Every wolf in the territory knew the rule: to become Cassian's Luna, you had to survive his bloody Trials. He'd round up ten she-wolves, run them through a Trial, and cut the weak ones. Survive, you moved on. Win all hundred rounds, and he'd mark you as his mate. Out of all of them, I was the only one who'd made it to round ninety-nine. I'd taken every cruel thing he threw at me without a sound. He'd started looking at me like I was something rare. He even paraded me past the other Alphas and made them call me his Luna. Then, right before tonight's Trial, I saw him. He had Aria backed into the VIP room, kissing her like he was starving for it. "There's a bullet in the fifth chamber," he murmured against her mouth. "Don't fire it." "Got it." My chest went tight. I couldn't breathe. No time to think. The Trial had already started. I watched Aria pull the rigged draw—second to fire, the safe spot. My stomach dropped. If I kept going, this round was already lost. I breathed in and looked dead into Cassian's calm, empty eyes. "Wren." He swirled the wine in his glass, his voice all warmth and favor. "Still want to play? You know I'd never let you lose." The room broke into knowing jeers the second he finished. His packmates whistled, eyes flicking between us, mocking. "Alpha's always soft on his Luna. This round's already over." "New wolf's got some nerve, going up against the Luna. Doesn't she know who he's actually got eyes for?" "Be smart. Just forfeit. At least walk out with your head up." Across the table, Aria was shaking, but she set her jaw. "I'm not forfeiting. I'm playing." I caught the flicker in Cassian's eyes—something almost impressed. "Interesting. Then let's make it quick." His mouth curved, lazy and indulgent. "Wren. I've got plans for you tonight." Pathetic. He'd already stacked it for Aria, and here he was, still running the lovesick act. My heart felt like it was going under in ice water. Numb. I breathed in and met his eyes. "Start it." I wanted to see for myself—whether the male who kept swearing he'd never let me lose could really sit there and watch me take the fall. The Trial started. I drew first. I lifted the revolver, pressed the muzzle to my chest, and squeezed. Click. Empty. The room let out a breath. Someone even laughed and started taking bets. Cassian's eyes dropped, and he gave a soft chuckle. "Wren. Don't worry. I always bet on you." Aria's turn. Her hand shook, but she pulled the trigger without stalling. Empty again. Then me. Third chamber. Empty. But my heart only slammed harder, because he'd said the bullet was in the fifth. I was shaking all over. My eyes stung, my vision swimming. The draw that put me first—he'd rigged that too. He wanted me to lose. Aria fired the fourth. She knew she was safe, but she let out a scared little whimper anyway. The jeering picked up. "Just quit! Get on your knees, grovel to the Luna, beg—maybe the Alpha lets you off!" "Come on, little wolf, a rubber slug still stings!" Aria didn't flinch. She just slid the revolver across to me. My heart shot into my throat. I stared at Cassian, waiting for him to call it off. He just watched. There was even a faint smile on his mouth. He didn't lift a finger to stop it. The seconds dragged. Cassian frowned. "Wren. Don't be scared. You always come out on top." My mouth twisted, bitter, and with a shaking hand I pressed the muzzle to my chest. Bang. The slug slammed into me. Rubber. Not deadly. But it hurt so bad I almost couldn't breathe. Aria screamed. "I—I'm so sorry, Wren, I didn't know it'd—" The whole room had gone white, every eye snapping to Cassian. By the rules, whoever took the shot lost. The winner became his mate. "Cassian, I—" He stood slowly and looked down at Aria, his voice cold as ice. "It's fine. She bet, and she lost." Then he bent and scooped the shaken Aria up into his arms. The move was smooth, dripping with that flat, unquestionable dominance. His eyes swept the room, his voice frigid. "Wren. You lost. I'm disappointed. But there's only one Luna in my heart, and it's you." Aria flinched against him, but the look she shot me was pure dare. It hurt, bad, deep in my chest. I sneered anyway. He carried Aria toward the door and didn't break stride. He didn't look back at me once. Only when his back disappeared through the door did the tears I'd been holding finally break and pour down. This Trial was never fair. Whoever he wanted won. That was it. I wiped my face, picked up the wine glass, and drained it in one swallow. Outside, I held my throbbing chest and dialed a number with a shaking hand. "You want a Luna—fine. I'm in. Seven days. I'll see you at the ceremony."
