Chapter 54

• I flick the rusted hook aside as I continue to circle him, my frustration mounting at the sorry state his body has succumbed to overnight. His flesh hangs in ragged strips, his breath is shallow, and his once-defiant eyes have dulled to a murky, lifeless sheen. Pathetic. But not pathetic enough for me to grant him the mercy of death.
• My Beast and I need something to release our rage upon while Catherine heals—the sight of her bruised and broken body is a fresh wound in my mind, an unrelenting reminder of my failure. It makes my blood burn, my claws twitch to rend flesh from bone.
• The guard whimpers, his words slurring together in pitiful pleas for death, for release from his suffering. I ignore him. Suffering is the lesson, the warning I will etch into his very being—a message to every Beast in this castle.