Lux sucked a gasping breath and shoved away from the face now peering down at her. Long strands of lank hair dripped oneither side of the nightmare’s features, draping atop Lux’s own. It mimicked her every movement.
No, not here. Go away. GO AWAY!
The apparition—her broken brilliance—ran a bloated tongue over rotted teeth.“Carve me out or keep me.”
Carve you—Lux couldn’t bear to see her own face so twisted and gruesome. Though her mind begged her otherwise, she shut her eyes.
The Stripping.
The Stripping…
The healer’s experiment flooded her mind. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she thought if it wasthisnow or a permanent hollowness later—devil below, the attempt might be worth it. Her chin quivered in the dark.
“Someone will die tonight. We’ve felt it before. Do we feel it now?”
Lux held her breath in wait for her nightmare to solidify and run one of those cracked nails along her cheek. But if it did, she couldn’t feel it. It was all in her head. None of it was real.
Sure, she’d felt Death coming to Mothlock. What did it matter?
“What do you want from me?” Her demand was whispered, so soft it might not have left her lips at all.
“To choose.”
Lux braved to blink and found the perverted version of herself so near, she could see nothing but its eyes. They weren’t murky or grey but dilated to only black.
I’ve made my choice.
When she blinked next, the apparition was gone—and they’d stopped moving. Lux felt the wheels settle again to the floor.
She attempted to sort her thoughts into a semblance of something that might do her good. But that…monster. It terrified her to the marrow. And she did not havetimeto be terrified. Lux scrunched her eyes shut for one deep breath, andwhen she opened them again, they were narrowed and filled with fire.I will not be undone by something rotted and better off buried.
Lux settled her heels against the back of the cart. One palm rested beside her hip while the other rose to the lid. When they rapped on the door, she would sneak out.
Her hand fell away as she was jostled. Moving again?
“No, don’t leave it in the middle of the room. Over there in the corner.” The muffled voice eased through the cracks of the cart, and Lux’s lips parted.
We are already inside.Her stomach plummeted. The healer’s door had already been opened. Lux braced her hands on the walls as she was suddenly propped upright.
Artemis’s voice came again. “Good. Be on your way.”
A shuffling sounded and then a click of a latch.Devil’s own tits!She was back in the damned healer’s workroom. How would she ever get out? The pungent smell still lingered. Saints above...would he think to clean it?
“Now, child, I know it’s frightening, but you won’t be allowed to remain in here forever.”
Ah.Lux rested her head back as her body went limp. Of course he knew.How he did, she didn’t know, but then she supposed it didn’t matter. Riselda had been gifted with the ability to feel the state of certain things with just a touch. Perhaps this healer had learned something similar and all without the need to place his hands on her. How inconvenient.
Lux could think of no lie that would make any sense. Why would anyone in their right mind sneak into a cart that had previously hauled the dead? Why would she have even been near that tomb of a chamber? Why had she—
Except I’m not in my right mind…am I?
It would have to do. She began to press at the lid, the words prepared on her tongue, when another answered, meek and pitched high. “I don’t want to go back. Please don’t make me.”
Lux held onto her breath and let go of her plan at once. Her eyes widened over the unfamiliar voice.
“You’ll feel better once you’ve had the elixir. I understand it can be hard, transitioning from a life in the forest to a life beside the sea. Your lungs need to adjust. Sip this.”
Lux heard nothing for a short period and then a dainty cough. Whoever the meek voice belonged to seemed nervous to even clear her throat.
