“Are you truly that stubborn? His Majesty has given you a mercy by sending me to care for you, and you reject his affections?”
“His affections?” I couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “He had me beaten to a bloody pulp and you expect me to feel grateful he sent you here to wash me down with dirty water and a thousand-year-old towel?” I bolted up out of the chair and leveled my eyes with hers. “Where is my mother?”
Her eyes widened and her gloved hands were on me in a flash, spinning me around until my back faced her so she could pull up my shirt. “How is this possible?”
Damn it, I hadn’t thought this through. I had no idea how it was possible—but there it was—my back healed, a clean slate to be punished again.Oh, no. No, no, no. I couldn’t go through that again. Think. Think. Think.
I whirled around, hiding the sight of my back from her. “Yes, my sweet Aunt Rose,” I said, elongating each word to buy time to come up with something. I didn’t want her to tell Hemlock. If he knew, I’d be beaten worse than before.
I had to make something up quickly. But not something that would have her running and telling Hemlock his beating didn’t stick.
Doubt.
She needed to doubt him.
She needed to stop trusting in him. “Yes, isn’t it strange? Why would he send you here to heal me when he already did that himself?”
“You’re lying,” she growled.
“So ask him about it. Go, right now, and ask him why I look like I’ve not been whipped at all. How do you think that conversation will go?”
Her face blanched whiter than it already was.
“He’ll either punish you for being insubordinate to his choices. Or he’ll punish you for allowing someone to heal me. Either way, I’d like to watch the discussion. Preferably with a whole bowl of buttered popcorn.”
She backed away.
“Oh, and a glass of red wine,” I said folding my arms across my chest. “If you have neither, bringing me my mother will be just fine.”
Chapter 6
As soon as I slammed the door closed behind Rose, a roar half tore my heart right out of my chest, almost deafening me. I whirled around frantically, a blood-curdling scream at the tip of my lips.
A blur of shadows and a rush of fog appeared instantly, swooshing forward, flipping the water basin and dirty rags from off my dresser in one big swoop. “Never let her touch you,” Mathias’s voice growled, as everything smashed into the corner of the room loudly. The bowl filled with water splashed a stain of black guck down the wall and splattered oily clumps of nastiness everywhere.
My heart pounded wildly in my ears. “Heart attack!” I screamed, pressing my hand against my chest. “What the hell is it with you people? Why does everyone just barge in here whenever they want?”
Mathias went rigid and he smiled nastily. “And you haven’t been known to go through belongings and private rooms when we’re gone, right?”
Well, then. Point taken.
“Whatever,” I huffed, not knowing what response to give. “Why did you scare the shit out of me like that just now, anyway?”
“Why are you demanding to see your mother?” he asked with a snarl of irritation. “Why would you tell Rose my father healed you?”
“Why wouldn’t I want to see my mother?” I glowered at him. “And I told her so she would start feeling like she was being left out of the loop.”
His expression didn’t change.
“You know, so she’d begin doubting her place here. Look, if I said it was Hemlock, she wouldn’t question him about it, and if she didn’t question him about it then he wouldn’t find out I was fine. I didn’t know what else to say, I don’t even know who healed me, and it’smyback.”
He seemed to think it over for a moment and shook his head. “No, you’re right. That was a good call.”
“I’m not as stupid as everyone here thinks,” I mumbled angrily under my breath.
“Then why didn’t you just kneel?” he snapped, throwing his hands up in frustration. “An easy way to begin showing loyalty would have been taking a knee,” he muttered, rounding on me and closing the distance between us. My fingers curled into fists at my sides. I knew he was right, but it hadn’t occurred that easily to me when the situation had shown itself. It was the furthest thing from my mind standing in front of that asshole.
“Because all I could think about while I stood there,practically naked in front of everyone, was how much I wanted to hurt him.” I locked my eyes to his and shook my head. “He killed the person I thought was my grandmother. Maybe you don’t remember being alive, or human, but a person doesn’t just get over that.”
