I don’t recognize myself at all. My face looks gaunt, the skin stretched over my cheekbones, so sharp they could cut glass. And my eyes. Dull, sunken, the circles beneath a deep, darkpurple. My lips look chapped and blistered, worn away from worrying at them with my teeth.
And my hair… I’ll be lucky to save any of it. My fingers prod uselessly at the nest.
“It doesn’t matter,” I mutter to myself. “It’s justhair.”
But my voice breaks anyway.
Swallowing hard, I glance down at the faucet. At least I have access to warm water. Better than nothing.
I spend a good hour scrubbing myself as best I can in the small space, working around the restrictions of the chains to try and get as much of the dirt off as possible.
I’dkillfor a fucking toothbrush. They’ll have to give me one eventually. I hope. I can only imagine what my breath smells like right now.
When I finally wander back into the kitchen, damp and shivering but a little cleaner than I was, it’s a relief to stand next to the hearth. I take in the solid floor with a grimace. The exhaustion is starting to weigh heavily on my shoulders, the pounding pain in my head getting worse.
I have to sleep, or my body is going to force the issue. So I settle myself down with a groan, wriggling to try and find anything like a softer part of the gray stone beneath me and failing miserably.
Rolling onto my back, I blow out a breath and stare at the ceiling. There’s a small blotch directly above me that looks remarkably like a cat.
It’s weirdly reassuring. Like I’m not quite as alone as I currently feel.
“It could be worse, right?” I say to it out loud. “I could be dead.”
Although… I’m not one hundred per cent convinced that this is the better option. Not when I have no idea what Silas, Kit and Rafe have in store for me.
But that’s definitely a tomorrow problem.
7 – Rafe
Ijump up the last of the steps, coming to a stop when I see Silas speaking to Ellen in the hall. My twin turns to me, his arms crossed. Kit doesn’t look amused. “You left her in the kitchen?”
I half-shrug. “That’s what we agreed. Right?”
He presses his lips together before he nods, turning back to where Silas is giving further instructions to Ellen. Her brows rise higher with every statement. “Don’t you think this is all a little… excessive?”
I clear my throat. “She’s here, instead of rotting away in a prison cell. So I’d say that’s a bonus, Ellen.”
Silas nods in agreement. He still looks angry, that crease between his eyes on full display as he looks down at our petite housekeeper. “I expect the rules to be followed, Ellen. Don’t challenge me on this. No exceptions.”
Ellen is probably one of the only people who could challenge him and get away with it, but she hasn’t been managing our home for so long without understanding when to push, andwhen to leave things the hell alone. She looks grim, but she nods. “I understand. Is she… does she need anything this evening?”
I shake my head. “Leave her be until tomorrow.”
Ellen hesitates. “The chains—,”
“Stay on,” Silas says shortly. “For now, at least. Anastasia needs a reminder that this will be nothing like her last stay in this house.”
We can’t leave her chained forever, of course. But a day or two – just to remind her of her place here – no, that won’t hurt.
I push away the pleading look on her face as I left her.
She deserves this, I remind myself.She deserves all of this, and more besides.
Ellen nods, but she still doesn’t look happy. “There’s no bedding down there.”
Kit shifts next to me, and I wonder if my twin agrees with the subtle criticism in her voice.
“She made her sister sleep on solid stone foryears, Ellen.” Silas’s voice is harsh. “A few days isn’t going to kill her. She wants comfort, she needs to work for it.”
