I almost collapsed I shook so hard. It was the exact same question Jethro made me answer before extracting the First Debt.
Before I replied, I had a question of my own. Looking directly at Bonnie Hawk, I asked, “When I first arrived, I was told I would be used callously and with no thought. I was told the firstborn son dictated my life and that there would be no rules on what he did with me.” My voice wobbled, but I forced myself to go on. “Yet, everything you do follows strict repetition. Re-creating the past over and over again. You’re bound by what happened as much as us. Surely you’re powerful enough to tear up such guidelines and find it in your hearts to let go.”
My hands balled as anger shot fierce and hot. “Let this madness end!”
Bonnie’s mouth parted half in amazement, half in joy.
Her hazel eyes twinkled as she leaned forward, pointing a knobbly finger in my direction. “Let’s get something straight, young lady. My grandson is bound, as you say, by records kept for hundreds of years. He has to follow each one perfectly. But the rest—anything outside of paying the debts—that is purely at his discretion.”
She cocked her chin, looking at Jethro.
He stood frozen.
“Heis the one who decides if you’re to be kept apart or shared.Heis the one who decides if you deserve leniency for obedience or punishment for insubordination.”
Her dry lips pulled back over cavity-riddled teeth. “There is something you don’t know, Nila Weaver. And normally I wouldn’t tell a guttersnipe like you what conversations go on within my family, but it should make you grateful to know. Do youwantto know, child?”
The wind stole my hair, snapping it around me like black lightning. Standing in the pentacle seemed to summon powers I didn’t have—transferring ancient magic that should remain dead and buried. The back of my scalp prickled; I inched closer to the edge of the salt, needing to leave. “Yes. I want to know.”
Shooting a look at Jethro, I tried to imagine the conversations he had with the people he held most dear. Was there anyone he let himself be free with?
Just his sister.
I knew that from the way Jasmine spoke of him. He lived with a large family yet remained so alone.
Bonnie took a shallow breath. “Jethro came to me a few days after your arrival with a request to keep you to himself.”
“Grandmamma—” Jethro began.
Bonnie glared at him. “No. I can tell her. Perhaps she’ll obey you better and we can move on before the moon rises.”
Jethro’s nostrils flared as he nodded, looking over his grandmother’s shoulder, removing himself from the conversation.
Bonnie waggled her finger at me once more. “Your arrival was meant to be celebrated. You were a gift for my son and grandsons. You were meant to be shared.” Her lips spread broadly. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you, child?”
Sickness rolled in my gut.
Yes, I knew what she referred to. Jethro had said as much when he made me crawl like a dog to the kennels. He’d said I was to be passed around. But it never happened.
My eyes flew to him.
Even then...even when he was so awful, he was protecting me from worse.
The sickness disappeared, replaced with an intolerable ache inside my heart.
“Yes, I understand what you’re saying.”
Bonnie Hawk sat back, dropping her bony hand. “Good. You’d be wise to remember that. Remember that we have rules but freedom, guidelines but exceptions, but most of all, immunity against whatever we please to do.”
Cut cleared his throat, moving forward and stealing the limelight. “Enough.” Snapping his fingers at his son, he ordered, “Jethro. Ask the girl the question again.”
My back tensed. The breeze died, untangling itself from my hair and letting it drape like a death shroud over my shoulders.
Oh, God.
My feet tingled to be free from the pentagram, but at the same time, I didn’t want to move. Perhaps I was safe inside this five-pointed salt etching. Perhaps whatever pathway was conjured could steal me away and protect me from the Second Debt.
She was only fourteen.
