Chosen - Kiersten White Page 0,92
because she can’t stop caring about everyone and everything.
The world is so broken, and it hurts too much. She has no desire to be its god, not like the Sleeping One. She just wants enough actual power to change things. Maybe if she had been the Slayer, it would be different. But it’s not. Not yet. Not until she makes it different.
She doesn’t want to hurt Leo, but she will. In his Watcher test, he once chose the world over what he loved most. She’s hoping what he loves most now is Nina, and that he makes the wrong choice.
She nods toward the demons. “You know all those breeds. You know what they do. Each and every one of them is a mindless predator.”
“Then kill them. Don’t ask me to drain them. It’s cruel. It’s wrong.”
“But you’re dying without it.”
“I don’t care.” He looks haunted. “Once I start, what if I can’t stop? What if I turn into my mother? I won’t risk it. Better to die.”
Artemis rolls her eyes. “Gee, that’s noble. So glad you—a perfectly nice, nonmurdery mostly human who knows enough about the world to actually protect the innocent in it—are choosing to die rather than let all these vicious demons die instead. You know that one drinks bone broth made from children, right? Judging by the rings on his claws, he’s been alive for a few hundred years. Imagine how many children that is. How many bowls of soup. But sure. Better that you don’t risk maybe someday hurting someone.”
“You’re twisting this. Me choosing not to benefit from killing these demons is not the same as turning them loose.” Leo regards her with a calm gaze. He was always good at seeing through people. It’s inconvenient. She doesn’t want to be seen right now.
“Fine. Don’t do it. You’re right, I won’t let them go even if you don’t drain them. But what do you think will happen to Nina?”
“She’ll get over me.” The words hurt for him to say, but he believes them.
“No, you arrogant dolt. It’s not about her feelings for you. It’s about Nina herself. If they can’t get power transferred from you, they’re going to go looking for new sources. And who do we know—who do they know—who’s positively bursting with power?”
“No,” he whispers.
“They’ll see the same thing your mother did. Helping them was the only way I could steer them away from Nina. But if you don’t work out, there will be nothing I can do. I can’t fight a hellgod, Leo. And I don’t think Nina can either.” She leans close, almost pressing against the bars, and whispers. “I have a plan. Do what they tell you to. Take the power. Transfer it. Charge up his amplifier. And trust me. It’s the demons or it’s Nina.”
It’s not. She would never let Nina get close to the Sleeping One. It wouldn’t work anyway, without an incubus- or succubus-type demon to transfer the power. But Leo doesn’t know that. And thankfully he’s too depleted, too exhausted, too desperately in love with her sister to see through Artemis’s lie.
She softens her voice, makes it more like Nina’s, then puts her hand through the bars to rest it on his arm. “You were going to let yourself die to keep her safe. Live to keep her safe, instead.”
This—feeding on other living creatures—is the line Leo chose, the one he wouldn’t cross. If she were really his friend, she would find another way to make this all work.
She can’t afford to be his friend. She sees the moment on his face when Leo breaks. He nods. “I’ll do it.”
Artemis squeezes his arm, then stands to inform Sean they can start. She’s waited long enough. This is the end, or the beginning, or both.
26
THE CAR BUMPS ALONG THE dirt road toward Shancoom. I’m in the back sandwiched between Jade and Doug while Rhys drives and Cillian sits in the passenger seat. My mother is slowly waking up, guarded by the purring kitten and Imogen, and I’ve left Tsip in charge of still-unconscious Ruth with a strict no-eyeballs mandate. The demon is still bitter over the dusty fate of her vampire trophies, and I don’t want to take any chances leaving her up to her own devices. Imogen offered to be in charge of Ruth, but Tsip can get to me in a heartbeat if something is wrong.
Facing Ruth’s mortality feels like the end of a Watcher era. She’s the last of the old guard, two generations ahead