Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Sweat beading my forehead and upper lip, I chewed what was left in my mouth and then took another bite. Again, I dissociated, my thoughts landing on Talon. I let questions roam around my brain …
Why didn’t he speak? What exactly did the Sovereigns do to him as a child? What did he look like in his dragon form? Did he hate wearing human skin?
All the while, I ate.
But then it happened—I tasted actual, honest-to-gods’ shit.
Yeah, I gagged, almost dropping the fruit. It was only then I noticed that my hands were tremoring.
I also noticed that I was almost finished. I had to take only one more bite. If I could finish what was already in my mouth.
“Don’t stop now, Anara, you got this!” Khalida shouted.
Other voices were shouting words of encouragement, too. Some at me, some at others. Beneath that were the sounds of hurling, sobbing, whimpering, spitting, and swearing.
You’re almost done.
Yes, I was. But … I couldn’t dissociate this time as I chewed, couldn’t distance myself from the taste—it was just so utterly sickening that it clung to my attention.
It’s not real, you’re not eating shit, it’s just fruit.
I told myself that over and over, forcing myself to chew and chew. Somehow, some way, I managed to swallow what was left in my mouth.
One last bite, come on, do it.
I didn’t hesitate. Preparing myself for the worst, I bit down. As always, the first taste was pure perfection. It changed faster this time—going bitter and acidic, turning thick and gritty. It was like eating vomit. Clotted, chunky, grainy vomit that kept switching from hot to cold.
I chewed hard and fast, drumming my heels on my floor, fisting my free hand, swearing viciously in my head.
And then it was gone. Swallowed. Finished. All that was left was the core.
I sagged back in my chair, sweating and shaking and on the verge of puking.
People gathered around my chair but I didn’t open my eyes, too focused on attempting to keep down what I’d somehow eaten.
“Good girl,” said Khalida, taking the apple core from my hand. “You did it.”
Later, I’d be proud of that. Right now, my sole concern was that I could still at any moment start hurling.
“Here,” said Khalida. “Drink.”
Opening my eyes, I saw that she held a water pouch. With a shaky hand, I gratefully took it and sipped at the liquid. It was blessedly cool and fresh. “Thank you.”
She squeezed my shoulder. “I know from personal experience that you feel like a sack of crap right now, but once you feel better—”
“If she feels better,” Soule cut in.
I frowned. “What?”
Khalida winced. “Eating the apple was only the first part of it. Now your body needs to digest the ichor. Assuming it can.”
Unease pricked at me. “How will I know if it has?”
She scratched her neck. “Well, um, you won’t—”
There was a loud bang as someone nearby toppled off their chair and knocked over their bucket. I saw his pale face, his eyes wide open and unseeing.
“—die,” Khalida finished. “You won’t die.”
I exhaled heavily and mumbled, “Great.”
The urge to vomit didn’t pass as the hours went by, but it swiftly became the least of my problems. I turned feverish first, my skin all hot and sticky. The chills soon took over, making my teeth chatter and my body shiver almost violently.
Throbbing aches invaded my joints. Vicious cramps twisted my stomach. My skin became so hypersensitive that just the faint feel of sweat on my flesh felt like claws were raking over it.
A pounding headache crept up on me soon after. It felt like someone was burying an ax in my skull over and over. The pain was so bad that it took my breath away and made me feel sicker than I already did.
Aside from the water I was allowed to sip, no one gave me anything to help with the pain or nausea or anything else—only those who quit got help. I had to simply sit on the godsdamn chair right there in the courtyard as I silently prayed to Hellyne for it to quickly pass.
Except it didn’t.
It dragged on and on.
I was distantly aware of Khalida, Quillen, Jelani, and some others murmuring more words of encouragement to me. None held my attention—I was in my own private hell.
A hell that soon became so much worse.
It was like I mentally fell. Dropped into a memory. I stood in my old home, staring down at my parents with gut-rolling sadness. Both were dead, their skin gray and papery-thin, their bodies covered in warts and boils and patches of decay caused by the plague that stole their lives.
Then they were in the pit with the other corpses. Fire erupted around them, consuming their bodies, forcing the stench of burned flesh up my nose and down into my lungs. The fire faded … and then the whole scene went poof. Disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reformed into another scene.