"I know the deal you've made with my husband," Shae said. "If you so much as look in the direction of that man the next you're allowed at the market, I'll—“
"You'll what?" Nyssa cut in, having had enough of the woman. "Tie me to this chair? Drown me? Whip me? Burn my skin?" Saliva collected in her mouth, and she spat it at Shae’s face.
The back of Shae's hand whipped across her face.
Nyssa fell, still strapped to the chair.
Shae's rings cut through her cheek. Her head whipped with the weight of her landing so hard on the floor. And her arm snapped as the back of the chair landed on it.
The gasp of agony that involuntarily took her ricocheted through her body. Nyssa cursed the sky and bit back the taste of ash in her mouth. The world vibrated in her eyes, but she shook the tremble of her new form and pushed it back down. The room dizzied around her. Pain grasped her entire body, making her slowly writhe against the ground. Her head throbbed, and a tear fell down her cheek at the pang running up her entire arm.
The woman's eyes were wide when Nyssa met them again, and she knew black lightning streaks had flashed on her skin.
"Pick her up," Shae told the men.
Nyssa’s arm ached with restlessness when she was lifted back up. She fought any more tears threatening to rise and inhaled a deep breath as she was steadied again.
But she couldn’t stop herself from shaking.
"Your husband asked me to look for fabrics for you today!” Nyssa managed through the spasms. "Thatis the reason I was at that disgusting man's cart. You think Iwantedto be near him after the things he did to me last week?"
Shae's weight shifted, and then she gave an upwards nod to Quinn. "Quinn, call the surgeon. I believe she's broken her arm."
Quinn left the room, and Shae crouched down before Nyssa.
"I am watching you, girl."
Aydra’s face flashed behind Nyssa’s eyes.
“Look at me, Nys,” Aydra had said, taking Nyssa’s twelve-year-old face in her hands. Nyssa had struggled against her, too upset at what their mother had just taunted her with to want to listen. She pushed her away, hitting at Aydra’s arms to try and wrench herself free, violent tears and unrelenting sobs evacuating from her.
But Aydra held her tight.
“Hey—Nyssa!—Look at me!”
Nyssa straightened, seeing a glisten in Aydra’s eyes as she went rigid in her sister’s grasp. “You are not a filly,” Aydra told her as a silent tear spilled over onto her cheek, her voice almost cracking. “You are not a ladder. You are not a toy. You will not be tamed, climbed, or silenced.”
Aydra swallowed hard and brushed away Nyssa’s tear with her thumb, and Nyssa saw the tremble in her sister’s jaw. ”You, little sister, will not be broken.” Aydra’s voice went in a higher pitch at the end, her own sobs threatening, and Nyssa had fallen into her embrace.
The memory surged through Nyssa and grabbed her depleting heart. An enraged numbness swelled through her aching bones.
You will not be broken.
Nyssa’s lashes rolled up, and she met Shae’s smug smile through her wet bangs.
“Watch me, then,” Nyssa hissed.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
ONCE THE SURGEON had looked at her forearm and determined it was broken, Nyssa was given a bandage and a sling to wrap herself in.
The Noble had not been happy about her state, and he'd dragged his wife outside to accost her for harming Nyssa the day before she was to be presented to the Prince's maidens. Nyssa had heard Bechmen's fists slam into Shae, and when Shae had come back into the room to help her try on the dresses Luka had provided, the wife had not spoken a single word.
For a moment, she nearly felt sorry for her.
Until Shae wrenched her arm around to maneuver her out of her clothes as though she hadn't just broken it. But even with the stinging agony pulsing through her, the sight of the dresses that were brought in made her still.
Her heart shouldn't have skipped at seeing them...
