Page 35 of The October Trials

So far back, we pass every single grave marker out here.

“Just kill me already!” I sob. “Isn’t that what you sick fucks want?”

“Not yet, little bird,” he hums. “Not yet.”

He hauls me back to the same cluster of ancient trees where Veronica’s body still lies crumpled on the ground, now charred.

Parker is tied to one of the thick trunks, wrists bound above his head with rough rope. His face is swollen and bruised, blood trickling from a split lip and a nasty gash on his forehead. He looks like he went through hell and back.

Despite everything, my chest still clenches at the sight of him.

“Let him go,” I rasp. “Please, Cage. Just let him go.”

“You still care about this pathetic piece of shit?” Cage shoves me forward until I’m standing right in front of him, ripping the gag from Parker’s mouth. “The only reason you’re here at my mercy right now is because your boyfriend offered up your virginity to us like it was a fucking entry fee.”

Parker’s eyes go wide. “My dad made me!” He shakes his head. “He said it was the only way—”

Cage slaps him hard across the face, the crack echoing through the trees.

“That’s… that’s not true,” I croak. My head snaps to Parker. “Tell him that isn’t true!”

Parker’s throat works on a swallow. “Blair… baby, I—”

“No!” I choke. “No, that’s not— Parker, you said you loved me. You sold me to them?!”

“I did what I had to.” His eyes won’t meet mine anymore. “My father would’ve killed me if I didn’t make it into the Legion, and they needed a virgin.”

“That’s why you refused to have sex with me this whole time. You used me,” I whisper. “I can’t fucking believe you!” I march to him and slap him across the face over and over again, banging on his chest in the process.

Cage steps up behind me, pulls his knife from his belt, and holds it out to me, handle first. “Your turn, little bird.” His voice takes on an excited edge. “He’s the reason you’re here. Take what you’re owed from him.”

My fingers close around the hilt. It feels powerful, liberating. It feels right in my hand.

Parker starts begging, his voice raising a pitch with each word he croaks. “Blair, please— I’m sorry, I’m so sorry—”

I stare at the boy who sold me to monsters, to the highest fucking bidder, just for a seat at their table. I want to feel heartbreak, but it never comes.

Instead, I feel rage.

And for the first time tonight, I don’t feel like prey.

I feel like a woman who’s fed up with every single thing in her life and is going to make someone pay.

Parker screams when I make the first cut, and the sound is like music to my ears, feels like oxygen after drowning.

“You made me think I was saving my dying mother,” I shriek, cutting another line. “Our entire relationship, all I’ve done is give and give and fucking—” I scream, driving the knife into his thigh using both hands. Using all of my anger and my betrayal and my hurt. “Give!”

He cries out, head thrashing side to side. “I’m sorry—fuck—I’m sorry!”

“That’s all you can say for yourself? Huh?!”

I carve every lie into him. Every promise he used to lure me here. Every night for the past week he slept peacefully, knowing he was about to hand me over to monsters.

When I finally step back, Parker is slumped against the ropes, blood running down his legs in thick rivulets.

He’s lucky I didn’t cut his little dick off.

Cage steps in close behind me, and like an animal in heat, he thrusts his hard-on into my back. I gasp at the sensation.