AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This is nothing new for either of them.
My eyes flit from her feet to the guarded expression on her face, but Aika won’t look at me. The longer she holds out, the more I find that I’m not entirely sure I want her to see me, especially when I don’t know what my own features hold.
With that thought in mind, I disappear to the lavatory, pulling several cloths down from the open shelf before filling a pitcher with water from the faucet.
I pour it into the kettle at the hearth and let it warm for several moments while they continue to talk, then set it next to Zaina. She gives me a curt thanks, and I nod, moving back to my seat near the foot of the bed.
She lays out the small case she brought with her, revealing several more vials of different tonics. One by one, she hands small glass vials to Aika.
“This will replenish your blood,” she explains, I suspect more for my benefit than Aika’s since my wife is tossing it back without hesitation.
“This is to ward off infection.”
She drains that one as well, not giving so much as a grimace despite its sludgy consistency.
“And this one is for the pain. It’s the same one as before, so not as strong as Madame’s,” Zaina adds apologetically. “But I should be able to put on something topical once we get the glass off.”
Once again, Aika nods like this news is nothing.
“Do you want me to wait until it’s kicked in or—”
“Just get it over with,” she cuts her sister off.
Zaina tucks one of the cloths under Aika’s feet, then pulls out the vial from earlier.
With quick, deft movements, she pours the contents around the edges of both shoes. Aika’s face loses what little color it had, her features tightening, her small fists clenching into the blankets.
Something inside of me twists and threatens to break at seeing her in pain.
“Well, dearest sugar muffin.” She slathers a thick layer of condescension onto the false endearment as she finally meets my eye. “What is it you want to know?”
“Aika—” her sister chides, unamused as she watches the smoky liquid seep into the broken shards of glass.
“No, no, you said it would be a good distraction to talk,” she says evenly, though her grip on the blankets hasn’t loosened.
“I meant after this part, obviously.” Zaina gently works off one shoe.
The carnage is even worse than I expected. Blood pours from multiple wounds, and Zaina works quickly with a pair of tweezers to pull out each remaining shard of glass.
Aika is eerily silent through it all. She doesn’t make a single grunt or hiss of pain, let alone cry out.
I suspect this means it hurts even worse than whatever solution had been poured on to begin with. Zaina’s hands are covered in blood now, too, and she struggles to unstopper the next vial before shoving it at me.
I open it quickly and hand it back to her, doing the same with two more she directs me toward as she moves on to the next foot.
“Tell me why he needs to know again,” Aika says, her voice very nearly sounding bored, but for the breathy undertone.
“Because otherwise, he might go afterher,” Zaina says in an equally calm tone, like neither of them notices the several inches’ worth of glass shards piled on the bed that have been pulled from Aika’s tiny, perfect feet. Feet that I have cradled in my hands, that have been tucked under my thighs for warmth in the middle of the night, when they were whole and intact and not just a mass of ruined skin.
“Don’t go after Madame, Remy,” Aika tells me, then turns back to her sister. “There, problem solved.”
“Sure.” It’s an effort to be sarcastic enough to match her tone when she looks like that, but I manage. “Since you asked so nicely, I’ll just let her keep offing members of my family one by one until she’s had her fill.”
A condescending sneer twists her lips. “If that were her goal, she would hardly have needed me.”
“Then what does she want?” I ask, moving to refill my glass of whiskey.
“I don’t know,” she responds with a trace of exasperation, like perhaps that bothers her as much as it does me. “But if it’s your family you’re worried about, the fastest way to get them killed would be to alert her to your interest.”
