Dragonfly Refrain by Aimee Moore

Author:Aimee Moore [Moore, Aimee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Servitude

“Karne!” I yelled, reaching deep within me to shake the walls with my fury. “You festering maggot pile!” My nails bit into my palms as rage drove my throat to soreness. I reached for the door handle.

“You’re wasting your breath.”

Letting go, I turned to her. “That snake deserves to die.”

“He’s long gone,” Yasmil said.

“Fine.” I began to fumble at the clasp on my neck.

Yasmil shook her head, folding a cloth of different colors. I rolled the ring around my neck to find a clasp or a hitch. There was only smoothness all around the ring. Panic jolted through me.

I let my hands drop with a rough breath. “I cannot remove it.”

Yasmil gave a slight eye roll. “Of course not.”

“I was naked moments ago, there is a way to get this infernal thing off.”

She set the cloth down and met my gaze. “Have you finished your tantrum yet? I have better things to do than listen to you whine.”

I scowled, digging both hands under the ring and pulling until the back of my neck stung and my left shoulder ached as the shard oozed more blood from the stress.

I sat on a nearby chair with an angry huff, glaring at the woman. “Karne said that you tended to me when he brought me here. That means that you dressed me and put one of these around my neck the first time.”

“I can put them on, but not take them off. Only Karne can do that.”

“Of course,” I muttered. Then I slouched and shook my head. I just wanted Dal back. “Do you know where my things went?” I asked.

“You were adorned in many things when you arrived. Parchment, glass, burning pieces of leather, and charred wool. Specify.”

“I had wool garments for staving off the cold. And a necklace.”

Yasmil pursed her lips. “Hmm.” Then she rose and went to a large cabinet on the wall, opening it to reveal small drawers. She pulled the second drawer out and leaned in to it. Really far into it. Her entire upper body was now in the drawer.

Then she resurfaced with—my heart skipped a beat—my necklace, dangling it with a curl of her lip. “This?”

“Yes,” I breathed.

Yasmil tossed it at me without care. “I almost threw it out; it’s so simple I didn’t think it was worth anything.”

I clutched the whorled shell to me, letting its rough string dangle. “You people don’t know value when you see it.”

Yasmil gave me a contemptuous smirk. “I see a lot of things that would make you question your idea of value.”

“It was a gift,” I muttered, running my finger over the whorl of my shell. Looking upon it brought me back to the diamondesque sand, the moon sparkling on the endless waves of the sea. Dal’s touch.

“You’ll need a room I suppose, since against my better judgment, Karne has decided to keep you.”

“My wool clothes. I want them,” I said, looping the necklace string over my head.

“They didn’t make it. You barely made it.”

“You mean I am to walk around in only this?” I asked, gesturing to the offensive kerchief wrapped around my body.

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