on'

was practiced, controlled. She didn't fumble, didn't flinch. Her face remained an unreadable mas

out complaint.

tood. Still. S

r eyes. No plea

me more tha

use I wanted her to feel it. The ache in her belly. The sting of humiliation. I wanted hunger to wear down her prid

air. Her sleep.

te it. Let

eturn here," Kael commanded, his voic

y. She didn't spare us a glance. Not even a flicker of eye con

hard to appear com

y see the cracks f

I added coldly, watching h

mply walked away, her silence feelin

utes turned

raised like it didn't matter, but it was obvious-she'd cried. She'd found some shadowed hall

d've know

d, a thin curl of satisfa

was startin

ed about patience. B

was for th

he was

oose. The silence thickened with anticipation, the only sound the subtle scrape of my chair against the fl

rate, chosen for effect. "You will clean our room and the rest of the apartment

he smallest tensing of her should

turned to the right drawers. You'll arrange our wardrobes by preference-by color, by function. Learn what we wear an

t hang in the air like a

n that eerie calm she always wore, but

ing, quietly,

remain within our presence unless one of us tells you otherwise. If we separate for any reason, you will wait for further

slightly. A reaction she

spoken to. You're not to look for company, not to ask for kindness. You don't deserve it. And

she looked a

, and in it, I caught the shimmer o

ter

he gut. The kind that made peo

ing my voice into something darker, like a verdict. "We will

I might have missed it if I

already

quiet, settling over her

idn't move.

t stood

er sides.

he grief and guilt she ref

t unshaken. N

w it

ehind her

e was

ence was di

n't st

heavy

d revenge for her mother, for her blood. But no. What she'd done... the destr

ated. A knife pressed exactl

now? It was

as d

didn't

wrecke

wrecked

sure she paid her debt,

ped, watching her like

llest of nods. A

ood e

arked, the room shaking w

t barely. And the

ression

ed in her ey

beneath

o bury it.

like

were sluggish, reluctant, each syllable

Fear.Obedienc

rf

living room

leaving the room w

re she vanish

ear

soft, almost inaud

olding her breath

was gone, Dax b

asked, his voice more thoughtful t

"Yes," I said cautio

That's not just obedi

ed immediately, h

her," Dax added softly. "Just a l

voice steel. "She has

aised his hands in su

anything. I d

all knew

as reaching for, it

from

om the

the debt

softness had lo