Page 52 of Elven Shadow

Her voice ricocheted off every surface in the back of the library. A stunned, hushed silence infiltrated every sharp inhale and half-stifled groan and thick swallow from the magicals around her.

And they all stared at Rebecca Bloodshadow, as if they’d finally found the most ruthless among them.

As if they’d finally found the elf they’d needed to lead their rebellion toward what had to be done.

Oh shit…

What the hell was shedoing?

She’d just crossed a line, and now it was impossible to take back.

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Rebecca’s stomach twisted as she realized the full weight of what she’d just done. She’d played her hand too soon and all at once, too swept up by the chaos and too irritated by Maxwell’s self-righteousclaims.

Now, every eye in the room was on her, expectingherto take this charge—a charge she had no intention of taking.

There was no way out of this. No backtracking. No running and hiding and waiting for the whole thing to blow over before she reemerged to navigate the aftermath, no matter how badly she wanted it.

Maxwell Hannigan just had to open his mouth, hadn’t he?

Because of him, Rebecca hadn’t been able to keep hers shut.

If they’d been alone, she would’ve given him more than a piece of her mind. But that would be a little difficult with the entire secret meeting staring at her in mute shock mixed with a misplaced pride in Shade’s one and only elf.

She could practically see it in all their faces.

They thoughtshewas the one who would overturn Aldous’s reign of disaster. That she'd do itforthem.

No way in hell.

Rebecca met a few gazes around the circle—Leonard’s wide eyes over his gaping mouth; Diego’s narrowed crimson orbs; Nyx’s glowing violet gaze pulsing with a flutter of excitement just like her eyelashes.

She couldn’t look at anyone else.

Good thing she didn’t have to break the silence, either.

Someone toward the back of the circular meeting hiccupped.

Then Leonard cleared his throat and stepped toward Rebecca. His hesitant smile made him look like he’d just stepped on a nail and didn’t want anyone to suspect he might be bleeding. “That’s, uh…certainlyoneway to get to the finish line.”

Diego snorted and folded his arms. “Talk about permanent solutions…”

“Don’t.” Rebecca raised an eyebrow at the Cruorcian, trying to ignore the feeling of dozens of gazes all prickling along her skin like tiny needles.

Leonard stuck a thumb over his shoulder at the blood mage in the baseball cap. “He’s not wrong, though.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she muttered.

Maxwell might have tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a hiss. The guy couldn’t evenpretendto smile correctly. “You meant it exactly like that.”

Leonard spread his arms and spun in a slow circle at the center of the gathering, the bottom edge of his leather trench coat swirling around him as he stopped facing Rebecca head-on again. “Well the stage is yours, Knox. So to speak.”

“And I said I don’t want it,” she replied dully. “How many different ways do I have to say it?”

“You could just say yes…” The mage wiggled his eyebrows at her, as if that made all his ideas impossible to resist.

Maybe that shit worked on someone like Nyx, but Rebecca just wanted to get the hell out of here now.

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