Chapter 3 - The Awakening
The water was freezing, but the blood roaring in Lin’s ears was boiling.
The cold liquid pooled in her lap, soaking through the thin blue fabric.
She felt a sudden, sharp kick against her ribs.
Her baby was awake.
Lin’s thumbs gently stroked the soaked fabric over her belly.
Hush, she thought. Just a little longer.
The mocking laughter of the aristocrats washed over her, meaningless static.
A drop of water clung to her heavy eyelashes.
She opened her eyes.
The drop fell, shattering on her knee.
Her dark irises were no longer clouded with endurance.
The submission was gone, burned away by a sudden, glacial clarity.
She stared straight at the ornate double doors at the end of the hall.
Her jaw locked.
A muscle ticked furiously beneath her jawline.
Eleanor, still smirking, leaned against the back of Lin's gold-trimmed chair.
"Look at her," Eleanor sneered to a nearby guest.
"Like a drowned rat waiting for a crumb."
Lin did not turn her head.
She didn't look at the woman in red.
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Instead, she slowly, deliberately unclasped the small clutch resting on the table.
The leather snapped loudly.
