The word still stood in the hall, and Linnea's hands had stopped shaking. That was the only good thing left.
Blood was drying on her chin, and nobody in the pack offered her a cloth.
Verity came down from the high table with her cup still in her hand and her hair shining under the lamps.
Verity: Look at her. Standing there like she won something.
Verity: I can have a boat put out for you tonight. Or a sled, if the ice holds.
Verity: There is a town across the lake. They take anyone. Nobody there knows what you are.
It sounded like kindness. It was a door closing.
The lake was black and wide, and Linnea had never once crossed it.
Linnea: And if I don't want the boat?
Verity: Then there is the other way.
Verity: A place in my house. You scrub pots, you carry water, you sleep by the fire.
Verity: You keep your head down and you never speak to my mate. Most would give you less.
Laughter ran along the tables. Somebody made a sound like a dog being called.
Torren: Take it. It is more than you deserve.
Torren did not look at her eyes. He looked at the blood on her chin and then away.
An hour ago his mouth had been on hers. Her lips still remembered it.
Torren: You felt nothing. Whatever you think you felt, it was nothing.
It went into her like a fall on ice, low and hard.
The bond was real. She was not stupid, and she was not mad.
He just wanted it gone, and he wanted her gone with it.
She looked for her mother by the door.
Siv turned her face away and pulled the shawl up over her chin.
Siv: Do what the lady says.
The whole pack was watching, and they were waiting to see her crawl.
Her face burned. Her hands wanted to shake again.
She thought about the boat and the black water, and how easy it would be.
Then a bench scraped hard on the floor.
Jessa pushed out of the crowd with her apron twisted in both fists.
Jessa: No.
Jessa: She is not getting in any boat tonight.
Jessa: She will not face this alone. Not while I am standing in this hall.
The pack turned and looked at Jessa instead of her.
Verity: Careful, Jessa.
Verity: Friends of a thing like her get the same name.
Jessa: Then say it out loud. I'll wait.
Jessa's eyes went to Verity first. Then they came back, soft and warm.
Gratitude rose in Linnea so fast it made her dizzy.
Jessa: I've got you. Breathe.
Linnea wiped her chin with the back of her hand. The blood came away dark.
Something in her chest went hard and would not soften.
Linnea: I'm not getting in the boat.
Linnea: And I won't sleep by anyone's fire like a dog.
Verity: Then you will take the servant's place.
She said it like it was already done, like Linnea had agreed to something.
Torren's hand closed on the back of a chair, and the wood creaked.
Jessa: Come on. Walk out with your head up.
Linnea walked. Her legs were cold and slow, but she did not look at the floor.
Behind her, Torren said nothing at all, and that was the worst part.