Page 101 of Glass and Bone
“Just take it, Elaenor.” He pleads as Tobias shoves his fingers in my mouth. I try to bite him, but he hooks his fingers around my jaw, forcing it open. He dumps the contents down my throat, and I nearly choke. Something oily and sweet glides down and I cough, trying to force it out. Tobias removes his fingers and I shut my mouth. Laris releases my shoulder and Tobias helps me up, my legs shaking.
“See, that wasn’t so hard. You’ll start to feel better soon.” He bends down and scoops up my legs, carrying me to the bed. I try to push against his chest, but I can’t.
“Why are you doing this?” I whimper, my arms growing heavy.Fight it, Elaenor.
“I am protecting you, Ela. Don’t you want to be with me? This is what I have to do to keep you here.” I shake my head.
“I want to go home.” I cry.
“You are home.” I shake my head again as he lays me on the bed.
“This isn’t my home.” My eyes close and I hear him angrily sigh as he pulls a blanket over me. A cold metal clasp is tightened around my wrist, and I know now that it was the cause of the welts. He’s been chaining me to the bed.
Images keep floating through my brain. Screams echoing in my ears. The feeling of blood pooling under me, soaking me. Knives slicing through my skin over and over again while he watches it heal, just so he can repeat the process. Days where I was conscious, and I forgot what happened. Days like this. But I always forget.
Months. I have spent months being drugged by Tobias to forget everything, to heal without evidence. Except for the T. He kept the T.
“Why did you brand me?” I murmur.
“What?”
“My stomach.”
“I did it so whenever you fuck another, they know who you belong too. It’s a promise to rip every single one of their heads off their bodies.” My eyes open slightly.
“Tobias, there has never been anyone but you.” I whisper, growing weaker by the second.
“I don’t believe you.” He kisses my forehead and then it’s quiet. A few seconds pass and the door slams. I fight to stay awake, but it’s so hard. Everything in my mind is fuzzy, my pulse slowing. Donovan said he gave me something to counteract the drugs, but they must have gotten the dosage wrong.
I fight against the unconsciousness threatening to take me under, but it wins.
Chapter Forty-Two
I don’t think I am asleep long, because when I open my eyes, it is barely sunset. The sky is tinted pink and purple, sparkling against the snow. I glance to the doorway, but Laris is gone, and no one has taken his place. I sit up and surprisingly find myself feeling fine. My limbs don’t ache, and I can move them easily, my pulse is steady. I pull on my arm, but the chain is tight against the headboard, keeping me within a few inches of it. I look around the room, but no one is in here.
I sigh and rest my head up against the headboard, waiting. There isn’t anything I can do but wait. I fell asleep despite what Enzo and Donovan said, but they said to not fall asleep tonight. It is still technically the day and I hope that distinction matters.
But I remembered.
I remembered today and bits and pieces of all of the other days. Iremember. Which means whatever Donovan gave me had to work somehow.
I watch the sun disappear behind the trees as I hug my legs to my chest. The room grows dark, no fireplace or torches lit as the day bleeds into night. The air is cold, and I keep one of the fur blankets wrapped around me.
I feel like I keep seeing movement out of the corner of my eye, but every time I look it’s gone. I have the strange sense that someone is watching me, but I can’t make anything out in the darkness.
I see it again, something moving by the couch, and I sit up. My hands fall from my knees as I blindly reach out for anything to protect me, but I come up empty.
“Hello?” I whisper. A dark shadow runs towards me, and I open my mouth to scream before a hand clamps down.
“Shhh, it’s me, Nora.” Theo’s voice is hushed, and I almost break down at the sight of him. His blonde hair is down and wet, flinging icy droplets at me. His clothes are ripped and tattered and I can barely make out dark splotches across his chest where there used to be pale skin. His fingers are ice cold as if he had been stuck in the snow. “We have to go.” I nod and he removes his hand from my mouth. He tries to pull me off the bed, but the chain yanks me back with a yelp.
“The chain.” I whisper.
“Fuck, okay.” He disappears into the darkness, and I can hear him rummaging through drawers. He reappears so quietly I almost scream out, but his cold hands grab my arm. He sticks something into the lock and a loudclickradiates through the silence. I slide off the bed and grab the dressing robe lying on the floor next to it. I put it on over my nightdress, tying it tightly.
“What’s going on?” I whisper into the darkness. I can barely make him out.
“We are getting out of here, Nora. Just stay with me.” Theo takes me by the hand, his fingers lacing through mine, before he leads me to the door.