Back home, I knocked back a handful of painkillers. After ninety-nine rounds, my body had gone numb to pain a long time ago. But tonight, somehow, it hurt worse than any of them. I sat staring at the portrait of us that had gone up on the wall not long ago. When the Trials hit round ninety-nine, Cassian had taken me to have it done. I'd laughed and asked if that broke his own rules. He'd scoffed. "My Trials. I'm the rule. And you'll always be the reason I break it." Now, for someone else, he'd broken that rule for good. And he'd sat there and watched me go down like a clown. That night, Cassian didn't come home. Aria sent me a video of him going at her like an animal. He had her in his most lavish den, taking her in every corner of it. The whole place reeked of them. That black pearl he'd burned a fortune on for me last month—it was in his mouth now, dragging over her skin while she moaned under him. I'd never seen him that wild. That far gone. [Miss Wren, you saw how hooked Cassian is on me. Be smart. Walk away.] I stared at the message, fingers gone white, holding the tears back. When I first met Cassian, my grandmother was dying—wolfsbane in her blood, and not a coin for the cleansing she needed. Cassian came down on us like a god. He paid for her treatment. Then, like it was nothing, he handed me a token into his Trials. He looked at me the way a predator looks at prey, a smile pulling at his mouth. "It's just a game. Play it right, and you've got nothing to lose." Even outside the Alpha circles, everyone had heard Cassian was twisted. He ran the Trials because someone he'd loved once betrayed him. After that, he stopped believing in love. He made a game out of it—seeing how low a she-wolf would crawl to mate him. I took the token anyway. I needed the coin. I needed to save my grandmother. In the Trials, he called himself King, lounging on his throne, watching she-wolves tear each other apart for the Luna's place. His twisted Trials—I gritted my teeth through ninety-nine of them. Diving off cliffs. Locked in a box with vipers. Seven minutes underwater. Eating live roaches. The ones that made everyone else scream and crack—I took them all without a sound. One Trial was a jump from way up high. A rival, eyes wild, slashed my arm and ripped away the only thing that would've slowed my fall. Bleeding, dropping toward the sea, I heard his voice crackle through the link in my ear, amused. "Over forty rounds in. Didn't think you'd die here, did you? Any last words?" I closed my eyes. "Just make sure my grandmother gets her cleansing." His low laugh came through the link, and I let go. They fished me out, and I woke up in the healer's den, half dead. Later he came to see me, his eyes dark and heavy. "This one's yours. I changed my mind—the winner's whoever's bolder." "Wren, you won. Not the round. You won me." "Still want to keep going? Walk now, and you leave with a fortune." He said it with a self-mocking smile, his eyes strangely hollow. Something in me gave. I didn't say a word. I just put my arms around him. The next second his whole face lit up, wild with it. He cupped the back of my head and kissed me deep. "Wren. From now on, you're mine. I'll give you everything—the best of it all." He bought me a mansion. He signed over a tenth of the pack's wealth to my name. He paraded me through the Alphas and made them call me his Luna. And when the she-wolf he'd once wanted came crawling back—the one who'd betrayed him, the love he never got to have—and tore into me in front of everyone, crying, begging him to take her back— He didn't blink. He cracked a bottle over her head, then had her dragged off and torn apart. Then he left them with one line: "Anyone else want to insult my Luna? Step up." He favored me so openly that everyone was sure I was the special one. They had me believing it too—that I was the one who could make him believe in love again. Until tonight. Tonight I finally got it. The whole thing was just a story I'd told myself.
