Page 62 of Reflections of Silence

Something he hadn’t let me in on while I was left to plan the remainder of the event.

“You pick, Minette. I trust your choices. How’s James?” I asked, off-hand, folding the ribbon back into its packet.

Minette turned a sweet shade of pink.

“He—ah, he’s been...well. I think,” she mumbled into an armful of material raised suspiciously high.

I sighed and pressed my hand to the top of the pile until her eyes became visible.

“What happened?” I asked softly.

“Nothing!” She gave me a startled glance and scurried from the room.

I shook my head, still clutching the ribbon, and placed it beside the bed for her to find later. Amusement niggled inside my head that wasn’t my own, and I sighed, eager to see Sebastian. Maybe I’d have to start reversing my days and nights after all.

Oh, I wouldn’t get too excited, Gella. I’m sure he’s hours away from breaking his own thoughts.

My teeth clenched at Amy’s intrusion. Would I have to get used to her in my own headspace, too? Gone were the days of privacy, then.

“I told you to get out,” I groused through gritted teeth. My jaw ached from the constant, restrained tension until I was fit to bust. I sucked in a breath, my cheeks depressing against my teeth with the effort. “You have no place here.”

I carved out the thought in a resolute manner, hoping with no little dose of desperation she’d get the hint, but I doubted it would work.

But I need to be here. For him. For you.

I ignored that, collecting books from my dresser and heading for the library. Our little library, between our rooms. I needed to ask Sebastian how to block unwelcome thoughts, but without explaining why. That could be difficult.

Yes, I rather think it will be.

Her amusement irked me. I threw up a rude image I’d seen the sailors on the docks throw to one another in jest, but sent mine with the greatest effort of disgust I could manage. If Amy had any sinful crutch beside lust, it was pride. I could work with that.

The barb worked—a little too well.

I grabbed for the handle of my door, but my muscles refused to move. Even my feet were frozen where I stood. I gaped—or tried to—but my mouth seemed glued shut, too.

“Is this you?” I hissed through numbed lips, my words slurring together horribly.

Of course, silly. How else was I to get you alone?

“Why?” I didn't bother with extra words. The mumbling would serve to amuse her and humiliate me.

Smart little thing, aren’t you now?

My feet turned of their own accord, walking me back to the bed. I watched in abject horror as my body became a marionette on invisible strings with me trapped within. But she hadn’t numbed all of me. I could still feel—everything. Under her guidance, my fingers trailed the ribbon, lacing it around my wrist.

I think you’ll get the idea soon.

My knees hit the bed in a jarring motion as though she hadn’t got this puppeteering thing down pat, just yet. I felt rather than heard her sneer in my head, but she didn’t allow that small backstep to prevent her from moving forward with her plans.

I watched my hand rise, reaching up to my neck, coiling the length of ribbon around and around. Once, then twice. I swallowed beneath it, my airway already restricted.

“Are you going to kill me?” I gasped out, my words mingling on top of each other.

I had the impression of her smiling. Then my other hand caught the remaining end, forming a knot I couldn't have made if it were in front of me.

Then, my hands pulled.

Blood suffused my face instantly, bringing with them heat and a panic I’d never experienced, not even when my deranged father had sent me from my filial home. Not when my mother had died.

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