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She grio, Scarlet skidded halfway across the roouilt didn’t have time to sink in--when she heard a roar, fear drew her attention back toward Wolf Snarling, furious He was already charging toward her

The gun The knife It was Wolf but it wasn’t Wolf and she didn’t have the strength to fight hiain …

Cinder scrunched up her face as a drop of sweat slid into her eyes and raised the gun

But Wolf’s focus was on Scarlet’s fallen body, and when he leaped, he cleared Cinder entirely She spun around, stunned, as Wolf scooped Scarlet into his arainst him

Wolf, as a monster, as one of the queen’s uncontrollable beasts …

He was still Wolf after all

Gulping, choking, gulping again, Cinder raised herself up She lost balance and fell onto one knee "Wolf," she stammered "Please … help Cress, and Thorne … Please…"

He raised his head, green eyes burning at first, but then he looked over to where Cress was clutching her stoainst a fallen chair, looking like he wanted to go to Cress but was terrified that his own body couldn’t be trusted if he got close enough

Wolf gave an understanding nod

Relieved that, if nothing else, she could trust Wolf to get her friends out of here and start tending to their wounds, Cinder tried again to stand This ti the gun in one hand and the knife in the other When she rounded the dais, she saw Levana on her knees, one hand dug into the folds of her dress while she clung to the back of the throne with the other Her coronation gown billowed around her, elegant and distinguished, a sharp contrast to her grotesque face She had given up on trying to use her glarotesque She had once been a victim, as Cinder had once been a victirotesque, unnatural, disgusting?

No Levana was a monster, but it wasn’t because of the face she’d kept hidden all these years Her monstrosities were buried much deeper than that

Another drop of sweat fell into Cinder’s lashes and she swiped it aith the back of her wrist Then she lifted the gun, ai at Levana’s heart

At the same time, Levana lifted the hand that had been tucked into the luxurious fabric She held the gun that Cinder had shoved toward the dais Her arm trembled as if the weapon were impossibly heavy and it was clear froun before She was a queen, after all She hadfor her

The queen locked her teeth in concentration, and Cinder felt the ainst her bones The tendons started to crarier on the trigger

She tried to pull the trigger

Urged her finger to pull Begged it

Pull the trigger

Pull it

Her hand began to shake, the gun wobbling at the end of her ar into the pad of her finger

But she couldn’t pull it She couldn’t