I shut off my phone and sat alone in the empty mansion all night. By morning, the lock turned. Cassian was back. His suit reeked of another she-wolf, and the marks down his neck were impossible to miss. He froze when he saw me sitting stiff on the couch. Then he rubbed his head, annoyed. "Wren. Don't tell me you sat here all night waiting on me." I opened my mouth. My voice came out rough. "You gonna shower?" He went still, taking in my pale face and bloodshot eyes. His brow pulled tight, and he threw his coat aside. But there was a flicker of pleasure he couldn't hide as he came over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I get it. You're like this because you lost the Trial." "Winner takes all—that's the rule. By the rules, that was the hundredth round, and Aria won. I should be marking her." He paused, then pulled a massive pink diamond ring out of his pocket and pressed a kiss to my neck. "But you're mine. So I'll let you run one more round to win the Luna's place back. Call it a privilege. Just for you." "So next time—win." Win? It was almost funny. I'd had a fair shot. He was the one who pulled the crown off my head and handed it to Aria. I remembered the rule plain as day: the winner of the final round becomes his mate. Aria won. This ring was just a scrap thrown my way. Something moved in his eyes—a flicker of a dare. His mouth curved. "What, Wren? Not happy? You used to fight like your life was on the line to win me." He was sure I'd cry. That I'd rage, demand answers, like every she-wolf he'd cut before me. But I just lifted my eyes, my voice flat, like I was talking about a stranger. "No. I don't care." "Cassian. From now on, I'm out." His face froze. The smile stayed put, but something murderous flashed under it. "Out? Say that again." I raised my head and held his stare, calm. "Cassian. Your Trials. I'm done." "I'll leave. I won't cling. You're free to have Aria." His breath caught. His hands shot out and gripped my arms—and right then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered. Whatever they said set him off. "You lay a hand on her and I'll have your lives!" He hung up, eyes gone black, and clamped down on my wrist hard enough to crush bone. "That hurts! Cassian, what—" He hauled me to the car without a word, his voice cold as ice. "You're coming with me. Look at what you've done." I stumbled as he dragged me, shoved into the car before I could get a word out. He drove fast, jaw tight the whole way, not explaining a thing. The car stopped at an abandoned outpost near the pack border. I stared, dazed, at Aria—tied hand and foot, blood at the corner of her mouth. Cassian rushed over, cut her loose, and crushed her against him, his eyes red with worry. "Aria. Don't be scared. I won't let anything happen to you." She sobbed into him, then turned a timid little look on me. "Miss Wren, if you want me to stay away from Cassian, I will. But why'd you have somebody jump me?" I breathed in and looked only at him. "Cassian, I didn't send anyone after her. Do you believe me?" He lifted Aria into his arms, holding her like he was shielding her from the whole world. But the look he turned on me was full of open disgust and disappointment. "She's an orphan. She never starts anything. Who else would touch her, except the one who's sore about losing?" "You bet and you lost, Wren. Pulling dirty tricks just means you can't take it." I clenched my fists till my nails cut into my palms. "Cassian, I told you—I didn't!" "Cassian." Aria's voice was barely above a whisper, broken with sobs. "It's okay. I don't blame Wren. She just loves you too much." He gave a cold laugh and turned to go with Aria in his arms—then called over a few pack warriors. "Tell me. A disobedient old Luna—how should we deal with her?"
