“What?”
“What happened to your face?”
Slowly, I lift my hand, fingers brushing over the tender bruise along my jawline. “Annora happened to me.”
“You allowed my sister to do that?” A smile twitches at Asha’s mouth, as if she’s fighting the strong urge to laugh. “And you didn’t try to stop her?”
“I did try to stop her,” I say evenly.
“Obviously not hard enough.”
“Maybe not.” I shrug. “But I do not strike women.”
Asha leans back in her chair and folds her arms, still studying me. “Chivalry doesn’t suit you.”
A smile pulls at the corner of my mouth. “Perhaps not, but it’s a principle I adhere to.”
She shakes her head at me. “Annora can be unpredictable.”
“That’s an understatement,” I say as I recall the flash of fury in Annora’s eyes as she threw rocks and dirt at me.
Asha sighs. “She’s not like us.”
“And yet she’s crucial to our plans.”
“Crucial, yes. But fragile. We can’t afford for her to break.”
“I’m aware.”
Asha’s gaze drifts to the window, where rain patters softly against the glass. “Just be careful. We need her, but we can’t control her with force alone.”
Controlling Annora has proven more challenging than anticipated. Her defiance is infuriatingandadmirable.
“I know.”
“I don’t want to talk about Annora anymore,” Asha says. “We have other matters to attend to. Our forces are mobilizing, and we need to coordinate the next steps.”
“Agreed.” As I move to stand next to Asha, I push thoughts of Annora to the back of my mind.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Annora
The sun riseshigh in the sky as I grapple with what Aleksander made me do. I try pacing, but my heart refuses to forget.
The hem of my surcoat whips against my legs as I hurry to my desk and grab a piece of charcoal, desperate for some semblance of calm, of normalcy, but it doesn’t work.
How could it?
I toss the charcoal aside and reach for a book instead, flipping through the pages without seeing the words.
I need to get out of here.
Need to run.
Need to flee.
The gods help me.
