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Was she crying out loud this entire time?
A strange, foreign pain twists in my chest as I realize that she is in real pain. Maybe because of the way I have been clutching onto her arm – and possibly cutting off the blood flow to her upper arm – or maybe her pain is simply from realizing that she is doomed.
I want to comfort her. The only thing that feels really natural right now, is to take her in my arms and let her cry into my chest.
Control yourself.
When she looks up at me, her blue eyes have gone completely dark, and they are devoid of emotion. Maybe she sees something on my face. Some sympathy. Some emotion that should not be showing on it. Because she starts begging again.
“Please. I don’t want to die here. Please don’t let me die here. Or worse.”
We both know what ‘worse’ means.
My anger at Fohri swells, growing uncontrollably, and I know that if he were to walk down this passageway at this moment, I’d rip his head off.
She is a human woman. A nuisance. A servant. Don’t bother yourself with her. You should not be feeling this way about her.
“Shut up,” I tell her roughly and jerk her towards the door. I practically throw her body into the room, and I hear her cry out in real pain. I wince when she starts sobbing, her voice painfully hoarse.
Then I take up position next to the door. She cries for a long time, and my chest hurts more and more with every new sob that escapes her.
Eventually, she must cry herself to sleep.I wonder if anyone will come to relieve me.
The human woman wakes up several hours later. “Are you still there?” Her voice is soft. It is still hoarse.
I hear her moving around. I hear her pouring a glass of water and then I hear her settling down on the bed in the room.
“I don’t want to be here,” I sigh. It is clear that she has decided to continue begging. To my surprise, she starts telling me about her life. “I hate being cooped up. You know, I have never worked in a house before. I was the groundskeeper at the Anocne’s.”
The fact both surprises me and does not at the same time.A groundskeeper.That explains the glowing skin and strong body. Even if she is a tiny thing. She is strong for a human woman, I suppose.
“I love gardening, although I fell into it by accident. I was bought by the Anocne’s, and then an older woman, Agatha, took over my training there.”
I think back to the older woman I saw shining out of her, several hours earlier. Again, I picture her as older. Still strong, but wizened, from decades in the sun. It sounds like that is exactly what she wants. To grow old in the sun.
She is quiet for a while. Maybe she falls asleep again, I do not know. But then the human girl talks again. And when she does, I find that I do not mind it as much.
“You know, you must be tired. I wouldn’t want to be you. How do you sleep? Or does every command from Fohri come with a no-sleep guarantee? He must be a powerful one then.”
There is wry, mirthless laughter in her voice. I am glad she cannot see me then, because I am grinning.That bastard Fohri will never get away with this.The thought shocks me.
Control yourself. She is simply a human woman. Don’t lose your head over her.
“I think I miss Agatha the most.”
I have been standing there for more than a day now. Her lunch and supper has come and gone. “I guess I don’t have anyone else to miss. I don’t even remember my parents.”
That fact makes me strangely sad for her. But then I remind myself that this entire situation is strange.
Later, when she becomes quiet again, it is for hours and hours. I worry, until I listen carefully and hear her breathing.
You miss her.
11
ELLIE
Afew days have passed since the incident in the garden. There’s so much to process and think about with the consequences that arose as a result of being caught. Part of me is angry at myself for being found out in the first place but I’m glad it was by Ihokha. He’s nowhere near as psycho as his brother, Fohri.
