Page 139 of Fractured Fates

They see me standing there soaked to the skin, Winnie’s thin night dress clinging to my body.

At first there’s silence. Then the first smile cracks across a face. Then another and another, like a wave across the ocean. Someone cackles. Someone giggles. First one. Then two. Then three. Until the room erupts with it. Loud and vulgar.

They point. Someone snaps a photo. Others follow.

I peer down at my body.

My nightdress is see-through, completely see-through.

They can see everything.

I raise my gaze and glare at Tristan.

I lift my hand. He knows what I’m capable of now. He knows what I can do. I could do it again. I’m certain I could do it again.

He lifts a painted eyebrow, daring me to try, daring me to do it.

Rage licks through my body, begging me to. Commanding me to.

Magic crackles in my fingertips. The hook in my belly scrapes at my insides.

I’m going to show him. I’m going to show him he can’t hurt me like this.

My brow hardens, the tendons in my neck stiffen.

My fingers sizzle.

I’m going to do it. I don’t care about the consequences.

But then something bumps against my leg.

Something warm.

Followed by a snort.

I jerk.

I jerk as if I’ve been woken from a dream.

I glance down towards my feet.

It’s Pip, bumping his snout against my calf.

“Pip,” I whisper.

It makes the crowd laugh harder.

I don’t care,

I scoop him up and step out of the common room, slamming the door behind me.

39

Rhi

I wake earlythe next morning to the sound of humming.

I creak open an eyelid.