Chapter 8
The Queen had clearly set up my mother’s torment then waited for me to wake before initiating it. Because a flicker of movement just at the edge of the locket’s field of view looked an awful lot like a set of bronze pinchers.
“Skye, listen to me! This doesn’t change anything.” Aiti’s voice was breathless but insistent. “Feathers grow back. Remember that. I don’t want you to....”
I was left guessing what my mother didn’t want me to do because she never managed to finish her sentence. Instead, her voice rose into a shriek so piercing I felt her pain inside my skin.
She was right. Feathers grew back. Still....
“Stop this!”
“Yes?” The Queen c****d her head, considering me. “Are you ready to obey your monarch?”
I could barely hear the question over the sounds of my mother’s ago
