12. Such Devoted Sisters
12
SUCH DEVOTED SISTERS
*Blanca*
“And if you leave this room without my permission one more time,” Mother says as she stands next to her henchman, Ardesia, “you can rest assured I will break your legs so that you cannot leave again.”
The lash hits my upper thighs, my back, my bottom as I stare at the wall above my bed, trying not to cry. The last thing I need is to break down and let her know how badly she’s hurting me.
It’s not the lash so much, although it does sting. But this isn’t the same kind of whip they use in the dungeon–the kind they use on Mr. Blake. This one is leather, but it doesn’t have anything like bits of glass or metal on the end. Nevertheless, after twenty-five lashes, it breaks my skin. I know I’ll have welts and scrapes for the next several weeks.
I keep my eyes focused on the wall as it continues, my arms folded over my breasts. She allows me to wear my bra and underwear while I’m being whipped, but if my arm wasn’t over my breast right now, she’d see the place where Kieran marked me. My arm isn’t thick enough to cover the whole thing, though I’m doing my best.
“Yes, Mother,” I creak out every few seconds. I’m distracted from the pain by my laser focus on keeping the mark hidden.
“Good. I hope you’ve learned your lesson now. That man almost bled to death. I have no idea how you managed to train the mice to follow you about, but it’s disgusting.”
“Yes Moth–”
Before I can finish my statement, I hear another voice. I don’t have to turn my head to know that my sister Candace has entered the room. I thought the whipping was over, but now that she’s here, perhaps Mother will ask her if she’d like a try. None of my siblings have ever been the slightest bit kind to me. I’ve seen Candace giving food to beggars and caring for an injured dog, but she’s actually hissed at me on more than one occasion.
“Mother? What’s going on? Why is Ardesia whipping Sister?”
I can hardly believe my ears. Did Candace just acknowledge that I’m her sister?
“Never you mind, Candace. Get out of here. This is no place for a princess,” our mother says.
“But… she is a princess.” Candace isn’t wrong, even if I haven’t ever been treated like a princess for my entire life.
Mother lets out an exasperated growl. “Blanca is being punished for sneaking out of her room last night and going down to the dungeon. Now, unless you want to take her side and be punished yourself, I suggest you leave the room.”
Candace gasps when she hears what I’ve done. By now, I’m sure word has spread about what happened down there, about how the guards were attacked by the mice. Only my parents and the guards know I was there at the time, and I’d like to keep it that way. If they begin to suspect I can control animals, things will get even worse for me. That’s one of the reasons why I’m not defending myself now. Mother seems to think I trained them somehow, like they are circus animals.
“Let’s go,” Mother insists. “You’d better not leave this room again!” She walks out. I don’t turn my head, but I hear the others leave as well. The door closes and locks into place.
I let out a sigh and drop my arms, finally. I quickly go into my small bathroom and clean my abrasions. Most of them aren’t too bad, but a couple of the welts are already big and puffy. I twist to look at myself in the mirror and finally let the tears slide down my cheeks.
I’m not crying because it hurts, although it isn’t the most comfortable. I’ve been beaten and whipped lots of times before. I’ve had bones broken. I’ve been pushed down stairs, starved, and once Ardesia held my head down in the toilet until I passed out.
I know what it’s like to be punished, even if I’m not sure I’ve done anything wrong until now.
I shouldn’t have gone down there last night. I not only got myself into trouble, but I probably got Mr. Blake into even more serious trouble. I don’t even want to think about what they did to him if they thought he had anything to do with that owl swooping in and attacking the guards.
With my rag of a dress back on, I wipe my nose on some toilet tissue and walk back out into my room. The figure of a person sitting on the edge of my bed startles me at first, but then I realize it’s Candace. Now, I’m just confused.
She holds up the key. “Mother isn’t very good at keeping hold of this.”
I almost laugh, but then, I have no idea why she’s here. It can’t be for anything good. I don’t ask. Instead, I take a few hesitant steps toward her.
Candace is eighteen years old, three years younger than me. Unlike me, she looks so much like the rest of the family it would be possible for people to think she’s Kieran’s twin sister, not me. Of all of my siblings, she’s probably the nicest one, but not to me.
No one is ever nice to me.
So why is she smiling at me and patting the bed now?
“Come join me.” She scoots over a little. “Goodness, your blanket is scratchy.”
I don’t bother to tell her that everything I own is scratchy. Instead, I perch next to her, still wondering what the hell she wants, and ignoring the pain in my backside from the whip.
“How was the Haze?” Her blue eyes look into my dark ones, curiosity dancing there. “I’m sorry you didn’t find your mate. I thought you would.”
I shrug. “It was fine.” It was horrid–the most awful night of my life.
Her head rocks back and forth. “Can you believe Kieran is mated to that awful Nessa?” She laughs. “Serves him right. Let him listen to her nag for the rest of his life.”
My eyebrows furrow as I try to determine if she is just here to gossip or something else.
She continues to talk for a few moments about other people who found their fated mates during the Haze before she returns her attention to me again. “I really thought you’d find him. In fact, I had a dream about it. I dreamt you found your mate, and even though I couldn’t see his face, you thought he was handsome. He was important, I think. And you were finally able to leave this place. You went away with him, and he made you happy. I thought… I thought that would happen.”
I swallow hard, not sure what to say. I’d had similar dreams, though most of mine happened while I was awake. While I was slopping the animals or doing my other chores, I used to daydream about my mate.
Now, those dreams are over, and I have to accept that I’ll be a prisoner here behind these walls forever.
“You see,” my sister continues, “whenever I have a dream like that, they usually come true.”
She has my attention now. “Like that? Like… what?”
“It’s hard to explain,” she admits. “It’s just this feeling I get during certain dreams. That’s how I know it’s not just a dream but a premonition. I had the same dream about you and your mate for several nights in a row, so I was sure you’d find him during the Haze. When you didn’t, well, I was confused.”
Fighting tears, I manage to say, “Well, maybe I’ll find him next time.”
I see her eyes widen as she considers this, blinking a few times. “I guess that’s possible.”
“Just because it didn’t happen this time doesn’t mean that it won’t.” I hate the words that are coming out of my mouth because they are meant to give her hope, a hope I can never have. I can’t find my mate next time because I already found him.
Even though I have no idea how it’s possible.
Taking a leap of faith, I ask my sister something I know I will likely regret. But if she really can see the future sometimes, maybe she can help me decipher a riddle. “Candace, which do you prefer? A world where the impossible is possible or one where the possible is impossible?”
My sister’s eyes bulge as her mouth drops open. “Wh-what?”
I know I’ve messed up. Whatever it is that has her making that face, I’m certain she’s calling for the guards through the mind-link. They’ll be here soon to take me to the dungeon where I’ll be introduced to the real whip.
“N-nothing,” I stammer, shaking my head. “Never mind.”
“No, Sister.” Her hand is warm on my arm. “Why did you ask that? Where did you hear it?”
“In… in a dream,” I lie. “Wh-where did you hear it?”
She takes a deep breath. “Same place.”