Page 79 of Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

He picked his fork back up and I knew that was the end of this meeting. There was no arguing. There was no begging or pleading. Raphael wanted Mark and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I stared at him for a long time before I forced myself up and headed for the door.

I didn’t remember grabbing my things and putting them back on. I didn’t remember the walk through the city back to the house. I didn’t remember what Momshouted at me on my way to Mark’s room.

All I remembered was pulling him into me and hugging him tightly as his questions went in one ear, turning into numb excuses sliding from my lips.

What could I do?

How could I stop this?

Should I stop this?

8

My Bible, Chapter 3, Verse 1,

Worship me with your tongue. Praise me with it. Run it along the shaft of my holy cock and find salvation you’ve never known.

Kyra

Iinstinctively held out my hands, trying to keep my head from hitting the rotting wooden floor. But in doing that, splinters filled my skin, blood dripping from the corner of my lips from where she had just punched me. She was smaller than me in weight, and sometimes I wondered how she was able to have the strength to do this kind of damage to me. It seemed impossible.

“Youworthlesspiece of shit,” Norella barked at me, spraying me with spit. “You should havetold me they were going totakemy son!”

I swallowed, blood coating my mouth, my throat. My stomach turned. All I had consumed in the last day was the blood I was swallowing now. It was fucking painful.

“I was summoned, Mom. I couldn’t just not go,” I tried, my arms struggling to keep me up.

I had spent the entire night crying, wanting nothing more than to sleep with Mark, hold him all night, never let him go. I could keep him safe, I could. I had done it all his life, I could keep doing it. I could take care of him.

“But this is for the best. He deserves this. Money, warmth, all the food and clothes he could ever wish for.”

But I could…I could do it.

“No, you can’t. Look at you. Pathetic. You can’t even stand up to your own mother.”

“This is allyourfault,” she went on as I forced myself to a stand, ashamed at how my legs shook. “If I lose him, you will never take another breath of air again.”

My hand shook as I wiped the back of it across my mouth, my stomach lurching. “You fucked the High King,” I dared, finding her eyes. “This isyourfault, not mine.”

She stepped forward, slamming her hand against my cheek.

Tears sprang to my eyes, another wave of blood coating my mouth as my cheek split against my teeth.

“You disrespectful whore. You never cared about that boy.”

I choked on the sob, trying to keep it down. “I love him,” I said, shaking my head, my hands gripped so tightly at my sides, my nails broke through my skin. “I loved him more than you ever did.”

She laughed. “I’m hismother. No one loves him more than I do. You barely spend any time with him, always out galivanting around, doing whatever it is you do because it’s certainly not gathering food for us. Yourself, maybe, but you’re not bringing any home for us.”

I felt the tears fall down my face and I hated myself for it.Hatedmyself more than anything else in the entire world for showing her that kind of weakness.

She scoffed, shaking her head as if I were the most embarrassing thing to have ever happened to her. “Go, you worthless girl. Bring homeseedsor roots. I’m sure that’s all that will be left after you’re finished shoving it down your throat.”

I worked my jaw, tied my veil on with shaking hands, and left.

The freezing air stung my skin as I left the house, but it only sharpened my senses.

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