Page 186 of Cherish

I start to argue, but I can tell by her expression that she knows she’s won. In that moment, I curse every god I’ve ever met and their goddamn penchant for loopholes.

I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to give this evil bitch the only thing that can save my friend’s life. But the moment I think about resisting, my hand moves of its own volition. And the harder I try to stop it from sliding into my pocket, the more quickly it goes. Seconds later, the vial of Celestial Lake water is in her hand, and she’s looking down at it with the cruelest smile imaginable on her face.

“I have to hand it to you, Grace,” she comments as she uncorks the vial. “I knew what you were up to, and I didn’t think you had a chance of succeeding. Of finally securing the one thing that was powerful enough to separate my soul from my sister’s.”

“Why didn’t you go yourself?” I ask. “If you’ve known about the Bittersweet Tree this whole time, why did you wait on me to do it for you?”

The Crone’s eyebrows shoot up. “I keep forgetting how little you know about anything.” She shakes her head. “Gods are forbidden from occupying the same space as a Celestial being, of course.”

My grandmother and I are going to have aseriousdiscussion about my education in this world when I get out of prison. Again.

For now, I narrow my eyes on the Crone. “And you just couldn’t wait to hunt me down after I finished your dirty work?”

She laughs. A full-throated, evil-as-fuck laugh. “Oh, dear, I hadplannedon hunting you down, of searching for you far and wide to get my hands on this vial”—she holds the uncorked vial up—“but you hand-delivered it to me in myownprison. That’s quite a blunder for a supposed queen to make, don’t you think?”

And then she drinks every drop in the vial. She closes her eyes as a light shimmers to life in her chest for a second, two, three more, then fades as quickly as it appeared.

She opens her eyes, and the blue irises swirl with power.

Her words hit my chest like an arrow, exacerbating every worry I’ve had about leading the Circle for days now. Weeks. Months. But then I remember that I didn’t choose this place. Remy did, for a reason that the Crone will never understand. Because it’s his home. And strange as it may sound, it’s the only place he feels truly safe.

Having that kind of love—no, the Crone will never understand that. It’s what makes her such a bad leader and such a bad person.

But I can. I do.

That’s what brought me here to this moment. Not this prison but these people. I don’t have all the answers and don’t pretend that I do. But I’ll keep looking until I find them, keep asking questions until I figure it out. And I’ll never, never quit on any of the people I care about or any of the people under my protection.

I have to believe that’s what will not only make me a good leader but help get me and my friends out of this mess, too. I just need to keep asking questions, keep assembling the knowledge and the talents of the people around me until I’ve got the answers I need.

Hudson walks over, stands shoulder to shoulder with me as the Crone continues to berate me. “You think you’re so smart, but you’re just a child running around, doing exactly what I wanted you to do. And you, vampire,” she sneers at Hudson. “You think you’re so powerful? You think you’re any match for me?”

She turns then, including all of us in her next statement. “You think any of you are any match for me? Dragons, witches, vampires, gargoyles?” She says the last with the same disgust Flint saves for cockroaches. “I’ve spent thousands of years figuring out how to destroy each of you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me now that I’m free of my sister. Did you really think you could?”

She leans over, gets right in my face. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about taking a swing at her perfectly made-up, red-lipsticked mouth. “I will never let that happen.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Hudson answers in a tone so cold I get goosebumps up and down my arms. “There’s no way we’re going to let you destroyourpeople because ofyourhate. Not now. Not ever.”

The Crone laughs, and it’s one of the evilest sounds I’ve ever heard—which is saying something, considering I’ve spent the greater part of the last year matching wits with Cyrus Vega.

“It’s almost cute the way you think you have a choice,” she answers before spinning around and walking straight out of the open cell door.

I turn to Hudson, start to tell him that we need to get to the Shadow Realm before the Shadow Queen realizes we’ve lost the elixir, but before I can say anything more than his name, the Crone waves a careless hand from outside the cell.

And every door in the place slams shut, the heavy sound of metal clinking against metal echoing through the entire prison.

“You’re never getting out of here,” she tells us. “And just to make sure you stay busy…” This time, she doesn’t bother to wave her whole hand. She just gives a flick of her shell pink–tipped fingers, and then my friends fall to the ground screaming.

Macy whimpers, folding her hands over her head like she’s trying to ward off blows, while Eden drops to her knees with a shriek and sobs like her entire world is ending.

Jaxon starts to yell.

Flint, on the other hand, goes deathly, scarily quiet.

And Hudson… My poor Hudson curls into a fetal ball, clutching his head in his hands.

At first, I don’t know what’s happening, but as I look at his posture and take in the sudden horror on his face, terror moves through me. Because I know what this is.

In all the time I’ve known Hudson, I’ve only ever seen him look like this one other time in our lives together. And that was months ago, right here in this room, after we lost the nightly Russian roulette game and were forced to enter the Chamber.

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