Chapter 46
Zendaya
Though Meriam hasn’t magicked my soles to the stone, I cannot seem to step away from the door Fallon bolted shut. “What do you want?”
She flinches. I imagine because I address her by her name instead of what she is to me. Well, what she wassupposed to bebut never was.
“I wanted to meet you before leaving.”
Everyone says we resemble each other, but the woman standing before me is all serrated angles, sallow skin, and a chilling stare.She was kept in a cell, I remind myself. From the way the dress droops over her figure like a cheap sack and dirt crusts her skin and hair, I gather that not only was she undernourished but also severely neglected.
“Where are you going?” I ask as her luminous gaze strokes over me.
“Out of Shabbe.”
“Back to Luce?”
She shudders. “No. Too many awful memories.”
That leaves Glace and Nebba. And a vast ocean.
As she moves nearer, candlelight catches on her high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. Even in her abysmal state, her beauty is undeniable.
“My Serpent. He wasn’t answering me. What did you do to him?”
“Do you mean the green-haired boy in Amma’s bed?”
“Yes.”
“I stunned him. He’ll be fine.”
“What do you mean,you stunned him?”
“I stung him with magic to relax him. He’s sleeping.”
“He’s alive?”
“Yes, batee. Your friend is alive.”
I want to tell her not to call me ‘daughter,’ but more pressing words burn my tongue. “What about Taytah?”
Meriam stretches her head from side to side, drawing my attention to the indigo bruise that rings her neck. Was she collared? Is that what my grandmother did? A glance at her wrists reveals similar bruises. “Amma never gave me a chance. Never even trialed me. Even when Justus and Fallon both begged her to let the Mahananda decide my fate. Sweet Justus. I didn’t think there was a kind Faerie left in the world until I met him.”
Even though she’s yet to answer my prior question, I can’t help but enquire, “Where is he?”
“Somewhere safe. Waiting for me. Thank you for helping him set me free.”
I ball my fingers, vibrating with resentment at having been used.
“Forgive me for duping you. For abandoning you.” She moves toward me, her strides so graceful, it looks like she’s gliding instead of walking. “For transforming you.”
When she reaches out to touch my hair, I recoil and press my cheek against the pale wood that vibrates as though someonewere pounding on it. I imagine it’s the echo of my fevered pulse since Fallon locked me in here for safekeeping. If she had any inkling of my current situation, she would’ve rushed back to undo her spell.
“Tell me what you did to Taytah,” I snap.
The tone of my voice hardens her stare. “I immobilized her and then I drained her.”
“Is she…?” I lick my lips, trying to become one with the wood at my back. “Is she…?” I cannot get my lips to shape the word.
