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I knew what was going to happen. I should have done something, anything, to stop it. But I didn’t. I just stood there, arms at my side, weak, pathetic, and waited.
When Clara bit me, it was ferocious, like an animal tearing into meat.
Past the pain and fear and my screams of agony adding to the cacophony of pain already playing, I couldn’t help thinking how it was so very different from what I was used to.
Selene’s bite hurt, but it was never without pleasure. There was only pain with Clara.
When Selene took my blood, it felt like giving a precious gift. Now, I just felt taken.
And Clara kept taking, far past when Selene would have stopped, past making me feel drowsy. Just as I began to think that she planned to drain me dry, she released me from her grasp.
I fell like a sack of potatoes to the cell floor.
I wasn’t aware when Clara left, but eventually I could hear Remy mumbling above me and when I opened my eyes I was in a sitting position, my head held against a shoulder.
“You’ll be alright, flower girl, keep breathing, that’s all you need to do, little sleep, little rest, you’ll be alright,” he was repeating quietly.
“I’m okay,” I croaked. My throat was dry and my head was buzzing. It was a great effort to lift my head off his shoulder.
“You know Lady Vouna?” he asked me as I sat up straighter.
“She was a friend of the Princess.” I winced. “Their friendship broke down recently. I’m not all that surprised that she’s doing this to me.”
“You’ve made a powerful enemy,” he told me. I chuckled lowly and it hurt my head.
“I’m not scared of her. I mean, I am, but she’s not the scariest. Valen Ardens is the one who took me. Brought me here,” I told him. “He scares me.”
“ArdensandVouna,” he said, shocked. “Why are they both interested in you?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. “I’m only a pet,” I told him.
“A pet, who loves their mistress,” he said.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“Maybe they want to use you for leverage. I suspect pets aren’t usually dressed in nice dresses. Your mistress cares for you. That’s obvious. I thought you a noble at first, dressed like that,” he told me.
“Maybe,” I replied. I trusted Remy, but only because we were both in the same situation.
“Wonder what they want,” he mused.
“Me too,” I lied. I knew what Valen wanted, what Clara’s parents wanted, and Clara, it seemed, wanted simply to hurt Selene by hurting me.
Selene would never agree to marry Valen. She wouldn’t do that, not after what Ardens did to her mother. That meant I didn’t have long. If Selene didn’t come for me soon, or I didn’t escape, I’d probably be killed.
I reached out, my fingers pressing into moss, and I returned to trying to break the cracked stone.
“Whoa there, what are you doing? You need to rest,” Remy admonished, his hands hovering over me.
“There’s no time to rest. The next time they come down here, they might kill you or me or separate us. All we have is now. We should work now,” I replied.
I was exhausted, more physically drained than I’d ever been before, when I heard it. It was a soft sound, barely audible among the noise of the other prisoners. A slight tapping sound, almost like drizzling rain.
“Is that-? It’s crumbling; the crack - it’s growing,” Remy said, standing and crouching in the corner, gathering small pieces of rubble in his hands. “It’s working.” He turned to smile at me and held out his hand for me to see the small dark stones he held.
I smiled, not feeling strong enough to talk and continued to pour what magic I had into the task.
“That’s enough for now. Rest, sleep and continue in a few hours. It’ll be no good if you break through but can’t move to leave here,” Remy said, bending to lift my hand from the moss.
