2. Chapter

Corin

After the incident in the laundry room, there was no time to cry. I quickly scrubbed myself under the freezing tap, trying to wash the coffee grounds out of my hair, then ran to the kitchen. There was no stopping here. The Silver Stone pack had enormous appetites, and serving breakfast was one of the most stressful times of the day.

I worked like a machine all morning. I carried heavy cast iron pots, peeled sacks of potatoes, and tried to stay invisible. My shoulder screamed with pain at every movement, the bruise Lumi had caused pulsing beneath my clothes. I only saw my mother from a distance. She was polishing silverware at the far end of the kitchen. Our eyes met once. Silent worry filled her gaze, but she could not come to me. If she spoke to me during work, the head cook, a cruel beta woman, punished her immediately.

By afternoon, the air in front of my eyes shimmered from exhaustion. The kitchen floor was slick with spilled water and grease.

“Corin! Bring that bowl here, now!” Martha, the head cook, shouted.

I had to carry a huge porcelain bowl filled with hot meat broth to the serving table. Steam burned my face, and the weight nearly tore my inflamed shoulder apart. Just five steps. Just five damn steps.

It happened on the third.

My foot slipped on a greasy patch. I tried to steady myself, but a sharp stab of pain shot through my shoulder and my grip failed. The bowl smashed into the stone floor with a deafening crash. Hot broth splattered everywhere, and the porcelain shattered into a thousand pieces.

The kitchen fell so silent I could hear the fire crackling in the oven. My blood froze.

“You… you useless, clumsy mongrel!” Martha’s voice boomed like a cannon. She stormed toward me and, before I could react, slapped me across the face. My head snapped back, and my lip split open instantly.

“I’m sorry, Martha… I slipped…” I stammered, kneeling among the shards.

“Your apologies won’t pay for the bowl or bring back lunch!” she snarled. “I’ve had enough of your worthless work. An example must be made. Guards!”

Two massive wolves stepped out of the shadows. They said nothing. They grabbed my arms and yanked me to my feet. I saw my mother in the background, her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs. She knew that if she intervened, they would kill her too.

They dragged me to the back courtyard, where punishments were carried out. They chained my wrists to a worn, blood stained wooden beam. My arms were pulled above my head, my feet barely touching the ground. Every breath was agony for my stretched back.

“Corin, the half blood. Offense: damage of property and negligence,” one guard said without emotion. “Punishment: ten lashes.”

I closed my eyes and bit down on my lip. Don’t scream, Corin. Don’t give them that pleasure.

The first strike stole my breath. The leather lash tore across my back, right where Lumi had injured me yesterday. It felt like being burned with a red hot iron. My body jerked violently against the chains.

The second. The third. The fourth.

Pain flooded my mind like red fog. After every crack, I felt my clothes soak with warm blood. My back no longer just hurt. It burned. By the sixth lash, a strangled moan tore from my throat. After the tenth, my head dropped forward, powerless.

“We’re done,” the guard said, casually unfastening the chains.

My body collapsed into the mud. I tasted blood and bile in my throat. I thought they would help me up, or at least take me to the infirmary, but I only heard their boots as they walked away.

“Clean your back before you return to the kitchen. I don’t want you bleeding all over the floor,” Martha tossed over her shoulder as the door closed behind her.

I lay there on the cold ground, alone, like a hit animal. My back throbbed, every nerve screaming. No one came out. No one asked if I was still alive. Laughter and the clatter of dishes drifted from the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

With great effort, I pushed myself up. My clothes stuck to the open wounds, tearing them open again with every movement. I looked into the puddle in front of me. A broken, bloodied girl stared back, but deep in my eyes, in the darkness, something had changed.

Glacier… I thought desperately. Please, Glacier, hurry. I can’t take this anymore.

But Glacier was nowhere to be found.

There was only silence, and the warmth of blood seeping from my back into the freezing evening air.