Page 143 of The Princesses of Ruin
My gaze darts to Lily, leaned against the stone of the Wall, the hulking monstrosity that separated me from my sisters for twelve long years. She’s slumped, her eyes closed.
I’ve killed my sister…
“She’s not dead,” Alyse says. “And you need more power. Take it.”
She reaches out again and my stomach churns with revulsion. How could I take from them their very life forces?
“Youmust,” Alyse says.
Reina and Jasper drop to the stones behind me. I’m caged in by them.
My face is hot with a fever I don’t want. Tears burn their way out of my eyes, and I blink to keep them from blurring my vision.
“Alyse told us everything,” Reina says, coming closer. “We know this is the only way to kill her.”
My gaze shoots to Alyse.Kill her? You know it’s not that simple!
“They’ll never consent to your sacrifice.”
But she will.
“And you didn’t when you burned the evidence?”
It feels like a lifetime ago that I realized I could not only duplicate the powers of those I touched, but pull the very life force out of them alongside the magic. Lily’s darkness was easier to take; it called to the bits of Ashai in me.
“Scarlett.” Zane’s voice breaks me.
He pushes past Reina and I gasp as I fall into him.
It’s too soon. I wanted more time.
“I know. But you’ll have another chance to be together,”Alyse whispers to me.
When?I cry into Zane’s chest and he cradles me, ignorant of the reality about to fold out before us.
“When the time is right.”
I swallow hard and calm myself.
Alastair lands behind Lily and pulls her up into his arms. He glares at me, and I know I deserve it.
“I’m sorry. For everything.”
“We’re not without hope,” Alastair says. “The Wall is holding.”
The trumpet call of the strange world sounds and I jump. Over the edge is a monster fifty feet tall. It has a wide face and a mouth large enough to swallow the Nest. It pummels the barrier with fists of stone and bloody, ichor-covered bodies. Flares of green and gold spark with every hit, but I can feel the defenses waning inside me…because of Lily’s power. I can sense her runes.
Our people scream and flee on the Underbelly side. There’s nowhere for them to run from her, and only one solution that will end this all.
“A coordinated attack,” I start. “Reina, whatever you have left, you have to attack her at the weakest moment.”
“When will that be?” she asks, her voice loaded with that same fire I saw the first time we met after our separation.
She still hates me. She still wants to beat me and be better than me. I know she will.
I square up, straightening my spine and lifting my chin. “When she’s begging for mercy under my fists.”
The air between us shifts. They look to me like I have the answers. I don’t know if I do.
