ssi

d to be a sanctuary, a qui

city smog was toxic for the

precariously on the edge of a stagnant, black lak

ul, yes. But i

ht, the silence of the house pressing against my eardrums. My ankles were swollen t

oak door was cracked open just a sliver, spilling a r

ntly been promoted; he was Luca's rig

his voice low and professional. "The medical

clink of crystal against crystal-whiskey, n

rm. Are you sure Clara is physically s

e warm air. "She's been waiting for this for years. The lung transplan

n my hand became sli

about Ava?"

A hesitation that h

r job. The womb served its purpose. Once we cut the kid out, she's no

stick to

. Severe hemorrhage. It happens

rld didn't just spin; it ti

ut a nursery. They weren

alking abou

Her lungs

My son. F

rpse. Fo

a person. I was an incubator.

My heart hammered against my ribs with such violence I thought it would wake the

slow, rolling wave under my stretched skin, o

to the monsters. He would grow up calling Clara

row up to

ld be

guarded by armed men. I couldn't fi

ard left to pla

al kit Luca kept under the sink. I found the scalpel-cold, surgical steel he k

I was shaking so hard my teeth chattered, a

loved him more

tly why I couldn'

The naive girl who painted landscape

r willing to burn the world d

hunder against the tiles to mask the sound

ng to give t

to give th

ntil my knuckles turned bone-whi

" I whispered, m

so so

d what had