Gods only know what Cordelia’s thinking. Although she looks at me strangely, she thankfully doesn’t push the topic, letting me check on Sadrie alone. Once that’s settled, I dash to the fourth floor.
I drop off Cordelia’s satchel and burst into my own rooms, not quite as short of breath as I usually am. Figuring I mustfinallybe acclimating to the altitude, I drop my bag and stare at the small bed.
I’ll have to ask Kiera to bring me a clean sheet. I flush, resolving to push aside the foggy but insistent thoughts of our tangled limbs and writhing, naked bodies. With any luck, the starving monster that took control of me is gone for good.
Would that I could be so lucky.
I knock on Sadrie’s door next, receiving only silence in response.
“Sadrie? You in there?” My knuckles rap again. After waiting several beats, I debate with myself and finally poke my head inside. “Hello? I’m letting myself in.”
As soon as I slip inside, the soft sounds of her snoozing drift from the bedroom. Her sitting room is frigid, and I shiver. It’s evident by the embers smoldering in the firebox that she tried to light a fire, but the flames are long gone.
I squat by the hearth and stir the coals, throwing more wood on top and fanning like I’ve seen Kiera and Imogen do countless times. Flames soon erupt, licking around the logs.
Feeling the tiniest bit accomplished, I tiptoe through the curtained doorway. Sadrie is curled up in bed, covers pulled to her chin. I smile at the sight of her pretty face relaxed in repose.
She stirs when I get close, her blue eyes fluttering open.
“How are you, sweetheart? Cordelia and I have been worried.”
Once she registers it’s me, her body jolts, startling me in turn. “What time is it?” She scrubs sleep from her eyes, her scrutinizing gaze never leaving me.
“Quarter past 13:00. You didn’t come to prayers or class. Are you sick?” I sit on the end of her bed.
She yanks her feet up, fumbling to sit upright. She’s wearing a clean cotton sleeping shift but hasn’t bothered to fasten the ties at her neckline.
Bewildered, I spring to my feet again. “What’s wrong? Sweetheart, you look terrified.”
“I’m not your ‘sweetheart,’ Tiss. Just go away and leave me alone.”
What in the world?I back up. “I don’t understand. Did I do something wrong?”
She glares, clutching the gaping neck of her shift, her hair piled forward over her shoulders in snarled clouds of curls. “Come on, Tiss. Don’t be obtuse with me.”
“I’mnot. I genuinely don’t know what’s wrong. If you’re angry with me, can you please just tell me why so we can talk about it?” My voice sounds small, frustration clogging my throat.
“Fine,” she huffs. “I’ll show you.” She shoves her yellow hair back.
Oh, gods. I completely forgot…The sight of it is shocking, dousing like ice water and chilling me to the bone.How could I have done that?
An ugly, purple-red bruise mars the side of her neck just above her shoulder.
Memories surface from last night, strangely fuzzy and incomplete, but through the haze emerges the baffling urge toclaimher. The compulsion to mark her and make her mine for all the world to know.How could I have let myself get so carried away?
“Now do you understand?” Each word comes clipped and tipped in venom. “You were like some feral animal at the end, Tiss. You didn’t even ask! What am I supposed to say if someone sees?”
My pulse throbbing in my lips, I think of the beast… thepredatorinside of me that seized control of my body. The room seems to pitch sideways, and I stagger, my back hitting the wall behind me.
“It wouldn’t have been a problem if you had stopped when I told you to,” I manage to say through the panic raging in my brain.
Her expression twists with something close to revulsion, and I momentarily wonder where my friend has gone; who is this scornful stranger in her place?
“You weren’t exactly giving me a choice in the matter, were you? You were so enticing—”
“That’s no excuse!”
She shakes her head. “Irresistiblein a way that overthrew my willpower. It was unnatural, like— Like I couldn’t stop myself, all right?”
