“It doesn’t matter,” she said softly. “You have to eat. You’ll need your strength.”
The words came unbidden to her lips, and Melanie was surprised to hear the voice that she used for Portia. She ate carefully from the bowl, knowing that she would be unable to clean up any mess she got on her nose or cheeks. She also knew what sort of repercussions there would be if her keeper returned to find her dirty. By the time, she licked the last traces of the stuff from the bowl, what had begun as a rich flavor was cloying and nauseating, threatening to make her gag. She took a deep breath as she finished, licking the last bits of it from her lips as she sat back on her bound ankles.
And then she crawled slowly back to the wall to wait. Leaning back against the concrete, she stretched her legs out
