Chapter 39
Cassie
There are cameras in all the client rooms. Cassie pointed to the blinking red dot in the leftmost corner of the room.
“For us, or for them?” Rhea asked.
Both, I think.
Rhea’s small hand found hers as Cassie led her out of the room.
Cassie sat at the workbench bending flowers out of wire while ?rim went around their home and collected all the visibly sharp objects, locking them away in his desk.
He wasn’t subtle about it. She knew what he was doing.
She knew why he was doing it. Cassie decided it was best to pretend it wasn’t happening.
They’d had an argument that morning about clipping her nails even shorter. ?rim was not handling her refusal well.
Then there was the holofeed he’d installed in the main room.
He insisted it was an additional safety measure in case anyone tried to enter their home, but she knew why it was really there.
She couldn’t even argue with him about it.
He was afraid. He was afraid because of her, because of what she’d been hiding.
That’s what cameras were for, after all, to keep you safe. She’d heard the explanation before.
One of the flowers snapped, the sharp wire edge poking into the pad of her first finger. She kept the pain to herself, even as a single drop of blood fell onto the table. Cassie swiped it away before ?rim had a chance to notice.
Her arms itched. Cassie reached under the bandages to try and deal with the maddening discomfort, but ?rim’s hands were around hers before she had a chance.
“Don’t scratch. I’ll give you some anti-itch cream.” He examined her bandages. Cassie winced as he noticed the spot of blood she’d wiped up from the table. “Are you bleeding again?”
“Accident.” She showed him her first finger, the tiny pinprick where she’d poked herself with the wire.
“You need to be careful, aoseria.” ?rim tapped his wrist nodes together and then went to get the medical kit. He changed out her bandages and applied a thick layer of anti-itch cream. While he sat in front of her, quietly attentive, Cassie frowned.
The scratches aren’t deep. I’ve never bandaged them before.
“Just humor me. I don’t want them to get infected.”
Cassie sighed. She knew this was how he would react if he found out, which was why she’d tried so hard to keep it hidden.
“Do you need anything?”
I’m fine.
“Let me know if you do.” ?rim finished tying off the last of her bandages and then went back to scouring their home for dangers.
Cassie dropped her flowers, interest gone. He didn’t trust her to stay alive anymore. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to stay alive anymore, but his distrust cut much deeper than her own.
Hunger pangs sent her to the kitchen area, where she rummaged in the cold storage.
Cassie found a ressi fruit and searched for the peeler she’d need to remove the thick rind.
It was gone. ?rim had hidden not only the knives but also anything with a vaguely sharp or pointed edge.
But then he’d left the autoslicer on the counter, which was arguably just as sharp.
Cassie puffed out with frustration and tried to find something else to eat.
She wasn’t about to go beg him for her peeler back.
She settled instead for a processed protein bar.
It was tasteless and joyless, but at least her stomach stopped complaining.
She also didn’t need anything fancy to open it.
?rim would probably argue it wasn’t a full meal, but how was she supposed to make anything more complicated if all her kitchen tools were gone?
Cassie retreated to the lavatory, wanting an inventory of what else had disappeared from her things.
Her nail clippers were gone, so she couldn’t even trim her nails if she wanted to.
Then the tweezers too. The hair pins Eleri had given her.
All the pills were gone too. Long locked away.
Cassie slammed the storage drawer shut. She couldn’t even say anything in her own defense.
He wasn’t wrong to be afraid of what she might do to herself.
She exited the lavatory and found ?rim waiting for her outside the door. They’d argued about that too. He wanted to put cameras in the lavatory. She told him on no uncertain terms that she’d go to Eleri if he did, which made him agree to drop the issue. But she knew he was uncomfortable.
“Are you alright? Did you have your afternoon meal?”
I’m fine. She was not fine. She was trapped again. The cage had well-meaning bars this time, but it was a cage all the same.