The Alpha Who Rejected Me Needs My Blood

o

t of the table, and wrapped it in a cloth. I hid my mother's letter inside my boot, next to the

tray of toast. She looked t

your scarf

, I think. I left it in the library, but when I w

nfusion, not guilt. A girl who had lost someth

said. "I am gla

owly. "That was wei

thread of it behind, so I would suspect the one person in Duskwood who had been kind to

uid from the dead patient's vial and set it under the microscope. It writhed in the light, thin and ugly, like wor

a high, thin whine inside my skull. Silver light rolled across the slide like a wav

other had not been crazy. She had not been wrong. She had left me the one thing in

wiped my face with my sleeve an

knees buckled, and I grabbed the edge of the workbench to stay upright. It felt as if s

u fall down," said

urn

r braided down her back and a basket on her arm. She wore a long green coat

," I wh

and wrapped her arms around me so tightly that my ribs creaked. She smelled of pine smoke and cham

know I was he

ezes." She pulled back to look at me, and her eyes were wet. "And I ha

stool, wiped my face with a handkerchief, and looked at the

ur blood," she

d to

r medicine. It does not just heal. It burns. Every drop you give is a drop of your own life.

ens with a

he answer. It is wh

. "But there are three hund

hild. You will have to find the person who made the Rot, and stop it at its source. Until then, you must keep this b

vy as stones. Ambrose, the wa

careful,"

forehead. "I will bring you supplies tomorrow

es

ho has been smiling at

wers. I did not hear the alarm bell until it was already ringing. It was a deep, iron sound, r

ra

e doors. Women in aprons, men in work boots and children clinging to their mothe

t stopped," she sobbed. "I was reading to him, and he

her into t

is chest still. Ambrose stood beside him with one hand pressed flat a

softly. "I am so sorry. I

at the man who had rejected me, and wh

et him go. You came for revenge.

ce said: Trust

id: One drop is a

elan's mouth. The whole room gasped. Light exploded from my hand, silver and gold, spilling across th

Duskwood was no longer