He huffs a breath out his nostrils, more in amusement this time than frustration. “Because I was a dumb, rebellious teenager, and I wanted to summon something from the Otherworld. Sometimes I really do think he’s the cause of all of my misfortune.” He turns a beseeching look back on me. “Just…use caution with him.”
With no will left to fight him, I sink down and pull the blankets up over me before facing the wall to signal to him that I’m done with conversation for the night. There’s only the quiet sounds of him undressing before his bed shifts with his weight. I stare at the wall, a new worry quickening my pulse. “Are you going to tell anyone I tried to escape?”
“Who would I tell?”
“I don’t know….Morin?”
He hesitates. “She’ll know I went to the Blood Wood. But you don’t need to worry about that. I’ll come up with something. I will never tell Morin anything that takes place between us.”
I have no idea if he’s telling me the truth. The words are a comfort nonetheless. I whip around, shortly wishing that I hadn’t, with his eyes peering back at me just an arm’s length away, chest bare and the blanket draped across his waist. I draw the blanket up over my nose to shield my heated cheeks. “Why does she want to punish you anyway?”
“Ugh,” he complains, eyes darting away as he flips onto his back. Silence fills the room and I turn back around when I realize he doesn’t intend to answer me, but then, in a quiet voice, he says, “Maybe I deserve to be punished.”
A loud bang jostlesme awake and I startle up, pulling the blanket up over the bottom half of my face. I find him glaring down at me. I squint up at him and then around the room, readjusting to where it is I am and who with. His accusing eyes are bloodshot and heavily bagged. He has one fist still resting against the nightstand. I realize that’s how he’s decided to wake me up. What a dick. I glower back at him.
“I’m going to get the seamstress.”
“Righ’ now?” I mumble groggily, swiping my hands over my eyes and peering down at my only dress. He’d cleaned it last night after my trek in the Blood Wood but I’m still eager for fresh clothes.
“Yep.” With that, he sweeps out of the room.
The seamstress’s silver hair is cropped into a short bob around her chin, face pressed into a deep scowl as she surveys my position on the couch from under her nose. It’s Sitri that makes me double-take as he trails in behind her. His face is so cold it’s almost sinister. He doesn’t make eye contact as he stalks past and slumps down on the other end of the sofa.
“So, this is the nought?” the seamstress asks.
“She’s the one.”
“A true pity, Cernunnos.”
A wave of hot, suffocating anger washes over me. Surely he’s not going to allow her to speak to me like that? I stare after him for a moment too long.
“Nought,” he snaps in exasperation, waving an impatient hand to motion me forward.
The blood drains from my face as I clench my mouth shut and rise stiffly, crossing my arms across my chest as I take a position several feet away from her. So, this is how it’s going to be whenever other people are around? Whatever trust he had begun to establish between us disintegrates completely. I’m his punishment, after all. He’s so ashamed of me, he can hardly even stand it. The betrayal wounds me further than it should, and my throat tightens. Ridiculous how soon I’d begun to drop my guard.
I won’t be making that mistake again.
The seamstress flicks her fingers and barks at me to move this way and that as her measuring tape flits around my body. She makes a disapproving noise after each measurement like my size is somehow unsatisfactory.
“They should be ready by tomorrow,” she declares once she’s finished. “The gown will need a little more time.”
Gown?
“As long as it’s ready by the day of,” Sitri says, rising.
“I truly hope for all our sakes a better arrangement is found for you, Cernunnos.”
“Thank you.”
“They’ve been behind the Wall for a long time. Maybe an illness will befall her.”
My mouth pops open. She means maybe I’lldie.Sitri says nothing, simply opening the door to see her out. I set my jaw to question him as soon as she’s gone when he slinks out the door behind her and the door slams shut.
I barge after them and pound at the door. “Hey! Wait! What am I supposed to do!”
The sound of their footsteps grows faint in the distance. I turn around and face the empty chambers. I was so intent on escaping…what the hell am I supposed to do now?
Maybe an illness will befall her.
