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We stop, and I follow his lead and sit down on the giant guest child, but he’s all I have" His kind geriatric face is back If I didn’t know better, I’d pity him

But when I put my arm around him in comfort, I’m fully aware that he’s not to be trusted

"Fro tire-lessly on an antidote I have an ever-rotatingin a laboratory as we speak I will find an antidote within four years"

And if not, then what? I try to fight off a thought that Cecily’s baby will becoone

He patsto have a healthy lifespan And so are his wives You will have a real lifeti Linden out of the darkness that Rose left hioing to becoain, and you’ll be on his ar you can dream of for years and years"

I don’t knohy he’s saying these things toto nauseateout for his son? Or has he soht intothan usual

"Do you understand what I’?" he asks

"Yes," I say "I do"

When our parents died, our base up fro our food

They were too sot the idea to poison the soda and left it in puddles on the floor I didn’t think it would work, but it did While it was e circles and then collapse I could hear its little whinnying noises, could see its feeble twitching This went on for what felt like hours before it died Rowan’s experihn is giving me a choice Here I can live in this house where he’s dissecting Linden’s dead wife and child for an antidote that doesn’t exist Here I can die in four years and our bodies will all be experi wife at ritzy parties, and that will be ony

I think of Vaughn’s words for the rest of the day He smiles at me across the dinner table I think of the dead rat

But by nightfall, I force Vaughn’smyself that once I’m in bed, I will think only of my home--how to return to it, and what it looks like Whatto this place

Nobody in this hts, except for when I remind myself that Linden, even with his mild manner, is the enemy He has stolen me from my twin, ht, when I’m alone, I think of my brother, who fro in front of er would have to hit hiun in hand, after he shot that Gatherer and saveded to each other, ourus to hold on

These thoughts build night after night, when I’m most alone in this mansion of spouses and servants, and for a few hours I’m able to separate myself from this fake life No matter how lonely it makes me, and no matter hoide and horrific the loneliness, at least I reht, whileinto sleep, I hear Linden closein But he’s a thousandMy hter fills the roo a Mozart sonata in Gthat’s tangled around h like what he’s saying is crazy, but the sound doesn’t come, and he won’t raise his eyes tofor you, he says I won’t ever stop If it kills ht here," I say

"You’re drea to my brother Linden has buried his face into the curve ofthat isn’t there And I know the truth, that if I open my eyes, I’ll see the dark bedroom in my lavish prison But I don’t try to free my mind of its hazy state, because the disappointment is too much to take

I feel the daasps And I know he has been dreahts are often too lonely He kisses my hair and wraps an arm around me I allow it No, I want it Need it Eyes closed, I lay my head to his chest for the forceful thud-thud of his heart

I want to be hter But sometimes it’s too painful

My captor pulls me toward hi

In theI awaken to Linden’s breath at the nape ofaway from him, and he’s pressed to my back with his ar to wake hiht At what point does this good wife act stop being an act? How long before he tells me he loves me, and expects ree?

No That will never happen

I try to fight it, but Vaughn’s voice floods intoyou can dream of for years and years

I can have this I can be Linden’s bride, in Linden’s mansion Or I can run, as far and as fast as I can And I can have a shot at dying with my freedom

Three days later, when the next hurricane alarh the screen in my bedroom