Page 49 of A Touch of Poison
Somehow, I got it all in the bucket, and as breaths heaved through me, I realised my arm was free of the straps. Not a mark on my fingers, save for the purple stain.
But I could still see my skin pulled back, nerves and veins exposed. With a gasp, I flinched from the cruel trick my mind played on me. Some things were best forgotten.
Calm as ever, mask gone, Elthea handed me a glass of water. She cocked her head as I gulped it down and washed away the mingled bitter and coppery flavours. “Did that hurt?”
“Of course it bloody hurt.” I clenched and unclenched my trembling fist. No pain. Truly, no sign of what she’d done. If not for her question, it was like I’d imagined the whole thing.
She scribbled in her notebook. “Then why didn’t you cry out?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it when I found my spinning mind had no answer. “Because… Because…”
Obedient. Dutiful. Silent.
“You just pulled a face.” Her pen hovered over the page. “What are you thinking?”
“I was taught to keep quiet.”
“Hmm. By who?”
“My father.” I cradled the glass against my chest and shut my eyes against the room’s aching brightness. He’d told me to be quiet. And my mother had modelled it perfectly—the silent ghost in her own house.
“Why? Were you a noisy child?”
“No. Not at all.” Even in the time before Avice had come along, I hadn’t been a noisy child. I’d… behaved.
“So… why?”
Sipping my water delayed having to answer, but still didn’t give me one. “I don’t know. So I wouldn’t disturb others?”
“Do you have things to say that are disturbing?”
“Probably.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, head tilting again. “So you held in the sound of your pain for… my sake? And for the people in the halls outside?”
I shifted, not liking how her questions made me feel foolish or how raw my nerves were in the wake of her test. “I… I suppose so.”
Bastian’s warnings swam into my consciousness, but too late. I’d already given away so much.
“Hmm. Did it serve you to keep quiet?”
I had no answer.
“Or did your silence just serve others and their comfort?”
I gulped the rest of the water, trying to ignore the way her words crept over my skin like a horrible realisation. The bright lights stung my eyes and kept my stomach tight, like my body expected her to strap me down for more. “Are we finished here?”
“Ah, yes.” She sat back, tucking her notebook in her pocket. “I have the data I required. Unfortunately, it means my theory was incorrect. However, there will be more theories…” She patted the pocket. “Especially with what I was able to observe. Fascinating. I’ve never seen a case like yours.” She smiled, and this time it did reach her eyes.
That only made it worse.
My head spun as I rose from the bed and grabbed my coat, but I refused to let that slow me down. I needed to get out of here. Away from the bed, the bright lights, the tray full of bloody instruments, and, most of all, away from Elthea.
I caught sight of myself in the door’s mirrored glass. Pale and ashen—I looked like death. And when I put out my hand to open the door, I flinched at the sight of my fingers, seeing the nerves and bare bone overlaid on the purple skin.
It’s not real. They aren’t like that. She healed me.
Steadying myself on the wall, I nudged the door open with my elbow instead, but her parting words followed me: “I’ll send for you when I have a new test.”
