Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MAEVYTH

“ H e’s physically abusive. I’ve seen evidence.”

Lolla brushed my hair as I sat on the edge of the bed staring out the window toward The Crone Witch’s shack in a trance of thoughts.

“What evidence?” Lolla gently combed through a rough tangle, the twinges of pain hardly noticeable with my preoccupations.

“Bruises on his servants. The fact that he has Lyverian servants. I can’t think of anything worse for her.”

“And why are you so concerned about her welfare? It seems to me Mr. Moros’s manor is far more civilized than here, and this girl undoubtedly comes from some unruly village, where she was likely forced to parade naked in front of grown men.” Lolla had clearly taken up the same prejudices against Lyverians as everyone else in Foxglove.

“Men who probably don’t leave bruises on her. I thought you were taking my side on this matter?”

She sighed and placed the brush on the dresser. “I don’t love that you’ve been betrothed to the man, but the way he treats this Lyverian girl and the way I suspect he’ll treat you as his wife are vastly different.”

I turned just enough to see her in my periphery. “And if they’re not?”

“Then, you’ll deal with matters when, and if, they even arise.” She gathered my hair single-handedly, running her fingers through the locks to separate it into three chunks. “You’re a strong girl, Maevyth. You’ve always been strong. And fiercely independent of mind. Too independent of mind, if you ask me.”

“Can I tell you something, Lolla? Something I trust you won’t repeat to anyone?” I stared off in the mirror, watching her reflection as she braided my hair with one hand, using her severed limb to hold one strand in place while she weaved the others together.

Her brows knitted together. “Of course.”

I hesitated at first. Lolla had never betrayed my trust. Not even on the times I’d complained about Agatha. She’d never mentioned the day she’d caught me standing at the edge of the woods, nor the few times I’d snuck grandfather’s remaining stash of morumberry wine from the cellar. While she seemed to have a good relationship with Agatha, she’d always remained loyal to me, as well. “His head servant asked me if I wanted to … get rid of the Lyverian girl. And she didn’t mean set her free.”

“And how did you respond?” she asked, a mask of indifference on her face as she worked through the strands of my hair.

“I said I wanted to keep her, of course. What kind of question is that?”

“I like to think I’ve offered sound advice on social graces to you and your sister throughout the years. Allow me to impart this. Be careful in how you respond, Maevyth. Consider every word. Agatha can be cruel at times, but there is stark brutality in the world, and frighteningly enough, she is not the worst.” She kissed the top of my head and, after securing the end of my braid with a ribbon, left the room, closing the door behind her.

I pondered her words only a moment more, then scrambled beneath the bed for the egg and held it up to the moon’s light, catching only a tiny silhouette of the small creature it housed.

The sight of it brought a smile to my face, and I glanced around the room for some nesting material, opting for a small blanket at the foot of my bed. I lay the egg on the floor between my bed and the wall, where I hoped it would remain relatively concealed through the night. “I hope you don’t require me to sit on you,” I said, staring down from the edge of my bed. “I surely don’t have the patience for that.”

The click of the door had me turning over to see Aleysia stomping into the room, her jaw stiff, hands balled to fists at her side. She slammed the door, knocking a picture from the wall, and crossed the room to her bed. “That woman is a tyrant. A tyrant!” she screeched, and I pressed a finger to my lips to quiet her. “Do you know she arranged to have one of her warty-nosed witch friends attend an outing with Uncle Riftyn tomorrow? At the same time that I’ll be forced to entertain that horrible bastard of a man she’s chosen for me.”

“Seems she’s out to ruin everyone’s lives.”

“She is! And the fact that she’s accepted money is repulsive! She should be locked in a cell with no window!”

Chuckling, I turned back to the egg, briefly considering how wonderful it would be to live in a place so isolated from this world. “Moros has a Lyverian girl as a servant.”

“Oh, god. Poor thing.” She yanked off her dress, exposing her bare breasts beneath—Aleysia rarely bothered with undergarments—and reached for the nightgown laid out on her bed. “No poorer than you’ll be, though, I can assure you.”

“I won’t marry him. I can’t.”

“Beginning to sound like loony Aleysia now.”

A slight smile graced my lips as I toyed with the hem of my own gown. “I don’t disagree with you. I only disagree with your methods, at times.”

Once dressed, Aleysia stared off, biting her nails. “This girl … what if she’s kind and good? And Uncle Riftyn falls madly in love with her?”

“I very much doubt the man seeks kindness and goodness, if he’s taken by you,” I joked, and she sailed a glare back at me. “If he falls for her, he was never in love with you to begin.”

She winced as if I’d slapped her in the face. “I can’t bear that thought.”

“Then, don’t think about it. I would venture to say you have enough on your plate with this Vonkovyan soldier. We have to figure a way out of this mess.”

Plopping on her bed, she slouched on the edge of the mattress. “Did she hate our grandfather so much? Is that why she longs to make us suffer?”

“Perhaps he hated her.” I turned down the light, as Aleysia crawled into bed, my thoughts winding back to the Lyverian girl and her burns and bruises. I tried to imagine myself in that position. So powerless against the man.

So small.

Every part of me wanted to run. Run away from it all.

Aleysia had convinced me to run away with her once, after grandfather had gone missing and father had left for the war, leaving us alone with Agatha. The Vonkovyan soldiers had tracked us down, of course, and I’d been forced to watch my sister suffer twenty lashes for it.

Running wasn’t an option.

Instead, I closed my eyes and searched for solace in the black void.