Page 184 of Hunting Pretty

“They took her because of you.”

He let out a long wail. “I’m s-sorry. I had no choice.”

“What did they do with her?” Ava asked, her voice hollow. “With Liath?”

Dr. Vale’s head dropped to his chest and he shook it.

He didn’t have to say it out loud.

Liath was dead.

I glanced over to Ava as she sank back into her chair, her face gone white and tears shining in her eyes.

Everything inside me twisted. The truth hit hard, like a punch to the gut, but what wrecked me wasn’t the loss itself—it was watching the light drain from her eyes as she realized her friend was gone.

Forever.

She’d already been too late when she found out Liathwas missing.

I saw the exact second it shattered her, the way her body seemed to fold in on itself, like she was trying to disappear from the pain.

My chest ached, a sharp, unbearable tightness, as if I could feel her grief pouring into me, and all I wanted to do was take it from her.

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t fix this.

There was nothing I could say that could ease the raw agony tearing through her. The helplessness cut deep, a knot in my gut that wouldn’t loosen, knowing that I couldn’t make it better.

All I could do was stand there, feeling her grief like it was my own.

All that was left was retribution. An eye for an eye. All that was left was justice.

I turned back to Dr. Vale. “It doesn’t matter if you wereforcedinto it, you are the reason Liath isdead.”

He searched my eyes, his voice pleading. “W-what could I have done?”

“You could haveliedto them. You could have warned Liath. You could have done something rather than led her to her death like a lamb to slaughter.” Anger spat from my lips, my chest feeling like it might explode, the fury too big for my body to contain.

I yanked the bone saw from his finger, catching it against the bone. I held the blood-dripping edge to his neck.

Dr. Vale was the reason Ava was grieving.

He had topay.

The touch of Ava’s hand at my elbow was feather soft.

It was the only thing in the world that could have stopped me in that moment.

I turned to find Ava right beside me.

“That’s enough, Scáth,” she said softly.

Hearing this, Dr. Vale let out a sob, his entire body seeming to sag, “Thank you, Ava. Thank—”

“Shut up,” Ava scowled viciously at him. “I don’t care that you say you had no choice. Liath isdeadbecause of you.”

The doctor let out a pitiful whimper but he had the sense to remain silent.

I dropped the bone saw at my feet so I could pull her into my arms.

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