Chapter 36: SuperiorTHE CEILING LOOKS familiar. Home. My bed in Refuge?
“Shake it off,” Cadence says sharply, but from some distance.
I brush her aside and stretch. My muscles are loose and relaxed, with no soreness or bruising. Everything feels excellent. The cool brush of the sheet, the sweet-scented air, and even Cadence’s bad mood serve to accentuate my pleasure.
I raise my hand against the gold-netted light and regard the red-edged splendour of each finger with ponderous fascination. I twirl it over and back, feeling the air, examining the tiny, clear-ridged swirls on the pad of each finger, the darker lines where my fingers bend. They’ve been scrubbed clean. There’s no trace of blood or grime.
“You can’t give in,” Cadence says. “You can’t just let them do this to you.”
It’s not
