Page 16 of Born for Silk
The three girls circle me, slashed and marked in purple dust, proud and wild. Their eyes are arrowed, wicked intent sparking.
I feign calm, but my heart thrashes. I hope they cannot see my pulse drumming in my neck. I feel eyes on me from every direction, then heated laughter that seems to collect and tangle together.
“Iris, let’s get this over with,” Lavender says with an intensity that makes my pulse harder to control. “I just want her out. She makes me break my vows. The way he held her today in the parlour.” She huffs. “Jealousy isn’t allowed between Silk Girls.”
Want me out?
“Jealousy?” Iris shoots her heated gaze across the ring to her friend. “You might be jealous. I’m not. I’ve got the nictitating membrane. See?” She bats her lashes and shows the sliding lids. “And my line has never lost a baby. Not once. I’m the prize in this house.”
“Of course,” Lavender agrees tentatively, but Iris isn’t happy with the accusation.
“You.” Iris points at her, and I turn my head to keep up, but their circling makes me dizzy. “You do it, and I’ll make sure he chooses you as well. We can live together as Sired Mothers. I know you’re strong, Lavender. You’ll have Meaningful Purpose.”
Do it… do what?
Just breathe.
I want to run, but that seems even more frightening than staying still. It’ll be over soon. They’ll beat me, maybe? Humiliate me. I can take it.
I’m watching them closely, whipping my head around to keep all three in my sights, when the ground becomes a blur. I stumble, and they lunge for me. Kicking at them isn’t enough.
Ivy grabs my hands and pins them over my head. She leans over me, a smile like a mean rat etched to her lips.
Lavender pins one of my legs, but the other jolts around.
“Hold her down,” Iris orders.
“I’m trying!” Lavender whines.
Ivy kneels on my forearms so she can slap my cheeks, disorientating me enough for Lavender to pin my calves down.
Her weight shoots pain through my bones.
More birds flock from the trees around us, not wanting to watch any more than I want to be here on the ground.
Frantically, I fight them, but they are bigger than me. Taller. Heavier. “Stop it. Stop it.”
“Ugh!” Iris gets annoyed with Lavender’s attempts to control me. “I’ll do it then!”
“What are you going to do?” Ivy asks Iris as she drops down over me, eyes cutting me to bare bones.
“We’re going to ruin her seal of purity. We are going to open her.”
He words crush my bravery.
Blinking heat from my eyes, I refuse to cry. I turn to look at the pond, pleading with every inch of need for my raptor to rear up and protect me.
Be my friend.
He has disappeared. The pond is motionless. A mirror that reflects the swaying branches overhead. Is he real? Maybe I imagined him all this time. Imagined a broken creature in my mind to ward off the loneliness.
“She’ll tell,” Ivy hesitates.
“No, she won’t.” Iris smiles. “Then she’ll be cast out. Wardeness will think she has touched herself and broken her seal. And she will be disgraced.”
I’m shaking so hard it’s impossible to see anything when Iris shoves my dress up and tugs my knickers down. I’m stiff with pathetic fear as she pushes a wooden twig between my legs. The sharp end scrapes along my thighs.
“Get off me!” I scream. I want to gyrate harder, but I’m afraid. Afraid she’ll do more damage. I twist gently to make it harder for her to get inside me.