Page 69 of A Vow of Blood and Tears

He loosely laced the stays so I wouldn’t be a complete shambles walking through the halls, and I held my journal tight as he brought me back to the Tower of Spring.

“I’ll wait for you out here,” he said, holding the door open for me. “Don’t take too long.”

Give me five minutes, I signed, and once the door closed I practically dashed to the wardrobe, flinging aside more fussy brocades and velvets until I found something easily laced at the sides by myself.

I was smoothing the dark green cotton and debating hair pins when Ellena found me.

“Oh, do you need help, my lady?” she asked. It was an innocent enough question, but I didn’t want her help, and I thought I’d made that clear.

I shook my head, but she already had the hairbrush in hand. She gripped my shoulder hard, moving me sideways and attacking my hair.

Will you stop?I signed, twisting to grab the brush. By the Light, if this was how she brushed the Sisters’ hair, no wonder they’d been eager to foist her off on me.

But Ellena grabbed it back, scowling at me. “You know if you don’t let me work, they’re going to send me away? That bloodwitch has made it obvious that if I don’t dosomething, they won’t keep a useless mouth to feed. I’d rather brush your hair than work in the kitchens again, so just let me get on with it.”

Why would you care? I thought you wanted to go back to Argent. You’ve made it clear you don’t care to wait on me, any more than I care to have you do it.I tipped my head as I signed, and Ellena cursed softly under her breath.

“By the Lady, are you asking why?Youworked for the Sisters.Youknow it’s terrible. This place might be a Light-forsaken hell, but at least it’s softer than living under their whip. I’m not going to let you ruin that for me just because you think you can do better.”

I winced as she pulled the brush through my hair with particular roughness.

“You’renotbetter than me,” she whispered. “You’re the same as I am. The Sisters sent me to slave away foryou, so that’s what you get. I’m not going to lose a comfortable situation because you’re suddenly so high and mighty.”

There was a sudden pinch on the nape of my neck—a flare of pain so intense I thought she’d jabbed one of the jeweled hair pins into my skin.

I clapped a hand to the spot, whirling around to stare at her, but she held nothing but the hairbrush. She leaned back, looking at me like I was the insane one.

“What now? Too rough for your precious princess skin?”

I took my hand away, looking at my fingers. There was no blood; my hair wasn’t even tangled enough to have a knot that would’ve been yanked out. The brush itself only held a few clinging hairs.

Had she pinched me?

I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, mastering my anger.

As much as I disliked her, I understood her. Wewerethe same. We were both unwanted castoffs, our lives reduced to how hard we could work.

It was sheer chance I’d ended up with a title and a husband who ruled a quarter of Veladar. It could just as easily have been me, sent with Antonetta to serve as her maid, and I wouldn’t have enjoyed waiting hand and foot on a girl I’d scrubbed floors with, either.

So I would not go out of my way to ruin Ellena’s life. Not after what I’d seen.

If Bane thought she was hurting me deliberately… there was no telling what might happen.

I held up my hands in a peacemaking gesture, and backed away several steps to the journal. I flipped to a clean page, unwilling to share any of my conversations with Bane, one-sided though they were, and wrote in Veladari, using the common alphabet all servants were taught to read.

I’m not trying to ruin you. You’re right, we are the same, and I don’t want to be waited on. If you want to stay here in a good position, then just pretend you’re dressing me. I won’t tell you if you don’t. But I don’t want your help.

I tapped it forcefully and waited for Ellena to read it. She looked up at me, mouth twisted with suspicion, but finally relented and dropped the brush in my hands. “Fine.”

I exhaled in relief as she took the stairs back up to the garret, and finished my hair myself. That was almost too easy, but anything was better than having her breathe down my neck, mocking me with every word.

My skin still stung where she’d pinched me, and I settled for a loose, fluffy braid down my back to hide the redness. I folded over the page in the journal so Bane wouldn’t inadvertently seeit, tucked it in my leather bag, and balanced my pen behind my ear.

He was waiting patiently in the hall when I emerged, and I managed to smile.

“I’m going to draw out the suspense, and have you eat first,” he said, offering me his arm.

You’re a cruel man, I told him, and leaned into him, looping my arm through his.

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