Page 57 of His Eternal Claim

Why am I whispering? What does it mean to whisper? “No…” My head hurts. My nails dig into my scalp.

Make it stop.

Make it stop.

Make it…

“No, no, no, no!”

I scramble backward until my spine slams against something hard. Pain explodes down my back.

I don’t feel anything. Because my Mother is dead. She has to be dead.

She died.

She cried.

She hugged me.

She smelled like jasmine. She kissed my forehead.

Be good for me, Stina.

“She’s dissociating again.”

“Her pupils are blown.”

“She’s resisting the drugs.”

“Well…” The voice is from my nightmare. It’s red and familiar.

Her heels click closer.

Click. Click. Click.

“Wasn’t that the entire point?”

I squeeze my eyes shut.

If I can’t see them, they can’t see me. I think I pull a sheet over my face. I can’t see them. I can’t see the dead eyes.

“Her memory suppression is failing.”

“She’s linking sensory triggers. Scent. Touch. Repetition. Childhood anchors. I don’t think it’s going to work, Hannah. We might kill her if something goes wrong.”

Jasmine.

Blood.

Cold hands.

White walls.

“She wasn’t supposed to remember this early.”

“She’s stronger than before,” Aris murmurs. “Or more broken—I can’t tell.”

I clamp my hands over my ears.