God must think her a badass because he’d handed her this moment, and he didn’t dole out shit she couldn’t handle. That was a fact taught long ago by that miserable bitch called life.

What are you? The pregnant MacGyver?” “Best compliment I’ve had in a while.

Whatever you guys call it. Man up. Get your panties out of a wad. Put on your big boy shorts. Grow a set.

Fight back, Laia. For Darin. For Izzi. For every Scholar this beast has abused. Fight. A scream bursts from me, and I claw at Marcus’s face, but a punch to my stomach takes the wind out of my lungs. I double over, retching, and his knee comer up into my forehead. The hallway spins, and I drop to my knees. Then I hear him laughting, a sadistic chuckle that stokes my defiance.Sluggishly, I throw myself at his legs. It won’t be like before, like during the raid when I let that Mask drag me about my own house like some dead thing.This time, I’ll fight. Tooth and nail, I’ll fight.