Page 151 of Thorn Season
It flew between a pair of them and struck him squarely on the jaw.
I flinched, but Erik didn’t. He stood unmoving as the cup rang against the floor and rolled out of sight.
Then he smirked, satisfied, and ambled away.
By the time I stopped shaking, the stew had gone cold. What had Ibeen thinking? It was only a matter of time before Erik raised a hand to me, and I didn’t want to provoke the first strike. But my nerves had been frayed. Did he know how close he’d been to breaking me today?
Of course he did. And now that he knew where to aim, he would redouble his efforts.
I curled over my knees, bundling my hands in my pockets. I’d have to be stronger next time. But I felt foggy with exhaustion, and all I wanted now was that lemon cake, fluffy and glistening in the candlelight—
I reached the bottom of my pocket and froze. Then I drew out my mother’s coin. My specter rushed up, tingling to spin the coin as it always did.
But the coin remained flat in my palm.
Tears blurred my vision, streaking the candlelight. For the first time, I realized my greatest asset had been handed to me at birth, no more extraordinary than the color of my hair or the shape of my mouth.
And it could be snipped with a single dose of poison.
It was the truest weakness that existed.
So far, this cell had seemed like a limbo. But now the truth smacked me like a physical blow—that this was it. Just these three walls, the iron bars, and the manacles. Maybe a Wholeborn could’ve found a way out. But without my specter, I knew I couldn’t.
My parents had died for my safety. And this was where I’d ended up.
A bottomless shame settled inside me as the first tear fell. I had barely enough time to cry for my parents, for the burden of their deaths, before the flame sputtered out and I plummeted into darkness once more.
44
Iwas dozing when tawny light flushed the insides of my eyelids. I instinctively kept my eyes closed and my breathing heavy. Erik never bluffed; he would serve me in darkness until I ate.
Which meant he wasn’t here with a meal.
I tensed. I hadn’t drunk more water since throwing the cup, and the little I’d had must not have contained enough nightmilk to produce a heavy slumber. I would have to feign sleep as Erik dosed me with dullroot.
Or I could resist. I had no weapons—not even the heels of my shoes—but I had my nails. I could claw him, perhaps draw blood.
But then what?
Erik was far larger and stronger than me, and I couldn’t bear the indignity of thrashing beneath him as he forced the dispenser through my skin. My head was still stuffy from crying, my body still limp. I didn’t have the fight in me. Not today.
Maybe not ever.
There was aclunkas he placed the torch in its holder. The clatter of keys. The cell squealed open, and my pulse quickened.
He crouched, breaths lapping across my face. My own breathing became shallower as I prepared for the pin.Don’t move, don’t move.
A hand touched my shoulder—warm, soft. And smaller than Erik’s.
“Alissa.”
I jolted upright so fast that my vision spun. But there she was, clear and bright as the rising dawn.
“Perla?” I reached for her doll-like face and saw my fingers shaking.
She grabbed my manacle, making me gasp. And I knew this was real.
I knew what she was going to do.
