Page 57 (1/2)

I wet my dry lips "Failed…at what?"

Dae at the sound ofhi He’s not as strong as you, Daemon You are different"

Dae he’d wanted--his brother There was no way he’d turn that down And he was fighting not to show any enized thein his jaw, the way his eyes flickered, and the tight line of his e that he was creating someone who could ultimately destroy the ones he loved And someone ould be tied to him irrevocably--and to me If Daemon healed Will, their lives would be joined

"I’d prefer to hunt you down and break every bone in your body for what you’ve done," Daemon said finally "Rip your flesh off your body slowly and then feed it to you for hurting Kat But eance"

Visibly shaken by his words, Will paled "I was hoping that would be your decision"

"You know, you have to be hurt for this to work"

Will nodded, ai "I know"

Daeet to inflict the dae"

"Yeah, I don’t think so"

What happened next was truly macabre Part of me wanted to look away or cave to the pain, but I didn’t I watched Will cock his ar The ht about that other than the obvious, but then Daemon placed his hand on Will’s ar powers Daeet passed the onyx to get h the pain anye door Hethe chains above me The manacles slipped off my wrists, and I alest you don’t tell your mother about this After all, it would kill her" He sotten what he wanted "Behave, Katy"

Then he was out of the cage, and out of the room I didn’t kno much time we had left Couldn’t be ave out "Daee and helpingwarth I had left By the tie, I could stand alone, and I gently brushed his hands off th And there were officers on their way, liht," I whispered in a throaty voice

Making a deep sound in the back of his throat, he clutched my cheeks and placed his lips oninto his touch When he pulled away, both of us were gasping for air

"What did you do?" I asked, wincing at the sound of ainst ainst my lips "For the , Kitten Reetor close to it The mutation probably won’t work At least not to the extent he thinks"

I laughed in spite of everything, the sound rasping "Evil genius"

"You betcha," he replied, his eyes h mine "You sure you’re okay? Your voice…"

"Yeah," I whispered "I’ll be okay"

He kissed ain, soft and deep, and he took away h I was sure they’d linger for sos do But for a moiant clock ticking over our heads, and I was safe in his arether Two halves of the saer

Daeainst my mouth, and then I felt his lips curve into a real set my brother"

Chapter 36

My boots and sweater were MIA, so Dae hi we could do about the shoes I’d survive, though Chilled feet were actually pleasant in comparison to what I’d just experienced