Page 62 of A Court Bright and Broken

“I won’t do it,” I told the Earthwife. “If you want them dead, you’ll have to find another way.”

I was actually entertaining the notion ofwarningStellon somehow. The Elves hadn’t been kind to my people by any stretch, buthe’dbeen kind tome. And even without that, this was wrong.

Of course Sorcha would likely cause our new garden to die immediately, and the venison I’d preserved would suddenly rot. I’d have to go work in a pleasure house after all to feed my family and pay for Papa’s pain medication, but all of that was more palatable than becoming an assassin.

The witch’s face darkened until she appeared almost plum-colored. Her flinty green eyes blazed at me.

“Thisis the only way. And youwilldo it. What is four Elven lives compared to thousands of helpless humans?”

She was shaking with rage now. “Don’t forget what they’ve done to your people and your family.They’rethe reason your sisters were starving. They’re the reason your mother and stepmother are dead, the reason your father is sightless and suffered for so long.”

Then the Earthwife became completely still, and her tone changed from enraged to eerily calm—friendly even.

“It would be a shame if his pain were to return. And worsen.”

My head was beginning to spin, either from forgetting to breathe or from breathing too quickly—I hadn’t been paying attention. All I knew was that I felt sick.

“There will be no more tonics and salves from me—oranyof my sisters,” Sorcha warned. “He is not that old. He’ll linger… and suffer… for decades more. As foryoursisters...”

She gave me a smile that sent chills down my back.

“I’ll leave it to you to decide which of them I’ll take.”

A hoarse whisper was all I could manage. “Take?”

My chest felt like it was caving in. I was shaking all over.

“One of them—your choice—will come and live with me and becomemydaughter, an Earthwife like me. Where do you think we village mothers come from? We don’t get many suitors.”

“So youbarter for little girls?”

My hands came up to clutch my own throat. They were trembling.

“It won’t be so bad,” Sorcha continued. “She’ll never marry of course or bear children of her own, but she’ll become powerful. Naturally, you and your father and the other girl will never speak to her again, even if you see her in the village. I can’t have you muddying the waters.”

This was a nightmare. In trying to help my family, I’d put them in more immediate danger.

I couldn’t let my father be in excruciating pain for the rest of his life. I couldn’t let one of my little sisters be taken away and raised by this horrid woman. She was as bad, if not worse, than the King.

I was in an impossible position. Maybe Sorcha was right—what were four Elven lives compared to all the humans they’d forced into dire situations like mine?

Compared to all the humans who were starving because of them?

Why were their lives any more important than those of my father and sisters? Than the humans in our village and countless others whose lives would be vastly improved if the cruel king and his sons were eliminated?

Of course if I went along with it,mylife would likely end tonight. There was very little chance I’d be able to pull it off and get out of the castle without being caught.

But that didn’t matter. It would probably be impossible to live with the guilt anyway.

Before my foolish bargain with the Earthwife, I hadn’t reallyhadmuch of a life, struggling and working myself to the bone day after day to meet my family’s needs.

And all my efforts hadstillbeen falling short. I was failing to support them.

They wouldliterallybe better off without me. At least they’d continue to be fed, and Papa would remain free of pain.

“Okay,” I said, barely able to move the words past my constricted throat. “I’ll do it.”

Sorcha smiled. “I knew you’d come to see reason. Hurry now. You only have until midnight when the ball ends.”

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