Blood for her Crown

Chapter Thirty-Seven

(TW: mention of r@pe)

Grace

She was finally alone. Her father had left a few minutes ago, quickly dismissing her crumbled, shaking body.

It was the fourth day of being locked inside her childhood bedroom. He had come every day, the last two days twice, to destroy her to his liking. It wasn't that time of the month and still she was bleeding all over the sheets.

At first she had been crying. After some time, she'd found that there were no more tears to cry and had instead gone numb, which was a relief. The only thing that kept her from breaking her mirror and slashing her own throat was the feeling of not feeling anything. She couldn't deny that she had considered that option many times before. She had considered it even as a child, when she finally realized the full meaning of what he had done to her. The easy way out. But she kept begging herself not to give up, and now she was back where she used to be.

She promised herself, as she was lying there in her blood, that she would not let him corner her into taking the quick and simple way out. It didn't work like that. If something physically or mentally stood in her way, she would conquer it and not give up. She'd never done it before, and now wasn't the time to start.

And so she decided to wait. Jamie knew what to do. Her brother had most likely informed them of her failure, so they should have left by then. Her best friend was the only person who could convince the man who was her only hope to help her. They'd come eventually, and in the meantime, she'd have to keep herself stone cold. She wouldn't fight back anymore; it would only make it worse. She would not keep begging him to stop since she knew he wouldn't. Instead, she would faze out during those hours, pretending she was somewhere else and not being raped by her own father. No, in her mind she was sitting on Jysra's back, flying across fields and meadows, or playing cards with Jamie, or even laughing with Aderah and Tanner over something Jamie had done.

That way, she could get through it. She would.

Her arm and the wound at her side had been healed on the second day. Not because she had been bleeding out, but because he was disgusted by the mess it made. He knew the injuries would fix themselves quickly enough, but apparently he couldn't wait this long.

That day, he'd dragged a healer along with him—an elderly woman she hadn't recognized. The woman could hardly stand on her own and relied on a cane for assistance. Grace knew she was aware of what had happened to her from the moment she went through the door and saw her lying on the mattress. And for that, she likely paid with her life.

She had completed her task swiftly but thoroughly. The bones in her arm and leg were back in place, the wound in her side was sewn up, and the one in her thigh had only taken a minute to close. Her father had pushed her out and gone with her before she could examine Grace's wrists. Half an hour later, he had returned with a few stains of blood on his collar.

After lying there for a few more minutes, she tried getting up to go to the bathroom. Every movement was agonizing to endure, especially between her legs. As she staggered toward the door in the back of her room, she didn't bother putting her torn pants back on. Nobody would come to see her anyway.

It had taken her one entire minute to cross the fifteen feet between her bed and the other room. She felt like she was about to vomit after nearly every step.

She just barely recognized herself as she reached the mirror, which hung above a large bowl of fresh water. All of the progress she had made to rid herself of the traumatized and hollow-eyed child she used to be was now gone. She looked like she had never left this place. Her eyes appeared dull, and no matter how hard she tried to bring them back to life, they remained empty.  The black circles beneath them didn't help matters. Her dark hair, which clung to the sides of her thin, bony face, was a tangled mess. Once healthy and shiny, now little more than a sorrowful curtain to hide behind.