Page 12 of Anorthic Anarchy

“I’ll name you Fred. Fred the flashlight. You’re my new best friend, Fred. Ted was getting tiresome with his songs about the rain.” Clicking it on briefly, I spot the rest of my food lying on theother side of the bars, just out of my reach. No worries. I’ve got something better now.

I can see!

Using Fred to illuminate my face, I clean up my nose as best I can, plugging my nostrils with toilet paper. Then, I put on a light show. Letting Fred have his way around the room, I click the light on and off, and cover the walls with temporarily lighted shadow wallpaper.

Several hours later, I tuck Fred under my pillow to preserve his battery. As far as I can tell, I have two days until my birthday. I don’t know if my new husband plans to keep me in this cell after we marry or not, but I’ll gather everything I can get my hands on. Maybe I could even trade things with other prisoners like I’ve seen them do on TV.

Just need to refine my plan of escape for the next time Lydia shows up with my tray.

Except when dinner arrives, it isn’t her who comes by. The footsteps down the hall are lighter, the person smaller. And the torch is an actual candle this time. Chloe has a friendlier face than the others, with long pink hair. All the women I have seen appear to be at least five or ten years older than me.

As she spots me hovering near the door, her grin turns to a frown. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. I heard about your trouble. No one knew you were here in the dark. Lydia was supposed to take care of that. Would you mind stepping back so I can open the door, and I’ll light your sconce?”

She’s so assured in her words and stance; I know she won’t open the door until I back away. I move to stand near my sink, and she smiles, which turns creepy in the flickers of the dancing flame. After opening the door, she shuts it tightly, then sets the tray on my side table. As she said, she lights the sconce and sets the candlestick next to my food.

Glancing around my cell, she says, “Well, I love what you’ve done with the place. Please, eat. I don’t want to keep you from that. Just figured you could use a chat or some company.”

Hurrying to my cot, I sit and take a bite. Meals are the same almost every day. Eggs and oats for breakfast, tomato soup and grilled cheese or a turkey sandwich for lunch, and beef stew for dinner. It’s dinnertime now, and this is different. Perhaps chicken noodle soup with added vegetables. Letting it drizzle out of the spoon, I check to make sure nothing funny is in it.

She leans against the far wall, watching me a moment before she says, “Sorry, it’s canned. We’re getting short on supplies, but I think Sev is going out for more beef soon.”

Swallowing, my brow furrows. “What do you mean ‘supplies’?”

“Well, none of us have been allowed to leave since… It’s gotten too dangerous to leave, the master says. Especially for him.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “And that means you, too.”

“No one leaves House Strauss?”

With a shake of her head, she sits cross-legged on the floor. “Nope. Not in a while. Dilan sometimes leaves with Sev, and Falcon goes out often. Sev hunts for supplies. But the bear killed the master’s loyal guards.”

My jaw drops. “There are bears around here?” I envision a pile of dead men mauled with slashes from claws across their dismembered bodies.

Chloe snorts. “No, not actual bears. The Eastern clan’s emblem has one on it. I forget you’re not from here.”

I think of the old family pendant my father showed me once when I was a child. He said it was from his father and he would give it to Wyatt when he came of age. Of course, my father was murdered before that happened and then they took my brother away.

“And the master doesn’t have anyone guarding him?” Perhaps I could use that to my advantage.

“Not many. The few who do are the ones who brought you here. Enzo, Luka, a few others. Everyone else, the ones you may see just outside are… Where are you from again?”

“Lecherton.” I say it emphatically, but then think about it longer. “Well, I mean. I guesshere,in a way.”

Chloe’s expression turns serious. “Yes, the snakes.” Quickly, she smiles again, as if recalling who she’s talking to.

Shrugging off her prejudice, I grimace. “My parents were killed when I was nine. My brother was only with me until he was sixteen. I never knew my grandparents. But yeah. I guess I am a Barrington.”

“Not for long.” She starts cleaning up my plate on the tray for me and I sit back. Her abruptness makes me wonder how much these people hate me for something I never did. But just as I think she’s being rude, she smiles and pours me more water.

Despite the dim light, I can make out her face of makeup and styled hair. She’s pretty. How many of the women does the master have sex with? All of them?

Am I just a political pawn? A way to get back at Wyatt and me for having blood that’s different from his?

“Why has the master never married? Or has he before? Has he had children?”

Her long hair falls over her small shoulder as she shakes her head. “No. Master has too many of us to love, he says. I think he was trying to court Livia Von Dovish, but she fell in with the bear even after he’d tried to stop it.”

Chloe sits on the cot next to me and runs her fingers through my hair delicately. Placing the bulk of it over my shoulder, she stands and gets my hairbrush from the cabinet and returns. Instead of the harsh movements Lydia always has, hers aregentle and kind. Turning so she can reach more of my head, I close my eyes at the comfort of having someone be nice to me.

“He also tried to court Miss Arianna Freidenberg. But he couldn’t leave the house to stop her wedding to the wolf.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, she glances outside the cell. “There are forces that prevented him from doing so.”

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