Page 46 of The Fallen Kingdom

His intake of breath is subtle but noticeable. When he speaks again, it’s through his teeth. “This is the way it is, Sorcha. We can’t change it.”

“You don’t want to change it,” she hisses. “I should have known that when you turned your back on me the first time. You’ll regret this.”

“I doubt it.”

“I’llmakeyou regret this.”

“Sorcha—”

“Dutiful knight,” she mocks. “Enslaved to his beloved Queen. I hope I free her from the curse and save her life, just to watch Kadamach rip out her heart anyway.” Her pointed teeth flash in the nightmarish smile I know all too well. “And when he does, I’ll beg him to spare you. So that you’ll know, for the rest of your pathetic eternity, that it was your misguided sense of duty that got her killed.”

“If you weren’t my sister,” Lonnrach growls, “I’d kill you for that.”

Sorcha flashes her teeth in a snarl. “And if you weren’t my brother, I would have killed you after you showed me how to find the door.” She steps closer. “No, a long time ago. I should have hunted you down and killed you when I earned my freedom.”

Earned my freedom. Something must have happened in their past. Something awful. Something irreconcilable. She wasn’t free?

Lonnrach’s flinch is so quick, I barely catch it. “You’re going to die in there,” he tells her flatly.

“Better to die in there than be like you.” She pulls out her blade, but keeps it by her side. “You’re a sniveling, mindless coward. This time, I won’t forget it.” Then she slices the skin of her palm and slams her hand against the tree trunk.

Before I can see what happens next, Sorcha surprises me by pulling back and slamming into my mind. The force is so strong that I cry out and stagger back, wrenched out of Sorcha’s thoughts.

When I open my eyes, I’m on my knees in the dirt road.

CHAPTER 22

ITOUCH THEwetness leaking from my nose to my lips. Blood. Aithinne’s chastising voice rises in my mind.You’ll have to be more careful when you search for the Book. Use your powers sparingly.

“Kam? Are you all right?”

Kiaran kneels next to me and I swipe my sleeve across my nose before he can see. “Fine,” I say, waving him off to stand on my own. I don’t want Sorcha to see him help me up.

She went in search of the Book to save him.

“Nighean na galla,” she snaps, spitting on the ground. “I hope that hurt. I’ll never forget the feel of your disgusting little human mind—”

“Oh, you didn’t like that?” I cross my arms. “A terrible thing, isn’t it? Having someone else in your head, manipulating your thoughts.”

Sorcha snarls. “Whatever borrowed powers you’re using don’t make you fae, little girl. Let me out of these chains and I’ll feed you your insides before I kill you—”

My powers cut her off, and her sentence dies in a garbled choke. Aithinne’s warning doesn’t stand a chance against the rising tide of darkness inside me, demanding to be released. Demanding bloodshed. Demanding battle.

Just a little bit of pain.

I twist my fingers to cut off her air. My power slides down my veins, ready to kill.

Just a little bit more—

Kiaran grips my shoulder. “Stop.”

I shake him off. “I’ll never forget her sword.” My hand fists and blood pours out of Sorcha’s mouth. “It felt likethis.”

“Kam.” Kiaran turns me to face him. His hands are on either side of my face, his voice gentle. “Look at me.Look at me.” He speaks through the darkness to something human in me.

“She went to find the Book, MacKay. She knows where the door is.” I can’t help the power in my voice, the low, dangerous pitch that doesn’t sound like me anymore. That barely sounds human. “I canmakeher help me.”

I can make her do anything. I could make her dance until her feet bled. Whatever I want.

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