The pack warriors knew exactly what to do. They wrenched my arms back in a heartbeat. "Alpha. How do you want her punished?" Cassian gave me a long, heavy look, then bent his head and asked Aria, soft, "The punishment's up to my new Luna." It cut into me all over again. Back when each Trial ended, he'd always handed me the right to punish the loser. I was soft. Every time, I just told them to stay away from Cassian and let them go. No punishment. But now Aria put on that sweet, harmless face, while her mouth curled into something cruel. "Cassian, I don't really know your rules. However it was done before—do it that way now." He got it instantly. He turned to me, searching my eyes for some reaction, and found nothing but dead silence. It made him angry. He pulled Aria in tighter and ground the words out. "You heard your Luna. Move." They dragged me into the mansion, pinned me to the floor, and went at me with a whip soaked in saltwater. In the next room, the two of them tangled all night. Their moaning and my screaming wound together and filled the whole place. The whip tore me open. But my heart hurt worse. I thought about the day I went into the healer's den after that fall, the two of us kissing deep, sure of each other. Cassian had wanted to stop the Trials right then. He didn't want me hurt again. But every rich young wolf in the pack had bets riding on it—billions on the line. The Trials weren't his alone anymore. They wouldn't let him stop until the final round. He'd held me, eyes red, like he wanted to fold me into his bones. "Wren. I swear it. From now on, every round—I won't let you lose." And I didn't let him down. Every Trial, I gave everything, outsmarting and outlasting every rival. Plenty of them came to hate me. Some teamed up and cheated, trying to get me killed. But I loved him. So I clawed my way out every time and won, and he'd pull me into his arms. The ones who'd screamed at me in those Trials, who'd played dirty to hurt me—they ended up tied down just like this, taking the whip, listening to him and me all night. Now, finally, it was my turn. In the end, Cassian had let me get hurt after all. They had each other all night. By the time the sky went pale, Cassian came out in a robe. I heard him say, "Send for my healer. Patch her up. Don't let her die." Then I blacked out. When I came to, I was on the couch, his coat thrown over me. "You're awake? The Alpha took Miss Aria ahead to the party—celebrating her win. He says clean yourself up and come." His Beta passed it on, face flat. My voice was wrecked. I grabbed my bag to leave. "I'm sorry. I have to get to the healer's. My grandmother's cleansing is today. Cassian knows about it." It was Cassian who'd found the cleansing for her—my reward for surviving round ninety-nine. But the next second, his Beta had them grab me. "What are you doing? I said I'm not going! Cassian knows—my grandmother gets her cleansing today!" I fought with everything I had. My bones screamed. The warriors shoved me into a dress, didn't even let me take my phone, and stuffed me into the car. I could barely breathe through it. Cassian used to take me to see her every month. But today, of all days, he broke his word—to celebrate a stolen win for another she-wolf. At the hall, Cassian and Aria and the whole pack of rich young wolves were already there. I came in a backless dress, the whip marks plain on my skin. People started to murmur. Cassian's eyes dimmed. He came toward me with his arm around Aria's waist. "Wren. Today's the day we celebrate Aria's win. As her elder, you should pay your respects. But you show up empty-handed—you trying to embarrass her?" Aria bit her lip, all wounded. "Maybe she thinks I shouldn't have won. After all, she took the first ninety-nine." I cut through her sweet little act and looked dead at Cassian. "I'm out of the Trials. I don't owe her a celebration. Cassian, my grandmother's cleansing is today. I'm going to her. Let me go." Something startled flashed in his eyes, then went cold. "It's a good day. You really have to bring up something this grim?" I pushed down the ache in my chest. "Then what'll it take for you to let me go?" "What'll it take?" His eyes glinted. He kissed Aria right in front of me. "Let my new Luna name her terms." Aria pretended to think, then grinned wide. "Then strip down, crawl to me on all fours, lick my shoes, and howl three times like the bitch you are." My breath stopped. I couldn't believe my ears. The next second, I heard Cassian let out a soft scoff. "Done."
