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Raw screaritted teeth as she lashed ain This time when she finished my back, she twisted me around and flick by flick, she lashedblood Finally, when she was done, I laid still withMy eyes stared blankly as no thought or pain registered in my mind My lips were cracked, and parted Breaths that were too sht back I could not allow her to win Slick red blood clung to my cheek and caked in s crossed, looking down at me with contempt

“It was for your own good,” she said I did not answer I did notYour senses are the first thing he’ll use against you There isn’t anything he won’t do There is nothing he won’t try And Kreturus will do everything within his power to utterly destroy you That is ein a pool of usted “Go Go hoain until you have healed”

My eyes fell shut, and the world was no more

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It felt like there were bricks on top ofthem one by one I tried to breathe, but it was so hard Words whispered in my ear, and arms around my back made me wince I couldn’t help it I wasn’t able to disconnectto call the Hellsflame showed her that I couldn’t It didn’tmattered in that moment

Pressure ainst my brow My eyelids felt like one piece They would not separate My mind slipped back, away from the voice—away from the pain The darkness surrounded me, but the voice called It spoke my name, “Ivy Ivy Ivy,” like the drip of a faucet It called softly Over and over again The voice didn’t rest The hand on my brow didn’t stop “Ivy Ivy Ivy”

I slipped away into dreams that held no release Pain still caused my bones to ache, and my body to tremble “Ivy,” the voice called And this ti on my bed in the old church A wet cloth was in his hand, and he was dabbing irl Come on, now Open your eyes You can’t leave yet, Ivy We’re not done That’s right, Ivy… Open those eyes Come on”

I tried to s, but azed at Eric I didn’t speak I couldn’t speak

“There you are,” he said softly, looking down atit as he went “So, you decided to come back after all?” he smiled, but it faded from his lips too fast The hatred was hidden I couldn’t see it in his eyes and it didn’t exist in his touch Eric pressed the towel into a bowl of water on the table next to my bed, and twisted it in his hands Water trickled out of the cloth and back into the bowl Then he pressed it to ain

“Eric?” I moaned

His eyes locked onto old coins, perfectly round “Don’t speak I don’t knohat happened to you, but soonna wake up You’re covered in… I don’t know, but you’re still bleeding There are welts all over you” He lifted the wet cloth from my face, and placed it in the bowl As he soaked it ater and rung it out, he hesitated, leaving his hands over the bowl He didn’t look back at me “I remember this, from before” His voice was different, distant “You on the forest floor, crying in my arms when you woke up But this time, you didn’t wake up” He turned toward me Eric’s eyes slid over my face to my torso He pressed his eyes closed, then looked at ain “This time, you bled as you laid there You screamed It was as if sory, “Who did this?”

Lowering my eyelids, I blinked once slowly My h to form words “I can’t tell you” My throat was parched and scraping as I tried to speak Eric stiffened His eyes moved away from et his attention I would have placed it on top of his I would have said things, but it was all I could do to raise a finger He saw, and turned his head back to ain Otherwise,” I rasped, “I’d tell you”

Eric took a deep breath, and pressed two fingers to the pinched place between his eyes When he looked back atthat made me feel safe He cleared his throat, “I can heal most of these You would have been able to do it yourself, but whoever did this to you pushed you too far Ivy, do you understand? They would have killed you if I wasn’t here I took your half dead body and carried you into your room”

“Like before,” I whispered, trying to suppress a moan My body felt like it had been torn to bits and sole place on ony, and my mind knew this even if I didn’t feel it completely

“H to reer knew

My eyelids crept lower, aze “Like before” The world went black

——

When I awoke, I felt different Like the walls that held my emotions back were re-erected and firmly in place My body throbbed, but it was a distant echo in the back oftime, I didn’t move or speak