I will carry it out forthwith.
This time, without mercy.
Wins & Losses
SALLIE ROSE
As our long-agoancestors used to say: time for a status update!
Wins for the day:I got further on the garden than expected, thanks to help from the Mountain Goats.
Losses:I totally didn’t make it back to my bed of fleeces before suns’ set.
And, apparently, I confessedallthe conflicting feelings running around in my chest last night.
To the guy who’s scheduled to murder me.
Tomorrow.
Could my mind be any more of a mess?
Did I really tell him I didn’t want to die a virgin?Moooiiiisssst!
But this just in—a brand-new win!
By the time the Killer King comes through the totally villain-coded, jeweled black door of his chamber, wearing nothing but a loin cloth, I’ve managed not only to take care of my bladder,but also to come up with the perfect excuse for why I said what I said.
Okay, it’s a pretty flimsy excuse.
No doubt he’ll see right through it.
But whatever.
“I’m a liar! A big ol’ stinky liar!” I blurt out as soon as he enters the room. “I lie about who I am, what I want, how I feel. I even lie in my sleep!”
Behind him, the chamber doors do that eerie swing-closed-by-themselves thing as I confess, “I lie so much, sometimes I say things I don’t mean without really thinking about it. Like that I love the palace cook’s squashbread—which I don’t. Or that luntunias are my favorite flower, which they’re not. So, what I told you last night wasn’t true.”
With a nod, I let him know, “I’mtotallyokay with dying a virgin. And I’m havingnotrouble at all not wanting to kiss you.”
Speech given, I let out a big breath and wait for his response.
His (perhaps literally) stony expression doesn’t change.
And that’s when I notice his eyes are glowing a lot less brightly than they were when we were talking over First Meal—what I’ve learned the Stone Fae call dinner.
“You have a choice,” he says, as if he didn’t hear my perfectly plausible excuse. “You may have your nightly bath now… or after.”
“After what?” I glance from the metal tub to him.
“I will have your choice,” he replies. Again, like he can’t hear a word I’m saying.
I go with the tub.
Apparently, I’m not as much of an avoider as I think.
“I just want to get this over with,” I grumble as I strip off the dress Rinthiah gave me.
His cool expression remains, eyes still dimmed.
