The Lullaby of Wolfbane
“Discipline is what you have when your body refuses to cooperate.”
The instructor’s eyes narrow slightly, as if she can’t decide whether to punish me or respect me. “Back to your place.”
I return to Tessa and Briar, heart hammering.
Tessa squeezes my hand under the line of our skirts. “You did great.”
Briar murmurs, “They want you to snap.”
“Not today,” I whisper.
But the day isn’t done trying.
After etiquette comes compound chores again, rotated and supervised. It’s “humility,” they claim, but it feels like a sorting mechanism, an easy way to keep us tired, compliant, and too busy to form alliances that don’t serve the Crown.
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