I stared at him. "Cassian. And if I won't?" He gave a cold laugh, his eyes mocking and ice cold. "Since when do you get a say?" He flicked a glance at the crowd behind him, and they all started baying. "You heard the Luna! Strip! Down on the floor!" "Yeah, lost the shirt off your back and still trying to bargain with the Alpha." The same rich wolves who used to call me Luna had turned on me, every one of them Aria's now. My chest seized, the pain going numb. A wall of pack warriors stood behind me. There was no running. Cassian was unpredictable. Fight it, and he'd only drag it out. I had to get to my grandmother. My pride didn't matter anymore. "You'd better keep your word. Let me go when it's done." I choked it back, slowly stripped, and dropped to the floor. The whole room sucked in a breath. A howl tore out of me—the first one—and the place exploded with laughter. I swallowed the shame and the tears and howled again. Then someone in the crowd kicked me. When the last howl came out, Cassian spoke, cold. "Enough." "Get her out of here!" I choked back a sob, grabbed my clothes, yanked them on, and stumbled out. It had started pouring while I was inside. I finally flagged a car and made it to the healer's den. I ran into the room—and she wasn't there. I tore the place apart looking for her. Then the doors to the treatment room opened, and the healers wheeled out someone under a white sheet. A hand hung off the edge, and on the wrist was the carved bone band I'd given my grandmother. Every drop of blood in me froze. "Grandma!" I screamed and threw myself onto her body. The healer let out a long breath. "I'm sorry. We did everything we could. At the end she wanted to see you one last time. We tried to reach you—your line was dead, every time. We had no choice but to start." I couldn't hear the rest. The room spun, and I went down. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a bed. A nurse came in to adjust my drip, worry on her face. "Miss, I know you just lost someone close to you. But you have to take care of yourself, especially now that you're carrying." It hit me like a slap. "What did you say?" I repeated it back, shaking. "I'm pregnant?" "Yes. Two months along. You really hadn't noticed?" A shiver ran under my belly. I laid a hand over it and went cold all over. There was a time I'd dreamed of having his pup. A pup made out of love. And now, of all times—when Cassian didn't love me anymore—the pup had come. The door opened. Cassian walked in, half a cake in his hand. "Wren, you embarrassed me today." His voice was cold, edged with blame. "Aria's got a good heart. She figured you hadn't eaten, so she saved you some cake." The hate rose up in me. That cake, picked apart past recognition, was a slap across the face. "You're not sitting with your grandmother. You're in here faking sick to get my attention?" "Get out!" I grabbed the cup off the nightstand and threw it at his face. He tipped his head and dodged. Something vicious crossed his eyes. "You don't know a good thing when you've got it. Not even close to Aria." His face went hard. He turned and slammed the door behind him. And right then, everything I'd held in broke loose, and I sobbed until I couldn't breathe. For days, Cassian paraded Aria around, spoiling her rotten. And I buried my grandmother alone. The day I put her in the ground, the sky was black with clouds, and soon it was pouring. While I stood there, Cassian was making a show of buying Aria a diamond nobody else in the world could get. I went back to his mansion, packed everything that was mine, and moved into a small place out near the pack border. Cassian realized I was gone and called, demanding to know where I was. I didn't answer that. I just said, "Cassian, the Trials are over. There's nothing between us." A day later, he showed up. He looked at the little room and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Wren, you're living in a dump like this now? You want out of my life this bad—you're playing hard to get." My face went cold. "It's none of your business. Get out." The next second his eyes flashed, and he had his warriors grab me. "Let's go. Aria wants to take you to an auction."
