Nobody's Lady by Amy McNulty

Author:Amy McNulty [McNulty, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: teen, young adult, historical, romance, fantasy, paranormal
ISBN: 9780996890458
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC
Published: 2016-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

***

Jurij didn’t come home—didn’t come back to my home—that night. Or the night after. For the second morning in a row, I carved at the table in my shack, my blade moving too fast without my attention. I sliced the tip of my finger, cursing as I dropped the half-formed wooden cow on the table. Rushing to the basin, I tipped a bit of the water out of the nearby bucket to wash the blood away. My finger stung as I washed it clean of the blood, only for it to ooze out in red again seconds later.

Blood on the chest of Elric, the man who so looked like Ailill. There was nothing, and then there was a pool of blood.

I grabbed a rag and twisted it around my finger, pulling it tight and wincing at the pain. I clearly had no idea how to fix this. Ingrith once told me, right here in this room, about a man who’d been a “healer.” Only she didn’t mean “healer” like the men from Ailill’s village, who had a power I still couldn’t explain. She meant someone who fixed your wounds and tended to your illnesses, but without the violet glow. Without the assistance of something I didn’t understand pouring out from his fingers.

Little Ailill cradling my face to remove the bruise from the slap. Little Ailill taking my pain away after the stocks.

When I was so cold to him during my first night in the castle, what was going through that same person’s head?

“This will be your room.” He nodded toward the nearest specter, who seemed to read his intent as he went to the window and pulled back the drapes. I expected to see dust flying, but it was annoyingly pristine. “You may let the light in as you please.”

Thank you for the instruction on how to push aside drapes. I scoffed loudly. But I was determined not to speak to him.

Ailill stiffened just slightly, but I was too concerned with seeing the prison hidden beneath the extravagantly plush bed and the shimmering baubles before the mirror. A mirror. I’d even have my own mirror! I squashed that feeling of gratitude and wonder as soon as I felt it.

He took you from your home. Against your will. Isn’t he supposed to do what you want him to do? He refused to help your mother when you needed help the most.

I pushed past the specters and back into the hallway.

“Are you hungry?” Ailill asked, appearing at my side. “I have instructed a meal to be ready as soon as we have finished our tour.”

I stopped in my tracks, not sure what would be worse, dining with him or continuing on this tour of his extravagances. Probably the former. I’d never eaten with a masked man before, let alone one who was so good at getting my blood boiling. Besides, I wasn’t hungry. I couldn’t imagine being hungry ever again. I shrugged.

Ailill joined his hands behind his back. “This castle … displeases you?”

You displease me, not the castle.

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