Book 3: Hell to Pay

Candace

My heart hammers in my throat. Our weapons shine dully in the snow, Hollis’s sword dwarfing my dagger. Eva drags her gaze from them up to our clasped hands. My other arm throbs, a reminder that I don’t think I could fight her off if I wanted to.

She adjusts her grasp on her knife to a stabbing angle. All my various physical aches melt away, replaced by the painful knowledge that Hollis loves me and that still might not matter. That we may have been too selfish, too reckless, to have earned our happy ending. My body screams for it. It’s so close I can almost taste it in the copper of Mother’s blood still burning on my tongue, but this is how I don’t turn into her. I have to face the consequences of my actions head-on. I acted cruelly, even if I did so in trying not to be.

Eva meets my gaze. She raises her knife. I smile at her, even though it wobbles at the edges. Goddess above, I don’t want to die, but I understand. And at least I have Holl