I fought as hard as I could, but I was no match for the warriors. They took me to a huge private estate. There was an underground arena down below, and the owner kept a massive serpent—he liked to gather rich, powerful wolves to watch it feed. Aria was already there, decked out in a gorgeous gown. "Wren. They're doing a feeding show. But honestly? It's so boring." In the cage on the platform, a golden serpent, thirteen feet long, was tearing into a slab of bloody meat. Her eyes were wide and innocent, but the smile on her was cruel. "You won the first ninety-nine Trials, so a snake's nothing to you, right? Cassian, I want to watch her tame it." The second she said it, my whole body went cold. The little life inside me seemed to feel it too. It trembled. "Are you insane? This'll kill someone!" Cassian looked at my white face, and something flickered—almost like he didn't want to. He leaned close to my ear, his voice low and coaxing. "Wren, you know what I hate most about you? You're too stubborn. Show me a little weakness, just once, and I'll let you win." "Here's your chance. Beg me, and the last Trial—I'll make sure you win." But I just looked at her, numb to the bone, and dragged out a hollow smile. "Cassian, the thing I regret most is ever stepping into your Trials." His face finally twisted. Right on cue, Aria stoked it. "How can you not know what's good for you? Cassian's giving you a chance. If I were you, I'd be thanking him on my knees. You won't play—that proves you never loved him at all!" Something murderous crossed Cassian's eyes. He shoved me hard and ground out three words. "Throw her in." The word dropped, and they shoved me into the giant cage. The serpent saw me and went still, like it had spotted prey. Then it slid toward me, tongue flicking. "Ah!" I scrambled back, but it caught my leg and coiled around it. "Cassian, please, let me out!" My scream came out raw. "I'm pregnant!" The crowd was too loud. No one could make out a word I said. Cassian frowned a little, like he was trying to read my lips. But Aria hooked her arms around his neck and breathed in his ear, "Cassian, she's having so much fun. I want to play too. Why don't we go to the back?" His throat moved. He scooped Aria up without another thought and carried her toward the back. The serpent had bitten me a dozen times. It wound around my body and started to squeeze. I couldn't break free. I couldn't breathe. My face was going purple. "Ahh!" It wasn't until I let out one last raw, ripping scream that the crowd finally caught on. "God—the snake's actually gone wild!" "There's blood everywhere under her—somebody call for help!" When I came to again, I was in a bed at the healer's den. A tearing pain ripped through my lower belly. I threw the blanket back, and my stomach had already gone flat. The pup was gone. Every drop of blood in me froze, and the grief slammed through me all at once. I screamed until my voice broke. I'd already lost my grandmother. That pup had been the only family I had left in the world. Why? Why did Cassian have to kill my child, take the last thing I had to hold onto? "No!" The door opened, and Cassian walked in, his face still flushed from sex, the marks on his neck loud and ugly. He gave me a flat look, a trace of mockery in it. "Heard you got your monthly and that's why they hauled you in here?" "This isn't like you, Wren. The hardest Trial, ninety-nine of them, and you never once got this dramatic." I sucked in a breath, fought through the pain, and stood. Then I put everything I had left into my arm and slapped him across the face. "Cassian. I hope you rot."
The crazed look in my eyes caught Cassian off guard. He ran his tongue over his cheek, something dark crossing his face, and grabbed my wrist. "Have I gone too easy on you lately? Hm?" Then his phone rang. He picked up, and his face changed in an instant. "Aria, I'm coming. Don't be scared." "Aria's hurting. I'm going to her. That new place of yours—I had it torn down. Stay put." And he walked out without looking back. I sat there, frozen, for a long time. Then I lifted my hand and dialed that number, my voice shaking. "Before you come for me—help me put on a show first." I hung up, and a taunting message came through. Aria was curled against Cassian, drawing circles on his chest. [Wren, look—even bitten up by a snake, one word from me and Cassian leaves you flat to come running to me. He doesn't love you. You almost died for him, and he still only wants me. Pathetic.] I gripped the phone, tears hitting the screen, my vision blurring. There were warriors posted outside the ward. Nowhere to go. I had to stay in the bed. The second I closed my eyes, the nightmares came. Ninety-nine brutal Trials. Cassian's cold, final stare. My grandmother, hopeless in her bed. The pup that vanished