ed, her une
pha
ea
mmand, leaving no
didn't
must be terrified..." Her voice cracked. "I'm not asking fo
... let me
s was the only person in t
silence, his eyes
otice, unaffected by the shift in
rade her comfort for a freezin
she murmured again. "Show
aded into t
ady suffere
orehead to the cold floor, begging to
fate, but at least the girl wouldn
s been terrifi
the door cut thro
said, his vo
s tears, her desperate account of Iris's
lp
king to Hanna, who was kneeli
it?" Ca
st consci
wn creased
she won't last the night," Jace
nce who he was
Alpha, I beg you... she's done nothing! She d
to strike her forehead again
her with a
e massacred infants? The women her father vio
h rage. "They had d
er body trembling, but she did
e?" Jace pressed on. "Lettin
them going was the hope Cane offered. Without him,
Not the children. Not
eon," Cane ordered sudde
t rigid.
him lower his voice, his ja
dded, his voice dangerously calm,
rms, his gaze lo
her throat. She didn't dare move, terrified that the sl
three days, I want her ready. I d
silenc
e sleeping
but he didn't protest further. As long as the
suffering. His death had been too swift to quench their resentment. Hi
urmured, her throat tight wit
not, Iris would be forc
e made bile rise
.
, sinking into darkness only t
the next, a bone-deep chill would seize her. Every
d Hanna's face, but it
ut on cold stone, swallowed by darkness. Not here.
me? I'm here... right bes
was spinning too fast to understand. Her eyelids fe
third day that she t
ntly wiping her fac
ght streamed through an open window, bathing the room in a gentle glow. T
see her awake. Her hands flew to her
. Han
hand, her fingers b
d, moving her lips slowly and cl
e touched Iris
ing? You're
hoarse, barely a
tly shook
awake. I'm
ow, deliberate move
want t
a faint nod.
t you so
her. Her friend was conscious. But the re
day she had to pre
kness would mean
omised, forcing a smile befo
found herself face-to-face with an e
is t
nd opening it. The contents mad
s," the woman said cooll
Hanna into the room, but
d, horrified. "She can't
woman gave
no longer an A
er voice dripping with ice, sh
he woman's face, but then recogni
ad once shared the
efore her now was a dif
grime, was now clean and luminous. Her black hair was swept into a caref
" Hanna repeated, her
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