Bend Her novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: What He Counts at Night

Ansel's POV

I did not sleep that night, and I had not expected to.

I sat at the table in my study with a blank report under my claws and a pen in my left hand, which was the wrong hand for a pen.

The report had to be signed by both of us.

I wrote that the princess had learned to freeze a bowl of water in a single day.

I crossed it out.

Gisborne read every word that left the Hollow, and he would take that sentence and weigh it.

I wrote that the princess was a slow student and showed little promise.

That was a lie, and I had promised her I would not tell her any.

I had not promised her I would not tell Gisborne.

I signed it and set it by the window for the crow.

Then I stood and unbuttoned my shirt.

The fire was low.

I held a candle to my chest and counted the rings.

They ran in thin black circles around the mark over my heart.

There were seven of them.

When she had come to me this morning there had been six.

I touched the new one with a claw, and the skin around it burned.

Seven.

I had counted six every night for twelve years, and the number had never moved.

She had been inside my walls for one day.

I buttoned the shirt again with hands that were not quite steady.

Down in the cellar something shifted against its chains.

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