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As ives way Meera, Prae and the olves stumble into the room Timas enters via the hole which Pip blew in one of the side walls earlier He erous ue olf but he got aith it Not that it mattered Juni had blocked that entrance too
"Grubbs," Meera cries, rushing over "Are you OK?"
I er there, Juni&039;s prediction echoing iname
But she had me at her mercy I was helpless It would have been a simple matter to finish me off She sparedelse makes sense I&039;m more valuable to her alive than dead I can do what she, Lord Loss and the Shadow can&039;t
"You&039;re wounded," Meera says, fussing over me "You have to heal yourself"
"Leave ic&039;s fading," Meera hisses "Use it to heal yourself or you&039;ll die"
"Good," I mutter Better if I die I can&039;t wreck the world if I&039;m dead
"Grubbs!" she snaps "Don&039;t be an ass Heal yourself Now!"
I sighwounds, broken ribs and ruptured inner organs It would be for the best if I perished, but I can&039;t give up on life I&039;m not that much of a hero
"What happened?" Ti on my chest and upper stomach
"The sound faded out," Ti down the volume on a television set"
"It was the same for us," Meera says
So Juni didn&039;t want the others to hear her prediction, in case they decided to killthem I&039;m pretty sure one of theh my head if they knew of the threat I pose But that would be another forue and shake ru me for her e," Tihter you"
"I guess she knew I&039;d survive It was all a set-up She never meant for me to die, only the rest of you, so that she could relishnoise, but says noclosely tofast, but I&039;ve dealt withinjuries I&039;ll live
The olves-there are five in the roo the floor by one of the walls They&039;re growling I bark at the sounds So away in a hurry
"Thepainfully but standing steady on my feet once I&039; off this roo up beside the olves
"Then they weren&039;t as coht," he says, tapping the wall "There&039;s a hidden panel I&039;ive est sain A third ti loose at the upper and left edges The olf gets a few fingers into the gap and wrenches off the panel, revealing a se
The ho removed the panel darts into the craay, but stops at a coloo away from us, but I can smell him It&039;s a familiar, cultured scent I smile viciously
"After me," I say softly, then lowerfaster than thenoises, letting hi s fear
The craay opens out into a large room at the rear of the compound There are several boats stacked at the sides, but all the hulls have been shattered, holes punched through the shells, ive her soldiers an extra incentive to stand and fight She made sure nobody shipped out early
Antoine Horwitzer is struggling with one of the useless boats, hauling it towards an open section at the far side of the room I can smell and hear the sea, the crash of the waves, the cries of the gulls Antoine is sobbing, his jacket tossed to one side, shirt ripped, trousers dirty He et anywhere in the boat, but desperation drives hie behindthem in check Antoine doesn&039;t knoe&039;re here He&039;s totally focused, head bent, straining painfully, using muscles he probably hasn&039;t tested in years I&039; the wreck of a boat towards the edge For a while I forget about Juni Swan and her terrible prophecy, and just enjoy the show
Finally, when he has about a h softly
He freezes Moans Gives the boat an especially strong tug Doesn&039;t look up
"Antoine," I laugh, stepping towards hio His arms relax and his shoulders slump when he realises he can&039;t aze on me and his eyes widen as he takes in s and wolfen face
"What happened to you?" he gasps
"Teenage angst," I chuckle I whistle at the olves and they spread out Meera, Timas and Prae are directly behind me
Antoine shrieks when he spots the olves Turns and races for the edge, to leap into the sea below Drawing fro an invisible hold over the fallen executive He struggles wildly, then sees that it&039;s hopeless Giving up, he facesto take out all my frustration on you It will be slow and painful Suitable payback for the lives you&039;ve ruined, the friends of mine you&039;ve killed"
"I didn&039;t kill anyone!" he squeals
"No, your kind never do," I sneer "You leave it to others You just set things up and give the orders"
"Please," Antoine sobs, throwing himself to his knees "Don&039;t do this It serves no purpose Put me on trial Let the proper authorities deal with me You&039;re not a killer There&039;s no evil in your soul Don&039;t-"
"Look at me!" I roar "Do you think you&039;ll be the first I&039;ve killed today? I wasn&039;t a ed ry"
"Meera!" Antoine whines "Prae! Please, I beg you You&039;re civilised people Help me"
"We can&039;t," Prae says coldly "Even if anted to-and personally I have no proble you-we couldn&039;t He&039;s not ours to control He&039;s one of your specimens You helped create him-now you have to deal with hirowling softly in anticipation of the kill Antoine&039;s eyes harden "Don&039;t be so hasty,more like his old self "There are others to consider"
"Like who?"
"Your uncle," he says smoothly, and I co dirt from his shirt and trousers He frowns at his untidy condition, then runs a hand through his hair and shrugs "I suppose this et back"
"You&039;ve got five seconds to tell me what you know about Dervish," I snarl
"Oh, I have rins "Your uncle&039;s in a perilous situation There are forces ainst him even as we speak It will take more than five seconds to-"
"Tell me!" I shout "Now Or I&039;ll torture it out of you
"I&039; would it take? I&039;ll hold out as long as I can, just to spite you After all, you&039;ve already vowed to tor I can stand the pain, but minutes are precious Do you dare waste them?"
I want to throttle him so badly it hurts But he kno important Dervish is to me I don&039;t want to cut a deal with this treacherous viper, but tirowl
"My life," Antoine replies
I think about it, then curse "OK I won&039;t kill you Now talk"
"Not so fast," Antoine says "I want to add a few conditions before I divulge all that I know Such as a boat without a hole in it, a coain with!" I snap "If you don&039;t tell ht as well torture you"
Antoine licks his lips nervously, then decides he has no choice but to play out the hand and hope for the best