Page 36 of The Ashpaw: Part One

Teeth chattering so hard she was afraid she’d chip one, she managed to finally pull herself up the ledge, peeling off the wet clothes that stuck to her like a second skin not yet ready to be shed.

Finding someone’s discarded linen wrap, she fastened it with a couple of quick tucks around her chest, and made her way to the shelves of dresses.

There were none left.

A wracked sob sounded from her chest, and Marin stepped back in to inspect the noise, her expression hardening as she found the source.

“You only get the one.”

“B-b-but it’s—”

Her mouth flattened, and she looked away, blinking quickly. Then she turned around, speaking as though Fern wasn’t there. “Someone needs to clean the bathing room and sleeping quarters today.”

Fern sniffed, water dripping from her hair onto the floor, and gave a shaking nod.

Once Marin left, she tightened the cloth around her, and found her dress. Since it was soaked already, she scrubbed it with soap and laid it in the small square of sunlight spilling from the distant windows.

Then she found a large brush, and began scrubbing the floor.

She moved her dress with the sun, turning it over halfway through the day, and ignored the hunger gnawing at her insides.

The sun had almost disappeared completely when heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs, a familiar scent preceding them.

Too late to grab her still damp dress, Fern lunged for her blanket, just managing to get it around her shoulders when Eidan entered the room.

He looked around, a scowl on his face, until he found her in her corner.

His scowl deepened.

“You weren’t at breakfast or lunch.”

Her heart lurched so hard she felt its pounding in her cheeks. He must have been planning some humiliation for her, and was angry she hadn’t been there for him to enact it.

To make sure everyone in the clan knew she was a failure.

“Well?” he snapped.

She looked up. He held a small, lumpy bundle in one hand, the contents wrapped tight in a handkerchief.

“I… I don’t know if I can respond.”

His sigh turned into a low growl, and he walked slowly towards her, causing her to shrink further into herself.

He dropped the bundle at her feet. “The Ashpaw stands apart, the Ashpaw does not belong…” he said, his tone mocking as he read out the rules Darion had given her the night before.

Then Eidan spat on the newly washed floors.

“Nowhere does it say the Ashpaw must starve herself.”

All she could do was stare at the spit glistening against the clean stone, blinking slowly.

He nudged the bundle with his foot. “You’re allowed to eat. So eat.”

He turned around, leaving just as quickly as he’d entered, and she now stared at what he’d left behind.

She waited a few more minutes, weighing the odds of whether this was some sort of trick or not. If it was poison. If Darion might jump out at any moment to punish her for thinking she could receive any kindness from a wolfkin, especially an alpha.

When no one appeared, she untied it, her fingers shaking, to discover a sausage, chunk of bread, and a small wedge of cheese.