Page 81 of Throne of Ice and Blood
My heart skips a beat. They burned their homeland in the war?
A sudden thought crackles through me.
Is that why they went back and took Lavendera too? Because they found out that she has tree magic and they’re planning to use her to restore their homeland?
“Fuck, did you see that silver-haired bitch at the banquet?” Orange Eyes says. “All dressed up in a pretty ballgown, as if she isn’t a savage like the rest of her people. Fuck, I hate her so much.”
“At least Commander Ryat put her in her place,” Blondie says.
Orange Eyes snickers. “Watching her crawl and lick his boots was the most satisfying thing I’ve seen all year.”
The other three laugh. It’s a mocking and vicious sound.
My head goes unnaturally silent. Because I suddenly realize who they’re talking about.
Me.
They are talking aboutme.
The shifter with silver hair leans back in his seat and stretches his arms above his head. “Agreed.”
“If she was my slave, I would fucking humiliate her,” Orange Eyes continues, his voice laced with malice. “I would rip that fucking dress off her and make her walk naked everywhere. Nah, actually, I wouldn’t even let her walk. I’d make her crawl on all fours everywhere. That’d teach her. That’d show her that she’s nothing more than a filthy savage animal.”
The others laugh again.
Pain pulses through my entire chest, and treacherous tears press against my eyes.
These people hate me. They don’t even know me. But theyhateme.
Iron bands squeeze around my heart until I can barely breathe through a sudden sense of searing hurt.
Deep down, I know that it’s ridiculous and pathetic and that I shouldn’t feel like this. But hearing how much these people hate me, people who have never even spoken to me and who know absolutely nothing about me, hurts. Deeply.
That desperate little girl inside me still wants people to like me. It’s stupid, I know that. I shouldn’t care about other people’s opinions of me. But I do.
I guess that’s what happens when you grow up being taught that everything is your fault and that you need to atone.
Bitterness floods my veins, and I desperately lean into that hardness that I started to build around my heart at the end of the Atonement Trials.
Why should I care what these people think?
Why is their opinion of me worth more than my own, when I know myself better than they do?
“That’s it!” a man suddenly screams somewhere to my right. “I’ve fucking had it!”
I whip my head towards him. As does the rest of the tavern.
A muscular human man in stained worker’s clothes is stalking towards the four dragon shifters on my left.
“This is our pub,” he declares, and stabs a hand at the shifters. “Go drink somewhere else.”
Wood grinds against wood as the four dragon shifters push back their chairs and shoot to their feet, rage pulsing across their faces as well.
“Your pub?” Orange Eyes echoes.
“Yeah,” the human replies, he swings his arm to the side and points to the door instead. “So go find your own.”
My heart patters against my ribs. Mabona’s tits. They’re going to start a fight right here. I can’t get caught in the middle of this.
