Itremble. “Yes, my lord.”
The silence that follows is far worse than his anger. It stretches thin and tight, until it feels like something inside me might snap. I close my eyes, but dread coils through me. I do not want to see his expression. I do not want to see what comes next.
I do not have to.
A violent gust slams into me and pins me against the wall. The breath leaves my lungs in a strangled cry. My tears spill over and freeze against my cheeks before they fall.
Luceran’s footsteps echo across the room.
Slow. Purposeful. Certain.
He has all the time in the world. I have none.
I struggle for breath as he stops before me, gaze trailing over my restrained form. I grit my teeth, refusing to break, even as pain and fear surge through me. The response seems to interest him.
“First you hide yourself in a wardrobe,” he says quietly. “Then, like all frail humans, you fall ill and require attention. Then you are late with my dinner, and as a final insult, you serve it to me cold.” His eyes narrow, glittering. “You have not even been here a week. So tell me, Neve Devlin, why should I allow this farce to continue? Why should I not send you and your father to the mines for no other reason than that it would bring me pleasure?”
He steps closer. Close enough that his belt brushes my stomach, close enough that I can feel him even through my panic.
“I deserve pleasure, do I not?”
My whole body shakes. “I… I…” The words are trapped, strangled by terror. I cannot even lift my chin.
He waits. Long enough that the silence becomes unbearable. Then he rolls his eyes, bored with my fear, and turns away.
With a flick of his wrist, the force holding me evaporates. I collapse onto the stone floor, limbs trembling uncontrollably.
“That will be all for the night,” he sighs as he walks back to his chair. “This time, try not to freeze to death before morning.”
I drag myself upright on shaking legs, forcing air into my lungs, forcing my heartbeat to slow. There is no time to gather myself. No time to think.
I run.
Through the hall, through the corridor, down the cold passageways until I reach my room. I slam the door shut, lock it, and drop to my knees. The sob breaks out of me before I can swallow it down. Then another. And another.
What have I done? How can I survive this? How do I live under the rule of a creature who enjoys making me break?
I clutch my arms around myself, rocking as tears fall hot and fast.
I could run. I could end this. I could vanish into the snow. But then what would happen to my father?
How could I abandon him? How could I abandon everything for one night of fear?
One night. Only one and I have done nothing yet to pay off even a coin.
Coward, I scold myself.You cannot fall apart now.
But still I cry, curled on the cold floor, because courage feels impossibly far away.
The warmth of my bed soothes me enough to quiet my doubts, and eventually I slip into sleep. But sometime between dusk and dawn, I hear my name.
At first I think Lord Luceran has work for me. Or wishes to torment me further. Either possibility drags me upright, heart pounding, vision blurred. I look to the door, expecting his silhouette.
Nothing.
No shadow.
No sound.
