Page 46 of Halfblood Deceived

A small brown hand holding a bottle of blue liquid appeared in front of her face. “Drink this,” Mari ordered.

Aella blinked, meeting bright emerald eyes. “What is it?”

“A mood stabilizer mixed with a long-lasting pain medication, and an anti-inflammatory,” Mari answered in a kind, but no-nonsense tone. “It will prevent you from having another meltdown. I don’t think your poor brain can take any more blows.”

Aella grimaced, accepting the potion and downing it in one gulp. A wave of pure relief spread from her throat to her stomach and her whole body in gentle, warm ripples. “Thank you.”

“Now drink this,” Gabby suggested, taking a bottle of white, thick liquid from the table next to the bed and handing it to Aella. “It’s a meal supplement. It tastes like vanilla.”

Aella wrinkled her nose. Micah had made her replace two meals a day with a meal supplement for months, trying to get her to lose weight. She hated the taste of fake vanilla with undying passion.

“We would have made you a proper meal, but it’s best if we don’t go upstairs just in case,” Gabby said in an apologetic tone.

Just in case the gargoyles arrived to kill them all.

Aella took the bottle. “Thank you.” She downed a polite sip, but her stomach responded with much more hunger than she expected and she ended up taking large gulps. The white goo actually tasted like vanilla instead of that jarring, artificial flavor that Aella couldn’t stand, and at that moment, she’d never tasted anything better.

Mari gave her a curious look. “They had placed a tracker in your neck,” she said. “So they must know you came to us. I thought you should know.”

Aella shrugged, even as her stomach plummeted. Considering the church’s habit of comparing females to sheep, she wasn’t that surprised they had put a tracker on her as if she were cattle. “It hardly makes any difference. I had already betrayed them.”

Mari shared a quick look with Gabby, then nodded.

Luce hummed to herself and gently wrapped a lock of Aella’s hair between her fingers. “Why do you dye your hair? The natural color is beautiful.”

“Because only witches have red hair,” Aella blurted. The three females gave her confused looks. She gulped. “That’s what the nuns and priests at the convent said. And the gargoyles, too.”

Now they looked appalled and confused.

“You know that’s fucking bullshit, right?” Mari asked, not unkindly.

Aella half shrugged. “I know now that a lot of what I thought was true is, um, that.”

“Good,” Gabby said, giving Aella’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Luce smiled at her. “Learning new things can be scary, but it’s worth it in the end.”

Aella blinked. “Um, yeah.” The combined attention was a bit too much for her, however nice they were all being. “I, uh, is there a bathroom I can use?”

“Right through that door,” Gabby said, waving a hand to point at a door that melded with the wall so well that Aella hadn’t noticed it before.

Luce jumped off the bed, nimble as a cat, and went to sit on the chair by the door. She was wearing jeans, boots, and a button-down shirt, much like Gabby.

Mari approached Aella’s side, ready to catch her if necessary, even though she was half a foot smaller than Aella.

Feeling much less dizzy and steadier, Aella carefully sat up. Gabby placed a pair of slippers with solid rubber soles next to Aella’s feet. She slid off the bed, feeling every muscle pulse with a dull but manageable ache, and slipped her white-socked feet into the shoes.

The scrubs she was wearing were clean, and she was no longer sticky with sweat and blood, which meant Mari—and maybe Gabby, too—had cleaned her.

Aella felt the blood leave her face.

Mari and Gabby had seen her bruises. It didn’t take a genius to deduce how she’d gotten them.

“Are you alright?” Gabby asked, dark, elegant hands hovering near Aella, ready to catch her.

Aella gulped and stood straighter. “I’m fine. I just need the bathroom.”

Mari and Gabby didn’t hover anymore, letting Aella reach the bathroom on her own.

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