before I ever got to meet it. Another day passed, and Cassian brought Aria to see me. "Wren, are you okay?" Aria said, all wounded. "Cassian really does care about you. Even now, he still wants to give you one more fair shot against me." "If you won't play, it means you don't really love him. You don't want him at all." This time I turned and looked dead at the two of them. "Fine. I'll play." His eyes lit up for a second. Aria froze, like she hadn't expected me to fold so fast. Something venomous flickered, but her voice stayed soft. "Of course I want a fair fight too. But this time, I'm setting the rules." Cassian stroked her hair, indulgent. "Of course. You won last time." Where he couldn't see, the corner of her mouth twisted up, cruel. "Last time you lost the gun game. That must've stung." "So let's bet on the gun again. What do you say?" My eyes were strangely calm. I nodded. "Fine." "Then it's settled." Aria smiled, scheming. "Cassian, let's go get ready. Let her rest." The next night. They brought us both to the top of a cliff. A table had been set up there, two chairs. A black revolver lay in the middle, the barrel cold in the moonlight. The warriors walked me and Aria to opposite sides of the table. Then Cassian's car rolled up beside us. He stepped out and lowered himself into a lavish throne of a chair. A warrior beside him held a bottle of champagne. "When the game's done," he said softly, his gaze drifting between us, "I'll announce it on the spot—and the winner gets the name of Luna." "Now. Begin." Aria played humble. "You roll first, sis. Fair's fair. Odd number, you shoot first." I rolled without hesitating. Odd. I'd go first. I heard Cassian's breath catch, his fist cracking. His nerves gave it away. The bullet had to be in an even chamber. Aria's face went pale too. "No, no—best two out of three!" I gave a cold little laugh and didn't argue. Somehow Aria rolled odd twice, and now she went first. "I'm first. So I'll start." Cassian didn't stop it. He just said, flat, "Get on with it." Aria gave him a coy smile, gripped the gun backward, pressed it to her own chest, and pulled. Click. A faint tap of metal. Empty. Then the gun came to me. I weighed it in my hand for a second and laughed under my breath. This wasn't the fake from last time. The weight was real. So was the bullet.
"What are you waiting for, Wren?" Something smug flashed in Aria's eyes. "Don't tell me you're scared? Or were you just humoring Cassian when you said you'd play?" Cassian's face darkened, his voice low. "Wren. It's your turn." I didn't move. The warrior beside me spoke up. "Miss Wren, the rule is, once it starts, it can't stop. Refuse to play, and you take the punishment." "And this is the hundred-and-first Trial. The punishment is every punishment from the last hundred, combined. You sure you can take that?" I twisted my mouth into a smile. There was nothing left inside me. What a load of garbage. Cassian and Aria had cooked that rule up on the spot. All he wanted was to watch me suffer. I looked at him, mockery in my eyes, my lips barely moving, my voice so soft the wind could've carried it off. "Cassian. I'll ask you one last time. You really want me to finish this?" His body went stiff, his pupils flickering. He was quiet a moment, then: "Wren. A game's a game." The last thread in me snapped. The sea wind lifted my hair across my pale face. I gripped the gun and pressed it to my chest. "Cassian. This shot pays you back for the cleansing you gave my grandmother—for the three more years she got with me." Click. Empty. Cassian frowned, lost on why I'd bring that up now. The gun went back to Aria. She had it in the bag, but she still played it up, all fear and grit. "Cassian, I love you. As long as I win, I'm not afraid to die!" Another empty chamber. Something moved in Cassian's eyes—almost touched. Then he looked back at me. I didn't hesitate. But before I pulled, I spoke again. "This shot pays you back for the three years you spoiled me." Empty. The gun went back to Aria. Cassian's face got darker, the unease building. He bit out, "Wren. Just play. Quit saying these things." By then Aria had fired her fifth and let out a breath, looking at me with mock pity. "Oh, Wren. What now? I won again." Then it was the sixth. I took the gun and stood. I walked slowly to the edge of the cliff, facing Cassian. The warriors didn't know what I was doing. They moved in front of him, on guard. But I just pressed the gun to my own chest. "This shot—now you and I are even. For good." Bang. The shot cracked across the cliff, and a mist of blood burst from my chest. I let go, threw the gun, and I went down backward, weightless. In that last second, I saw Cassian tear toward me, out of his mind, screaming my name. "Wren!"
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