It wasn’t until my back was pressed against the wooden door, the cloths in my hand dripping onto the stone beneath my feet that I opened my palm to find a single bright blue stone.
Something fluttered in my chest. I wasn’t sure what the feeling was, but it was warm, like a hug from my mother before her death. And somewhere, deep down, I knew things were going to be okay. Somehow.
CHAPTER 6
Lucky for me, my menses only lasted one more full day before coming to a stop. Meaning I only had to make one more nighttime trip to the laundry for the time being. This time, Astrid was nowhere to be found, and after replacing everything just as I found it, I made my way back to my room undisturbed with a small bit of time to think before my paltry breakfast would be delivered.
Today, we would finish the red book.
I flexed my fingers, playing with the wind power I had somehow gained, using it to blast my face with small bits of air. It wasn’t much, but it was easy to call when I wanted a fresh burst of air. As I played around with it more, I thought back to the fifteen years I had spent with my parents before their deaths. Despite them teaching me to read the language of the Seid, I didn’t recall them ever mentioning anything like this. I tried to reflect back further, to remember some of my earliest lessons, but they were fuzzy in my mind.
All too soon, the door was being pressed open and I was given my daily crust of bread. Whether it was a result of my menses, or just the extremely low rations, I felt slightly dizzy as I walked next to Markus to enter the reading room.
Adis stood as he always did, his too-thin lips pressed into an even thinner line. I had never seen Adis smile, and even in my mind’s eye, I couldn’t picture him ever cracking one. Markus or Syrus either. They were all just so serious in their dark tailcoats, their backs ramrod straight, their frowns practically painted on.
I was barely situated on my knees, which protested at another day of being pressed to the cold stone before I was commanded to begin.
The chants left my lips with fluidity as I recited a tale that spoke of gentleness, kindness, and care. Something I doubted the men in the room had ever experienced. Something that left a salty taste on my tongue.
I estimated that only an hour had passed when I flipped the last page and closed the book. I set it on my lap, waiting for Adis to reveal what my reading had gifted him.
The men made eye contact with each other as they flicked their wrists and cracked their necks, but nothing abnormal appeared to manifest. The moments ticked by, and I kept my gaze on Adis even as I could hear the men shifting impatiently behind me.
“Well?” he demanded at last.
“Nothing,” Markus murmured. “I don’t feel anything.”
Syrus must have agreed, as Adis turned his burning eyes to me. “What have you done!” He sneered, but before I could blink, he was in front of me, hand slapping my face so hard, my neck cracked with the impact. My ribs, not yet healed from the beating two days before, stung as his shiny black shoe rose off the stone, and I was kicked again and again.
“Stupid imbecile. I don’t know what you did, but when I find out that pretty cousin of yours is dead. Do you hear me? Dead!”
I tried to protest, but it was impossible as the blows rained down on my ribs, knocking what little air I could suck in with the binding on my chest right back out. I was going to suffocate.
I was going to die.
“Wait!” The blows stopped. “I feel pain,” Syrus said, the grimace audible in his tone. “I think we got the power of empathy.”
Adis groaned. “Fuck it all. Wasting my time on stupid fucking powers. I told you to bring the books with the best powers you could find!”
Their kicking bag forgotten, Adis stepped over me to continue his squabble with Markus and Syrus.
“Sir, we tried our best, but as you know, we don’t know the language ourselves. That Seid we killed to attain this collection might have lied.” The words were forced and for the first time I realized that perhaps Markus and Syrus were just as afraid of Adis as I was.
Someone let out a breath, maybe Adis. “Fuck it all,” he muttered before nudging my beaten body with the toe of his shiny shoe. “Take him back to his room.”
I couldn’t find the words to protest as I was lifted between them for the first time. Every breath hurt. Astrid’s words came to me as they roughly deposited me in my room. It hadn’t taken long for me to need a healer.
Not seeing any other option, I waited until the door closed before I crawled to where I had hidden the stone in my pack, digging it out with my left arm supporting my right one as it was too weak on its own. It seemed to take forever, but soon the blue stone was in my hand.
Crawling toward the door, it took every inch of my remaining strength to stand enough to open it before squatting down to place the stone and close it once more. I couldn’t even make it to the bed, instead choosing to lean on the wall next to the door, pressing my forehead to the cool stones as the world drifted into darkness.
“Oh my.” The high-pitched words roused me from my slumber. Strong arms wrapped around me, then I was flying.
Okay, not flying, but I was definitely lifted through the air then placed on my bed.
My eyes were swollen shut, but I could hear Astrid fussing around. My limbs were moved and pain shot through me as she touched my side.
“I think your ribs are broken,” she murmured low in my ear.
