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I stepped in pools of blood and left footprints ofwith deterain and again and again, stepping over bodies and daring those responsible to show thee, nearly palatial, and they could have been hiding anywhere I hadn’t come across Brook or Aron or anyone else who could have helped me Instead, I turned corner after corner, and I reached one dead end and then another I choked on my own frustration until it nearly replaced the fury that spurred me on

Then I heard it Just a mewl, reallythe smallest, palest sound that seemed to materialize from out of nowhere

But it hadn’t It was uished all else, and I whirled toward the sound

"I’ainst the floor in my effort to reach her

When I saw her, I nearly buckled

She was tiny and fragile, as any child should be, but her eyes were bri with the same inner turmoil I felt She saw me at the same moment I spied her, and reflexively, she lurched in h, the one poised at her throat that stopped her fro her--was surrounded by three other , and none of whonized

But I would have known Jonas Maier anywhere I’d seen his face hundreds, maybe thousands of tiiven me shelter

Now he threatenedthe first fracture in my new armor "Can’t we talk, Jonas? Can’t we do this peacefully?"

His eyes, so much like Brooklynn’s, yet so very, very different, appraisedme feel vulnerable and exposed "Don’t you think we’re past peaceful here?" His eyes roved from the blood on my feet, to that on my knees and hands His lips curled into a loathso to my demands, any more than I intend to leave here peacefully" He jerked the knife he held, and its blade burrowed against the soft flesh of htened and I took another step toward hi to deliver the elina The look of panic in her clear blue eyes was htdress, and I scoured the length of her, searching for signs that it ht be her own, that Jonas and the others had hurt her I heldwhat had happened to her I wondered, too, where her guard was Eden would sooner die than surrender her charge

Jonas grinned back at rin that made my stomach flip I could scarcely look at the runts of approval e Each one of them was steeped in the blood of others

"You’ve done this," Jonas shook his head, speaking to ht this on yourself The Vendor

queen" He let out a derisive laugh, and the otherme, as if they were in on some secret joke