Harring

tched, freezing the air in t

tares of the other girls. My fingers were still wet from the

gaze, my expression neither subserv

e contact and turned

e like chipping ice, "the punishment

collapsed to the floor. "No! Matron!

three days without food," Matron

ng Tessa out like a sack of refuse.

me now, their expressions had changed completely. Pity and s

ck to me. "Your tunic i

lowed her obediently. Cora shot me a worried glance,

he took a clean, though old, gray slave's tunic from a shelf.

n turned her back to me, gra

quickly changed into the clean clothes. The fabric was coarse,

d suddenly, her back still to me. "

Matron," I answered quietly, ma

the rules are made by the strong. But knowing how to use

e once more. "You. You are Haylee Harrington.

heir identities, she was allowing me to keep mine. Thi

ee Harrington," she said, t

ning inside me. I had won the first round, but the price

y the other girls looked at me confirmed it.

credible," she whispered. "To ac

my rag to continue working. I kne

er me. I completed my tasks quietly, observing eve

to me again, her gaze would occasionally linge

her new slaves. It wasn't my intention, but now that it

had happened. I told her I was fine and shared half of

lping me?" Cora

" I said softly. It was a lesson I'd learned in my past

d with thoughts of the future. I had to figure out a way to secure the

could also push me into even greater da