Page 80 of Devour the Dark

I grit my teeth, hold my breath.

“You’re wrong,” James argues. “Do you remember, Crocodile? ‘Just six words.’”

Roc inhales.

“But I don’t need six. I just need three.”

I don’t know what this is, but it seems to shake Roc awake. A flicker of emotion. A glint of consciousness.

I know this is something I wasn’t a part of. I know it came before me. But I don’t care. I will no longer hide, I will no longer shrink away from the discomfort of loving someone. And I sure as hell won’t give in to jealousy.

I stand beside James and squeeze his hand, urging him on.

James takes a breath. “We,” he says. “Love.You.”

Roc blinks and a single tear escapes the corner of his eye.

“I love you too,” he says, and then, “Run.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

HOOK

The Crocodile’stransformation is as swift as a storm cloud rolling in.

He brings the darkness, the wreckage, the chaos.

Asha runs toward us, Vane and Winnie just behind her.

The Myth Maker is on her feet, a dagger stuck in her eye, half her face covered in blood. Of course she wouldn’t be dead. Myths are hard to kill.

But the Crocodile is on her in an instant, devouring her whole.

I grab Wendy by the wrist and yank her from the room. “We need that hat. Now.Malachi?—”

“He was a shapeshifter,” Asha says. “I don’t think that was the same Malachi we met.”

“He has to be somewhere in the manor, don’t you think?” Winnie says.

Screaming tears through the air behind us.

We’re all running down the hallway, directionless.

“If you were holding someone hostage in your manor,” Asha asks Vane, “where would you hide him?”

More screams. Glass breaks.

“The wine cellar,” Vane decides.

“How do we get there?”

“This way.”

We change directions, go down a flight of stairs to the first floor. In the distance, the party is still in full swing, everyone in attendance oblivious to the chaos going on just out of their sight.

Through another hall, down another flight of stairs, we come to a damp stone floor, chilly air.

There’s a single sconce flickering from the wall to the left.

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