Page 61 of Winterveil

Nadiya brought her fist down again. And again. Her knuckles made indentations in the dirt. She was panting, her shoulders rising and falling. The crowd must have thought she’d gone mad.

She didn’t care. She pounded the replica’s false face, her face, over and over again. Shivering clouds snaked across the sky overhead. Even if the crowd had been roaring, she wouldn’t have known it. All she could hear was the thudding of her fist on the ground, and the replica’s laugh, its voice.

Weak little girl. Weak little girl.

Her wrist shuddered with a tingly numbness, and fear descended bleakly. She couldn’t—she couldn’t—Nadiya slumped forward, arms braced around her head, as if she could block out the sound. A high, desperate scream cut the air, and it took Nadiya a moment to realize it was coming from her.

The earth shook as the crowd rushed down from their seats.

Stop, she thought. Please, don’t—

They were vultures, picking her over. Watching with both disgust and vague satisfaction as Nadiya Karam, Valeran’s princess, the school’s greatest soldier, lost everything, her reputation, her sanity, bleeding out in the dirt.

Suddenly, a pair of arms closed over her head.

“Leave her alone!” cried a familiar voice. “Get away from her!”

Giselle.

She was kneeling on the ground beside her, drawing Nadiya protectively to her chest. Shielding her.

It was enough to keep Nadiya anchored, but only just. Her stomach heaved. The crowd pressed closer. Blood was in the air, tangy, she could taste it. The dust they kicked up gathered in her throat and choked her.

The crowd seemed to speak in one voice, blurry as an echo from below water. What’s her problem? She’s lost it. She’s lost it. She’s—

Nadiya tried to penetrate the crowd with her gaze, searching for Dr. Iver’s face. She saw only a tangle of legs and the hazy shimmer of heat from the ground. But she could imagine the disappointment in his expression, the slight curl of his lip. She could imagine the scratch of the Farm rep’s pen against his notebook page as his brow furrowed in mirrored dismay.

She squeezed her eyes shut, hunching closer to the ground. Nadiya tried to focus on nothing except the sensation of Giselle’s arms around her. But the crowd plucked at her entrails and the fear rained down on her without remorse.