Page 90 of The Silent
“I’m hoping Ginny brought Kenneth,”Alyahsaid.
“Kenneth?”
Alyah smiled. “In another life, he’s a linguistics professor at the university. Kenneth is originally from Hong Kong. He speaks and writes almost every language in Southeast Asia fluently. Preserving local languages is his passion. I think this girl might be from the Wa people. Part of her tribe lives in Yunnan Province, and Kenneth has probablystudiedthem.”
“How likely is Ginny to have brought him?” Kyra reached for the baby wrapped in a colorful pink cloth. “She’s clearly attached, but she can’t continue to care for him as she has been or she’ll die. I don’t think she really understood what I was trying totellher.”
Alyah happily handed the baby over to Kyra. “I’m hopeful,” she said. “Kenneth is incurably curious. If Ginny told him she was going into Burma to get some women out, he might havevolunteered.”
Kyra wrapped the swaddling more tightly around the sleeping baby. Despite his mother’s sickness, he was round-cheeked and blooming with health, sleeping peacefully with two fingers stuck in hismouth.
Perfect. All the babies were soperfect.
Her hearttwisted.
What would it be like to have a child of her own? Was it possible if she and Leo mated? Her mind supplied the dream of a round-cheeked, blond baby with vivid blue eyes and milk-pale skin. She glanced up to see Leo watching her with an expression shecouldn’tread.
Longing. It might have been longing. Or that might have beenherown.
She kissed the silky black hair of the boy in her arms and held him as they bumped over the countryroads.
For now, the little boy was the son of a Fallenangel.
For now, his fate was balanced on the edge of aknife.
PrijaIV
She could hearthe traffic in Mandalay and knew that, were it not for her damaged mind, she would have gone insane. Perhaps the city was a punishment for killing their Irin friend. The Grigori who took her had not beenpleased.
They knew what had happened as soon as they opened the door. Prija expected them to search her, but they didn’t. In fact, not a single one touched her from then on. They did drive through more populated areas though. They must have thought of it as apunishment.
So Prija killed the scribe, kept his knife, and nothing happened to her. She was not unpleased with thatoutcome.
She was unpleased with the conditions inMandalay.
The human women there were kept in filthy quarters and near starving. Prija was thrown in a large room with a dozen of them. She did not have hersaw sam sai.She didn’t have any privacy. She was given a tin bowl, and twice a day, a large basket of rice was brought to the room. The women fell on it, starving. There was a shower in the corner and a pit toilet, but that was all. Most of them were thin and wan from the Grigori who were slowly draining their lives, but when the guards opened the gate and called their names, the women went to the door smiling. They came back unconscious or nearly so. The other women laid the girls on their pallets and went back to gossiping or sewing or braiding eachother’shair.
It disgusted Prija even though she understood the women were drunk on Grigori power. They couldn’t helpthemselves.
It still disgusted her. The black shadow had become thicker and stronger. A fog hung aroundhermind.
The second night, one of the Grigori called her name. She sat in the corner, staring at the wall, and pretended nottohear.
“Prija.”
Fools.
She stood and walked to the door. The smirking guard led her down a hallway and took her to another shower. This one had a door and was equipped with warm water. It was nearly luxurious. A clean set of clothes was laid on the bench by the shower, and fresh-scented soaps were bythesink.
Prija washed. She closed her eyes and let the warm water fall over her, filling her mouth and covering her face. She soaked her hair and wiggled her toes. Whatever else the night brought, at least she would be clean. It had been days since she’d had a proper bath, and she could hardly bear her own scent. She washed away the grime but was relieved when she turned off the water to find that the black fog that had wrapped around her was still there. It settled against her skin as she pulled on the cotton shirt and wrapped the skirtaroundher.
After she dressed, she knocked on the door and the guardopenedit.
He led her down a hall and into abedroom.
So much for beinguntouchable.
She didn’t have much time. The Grigori—he must have been someone important because the room was spacious and had beautiful furniture—was already there. Before he could turn, Prija struck out withhermind.
