Charming?he supplies.
I sputter. Am I so transparent?
You are anything but charming. When I met you, there were stones with more facial expressions.
And yet, you still followed me around.
I shut off all my thoughts and go back to sitting against the wall. He can’t be in my head all the time. Except, it feels good to have him there. I shouldn’t find comfort in a place like this, but gods… he makes it happen.
After a few hours, I change the blood-soaked clothes and wash the others the best I can. I lean back and wrap my hands around my midsection. My arm, my ribs, my womb—they all hurt.
When the hatch opens again, late afternoon greets me through it. Hibsej is there with a sneer on her face.
"You’re still alive,” she says simply, clearly disappointed.
My heart leaps at the sight of her. If she's returned, it likely means that I'll get to leave this cursed place and go and see the girls.
I’ll make them something new. I'll kiss their faces and take every cursed beating from Griselda. When I move from my location on the ground, a rope is let down minutes later with a loop around it.
"Get over here," she calls down.
I grab on and then position it around my aching midsection. The knot is pulled, and it digs into my ribs and bottom. All of it hurts. It's so cursedly tight when it pulls me up, it feels like my ribs might pop. When I reach the surface, I'm greeted with the too-cold but mercifully fresh air. I inhale lungful after lungful while Hibsej watches me in disgust.
Little does she know that I would've died if it hadn't been for my ma—for Ra'Sa.
She doesn't say anything to me once the giants set me down. One of them gives a squeeze to my ass, and I don't even bother to look back. Instead, I stumble after the woman, following her through the trees and back to the house. When we reach the cabin, she heads inside, then pauses.
“No visiting your mother until you finish the clothes,” she quips and slams the door shut.
I watch the enormous wooden door for a minute, taking in the knots and veins of rich colors before I go back to my room.
No visits.
My heart lurches, and I try to comfort myself by saying that I am already late.
The second I walk in, I’m bombarded by laundry bags—more laundry than I knew the family was capable of dirtying.
I can't clean all of this tonight. It will freeze and ruin the cloth before the night is up.
A scream sits in my throat, choking me. Instead, I take a deep breath and start to sort through the masses of crudely woven sacks. It takes a minute to find them, but I grab my buckets for the well.
Outside, two warriors round the corner. I freeze.
“You,” one says. "The king's summoned you. Come with us."
My mouth parts. Rholker?
"Now?" I thought he had gone with Eneko to the mines. Apparently not.
They nod.
I look at the buckets and drop them. I grab onto my still filthy skirt and inspect the stains, some of which are crusted while others look oily. The two guards start walking, and I follow after them without even going to grab my coat. As they guide me to the front of the house, I see Hibsej looking at me through one of the cloudy windows. The rough, bubbled texture distorts her face, but I can make out her frown.
When I look at the carriage, I see the royal insignia etched onto the sides.
Hostia puta.?2They weren't lying.
It'll be nothing,I tell myself before the nerves can start to bunch up. The space between the ground and the step is significantly high, more so than the cart that Eneko uses. No one helps me climb in. When I get inside, I fall unceremoniously across the carpet.