Page 10

When I opened my eyes, the room seemed farther away, as if I was staring up from the bottom of a well. The light flickered and buzzed. The stink of piss and bile settled over me. My body felt hollow, carved out. My bones ached. My stomach gnawed at itself.

“C’mon, Starla,” I mumbled. “Stay awake. Don’t go under.”

My vision tunneled in, the corners crowding with darkness. I blinked and the world slipped into a haze.

The last thing I felt was the cold floor against my cheek, and the chain biting my ankles. Time trickled away. I thought I heard footsteps, but maybe it was just the house shifting. I couldn’t move my lips. I couldn’t move at all.

Everything faded, washed out by static and a pulsing ache behind my eyes.

I drifted in and out of nightmares.

My mother hummed from somewhere above, her voice muffled by water. I saw my father’s silhouette, a knife in one hand, blood dripping from the other. I tried to scream but my mouth was full of ash. The dark pressed in. I floated, formless, a ghost with nothing left to haunt.

I woke to pain—my whole body cramped and screaming. Someone was shaking me, hands rough, nails digging into my shoulders.

“C’mon, little bluebird. Wake up. You can’t fly away yet.” His voice slithered in, too close to my ear.

I groaned and tried to push him off, but my arms barely moved. My head lolled back. The room spun.

“Open your eyes,” he barked, shaking me harder. “Don’t you dare die on me, not yet.”

I forced my eyelids apart. Malakar’s face loomed over me, eyes wild and glittering. Sweat matted his hair to his forehead. He looked even more monstrous in the sick yellow light, features warped, hands twitching like spiders. He pressed a crumpled napkin to my mouth.

“Here. Drink.” He shoved a cup to my lips, tilting it too fast. Water spilled, cold and shocking, dribbling down my chin. I choked, sputtered, managed to swallow a mouthful.

He pushed a plate into my lap. Stale bread, a hunk of gray meat, a scoop of cold beans. I clawed at it, hands trembling so bad I almost dropped the plate. I ate with my fingers, shoving food into my mouth, barely tasting it. He watched, head cocked, eyes huge and empty.

“That’s right. Eat up, pretty little bluebird. Gotta keep the wings flapping, yeah?” His hand landed on my hair, stroking it back from my face almost tenderly. “Pretty little bluebird. Pretty, pretty. Don’t want my special girl to die, not yet.”

I glanced up at him, heart pounding. He was wound tight, eyes darting to the corners of the room like something waited there.

I saw my chance. While he rambled, while he wasn’t all the way here, I gripped the plate tighter. My hand shook, but I used all the strength I had, swinging it as hard as I could at his face.

The plate cracked against his jaw, shattering. Shards flew everywhere—ceramic slashing my palm, bouncing off the floor. Some stuck in his skin, drawing blood. He reeled back, howling.

“You made a mess! Fucking skank!” He screamed, voice gone feral. “Dirty bitch!”

Before I could scramble away, he was on me. He slapped me across the face, hard enough to make my ears ring. Stars burst behind my eyes. He didn’t stop there—another hit, then another.

“Stupid fucking slut! You never learn. You make a mess, you get punished.”

He shoved me onto the mattress, tearing at my clothes. My limbs thrashed helplessly, but it only made him angrier. Flashes of my ex ran through my head, how he’d pin me down and beat me, how he’d trap me in my own house.

Please, god, just let me die. I don’t want to go through that again.

The change in Malakar was a frightening sight. His eyes were crazed and wild, there was a depraved energy leaking from his flesh. It’s like he was possessed by a demon within moments, unleashing the fury of hell onto me.

“Get off me! You’re insane, just get off!” I yelled and fought as hard as I could, but men were always stronger. Especially this man.

One hand held me down, his other hand slapped me across the face open-handed.

“You need to learn, little bluebird. Bad girls get what’s coming to them,” he sneered, gripping my head and forcing me to look at him. “You think you can outsmart me? You think you can escape? I’ll make sure you never see the light of day ever again if you keep this up. You’ll be begging for mercy.”

“You can’t keep me here forever! What’s wrong with you?” I wiggled again, it was my best chance at surviving. That’s what I learned with Brandon. Fight and survive. Give in and die.

“You’re wrong, my Starla darling, you’re mine to keep. If you try to leave, you’ll end up like all the other girls before you.” He wasn’t yelling anymore, which was even scarier. His tone dropped to a low growl, his eyes cold as winter.

“What happened to the other girls?” There was a part of me that didn’t want to know, but curiosity gnawed on me. I didn’t want to end up like them, whatever he did, so I needed to know.