CHAPTER THIRTEENHope has Wings
The guard bee’s sting left a spiteful welt on the soft skin of my forearm and I closed my eyes against its sacrifice. An injured lone guard in a devastated hive, it sent me back to the Outer. It shouldn’t have bothered.
I woke to the dull walls of Galveston’s prison and hopelessness flowed through my veins like bile. When the door clicked open, I rose from the bed still wearing my knotted, bloody sheet. It hung from my slender frame revealing silken flesh in a triangle from armpit to floor. Modesty fled during the long night of wretched sobbing and I drew myself up to full height and regarded the visitor without bothering to cover myself. The cut still smarted on my wrist, the blood clotted and messy, but the opening sealed.
“You’re awake.” The dark shadow
