately burn, though a pale pink flush appeared at the tip of her big toe, and a glimmer of pleasure briefly danced through the dangerous glint in her eyes.

The woman was mad. Utterly mad.

And getting madder, if we’re using the insane definition of the word rather than the angry,Belle growled.Do not, under any circumstances, step closer. It would be just like that bitch to lunge forward, sun-be-damned, and attempt a sip.

Trust me, I have absolutely no intentions of giving her any opportunity to take a bite.

Not now, not later.

Because there would be a later, I was sure of that. Even if we somehow saved Roger, I doubted his presence would calm her inner monster now that it had been fully unleashed.

“Do not believe Marie’s silver tongue,” she said in that same flat but chilling tone. “Do not believe that she will not harm you and yours. Do not believe that she will leave if she is the victor, and do not think this reservation will survive her celebrations if she does.”

“Oh, I don’t believe her any more than I believe you truly meant your vow not to harm anyone in this reservation.”

“I vowed I would not feed on the unwilling or shed the blood of those who lived and worked here. I have kept that vow.”

“Perhaps to the letter of the vow but not the spirit. There’s an entire fucking cavern of bodies to prove it.”

“Those bodies were not from this reservation, and you are clever enough to have guessed that. And that means the reservation council cannot legally evict me, because I have harmed no one fromthisreservation.”

A big fat “yet” seemed to hang over that declaration. “Aside from the fact no court of law will uphold your contracts, giventhe circumstances, you fucking murdered dozens of people. Since when has that ever been acceptable?”

Her smile was … well, freaking scary. “It is not murder if they wish the death.”

“And it’s not a wish if it’s enforced by magic. Besides, there was no magic in that place. You simply tore them apart and swam in their misery, their pain, and their remains.”

“Perhaps that is so, but neither you nor your wolf can prove that I am responsible. And we both know the reservation’s council would not want this matter to reach the courts. The publicity alone would make this place a tourist ghost zone.”

Her toes, I noticed, hung further into the sunshine and her canines were now protruding. She wanted to feed. Badly. I clenched my fists against the wild magic aching for release, but was nevertheless comforted by its presence. If she lunged, it would shield me. However much stronger she was than me magically, she would not get through such a shield. Not before the sun crisped her flesh and the gentle breeze blew away her ashes, anyway.

“Of course,” she continued, “legalities will not prevent them attempting to evict me physically or perhaps even magically, but there are few here, beyond yourself, who would in fact have any hope of besting me. And it would certainly be an interesting and desirable experience for us both if you did indeed try.”

A tremor ran through my soul.

Maelle didn’t just want to taste the power in my blood. She wantedme. Sexually.

Never fear,Belle said. I’ll fry her brains out if she so much as lays a finger on your lady bits.

A laugh bubbled through me. I somehow managed to keep it in, but the tension that had been gathering eased a fraction.

“Jaqueline told me that you’ve always known how to find Roger—that your connection to him makes it impossible for you not to know. Is that true?”

She considered me for a moment. “To some degree.”

“Then why haven’t you simply gone and gotten him?”

“That is an inane question and one that is beneath us both.”

Bitch,Belle muttered.

Yeah. But I guess the answerisobvious.Because he was both bait and a trap. She’d much rather I spring it than her.

“Then why go through the rigmarole of handing me the ring when you could have just given me directions?” I paused, realization finally dawning. “Or was the ring a means of keeping track of me?”

Her too-toothy smile flashed. Instinct was right again.

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