Noelle regretted spilling that last secret the second the words left her mouth. The moment she understood it had cost her tongue instead of the stone cracking against her skull, pure regret tore through her like another blade. She should have kept quiet.
She should have let those creatures take Seraphine and her real parents and never looked back. If she had just stayed silent none of this would have happened.
Her careful plans would still be standing, Daisy would rule as Luna with her head held high, and Noelle would never have ended up lying broken in the snow, body cut to pieces because she had been too terrified to keep her secrets buried where they belonged.
Pain slashed through her mouth without mercy. Blood flooded it instantly, thick and hot, choking her as she tried to drag in air. Her eyes bulged wide with raw terror. She wanted to scream, wanted to beg, to promise anything, to take every word back. But the words were gone forever.
