Estella Valehollow's Arc

Chapter 9 of 11

Estella climbed the winding stair before dawn to check the cage. She told herself she only wanted to see the bait was still breathing. Penny sat against the iron bars with the thin blanket pulled to her chin. Her lips were blue at the edges. Estella turned to go. Then the child spoke through the bars, soft and certain. "You sing it the same way he does." Estella stopped on the top step. Her hand tightened on the cold rail. She did not turn around yet. Penny went on, smaller now. "Mama says when I'm scared I should hold my bear. I left him at the house. Can I have something? I'm so cold. I'm so hungry." Estella stood a long moment. Then she turned back. She took off her own cloak and pushed it through the bars. She went down to the hall, warmed bread and milk at the hearth, and carried it up. She unlocked the cage. Penny did not run. Estella sat on the stone floor and watched the child eat. From her pack she pulled a small white plush bear, one she had taken from the stone house and forgotten she carried. She set it in Penny's lap. The girl held it tight. Estella locked the cage again, but softer this time. The bait was still set. The trap was still hers. But her hands were shaking, and she knew Adrian would find more than ash waiting when he came. Outside the high window, snow began to fall. Estella went down to the courtyard and built a fire close to the wall beneath Penny's chamber. She fed it dry wood and a whisper of heat magic so it would not die in the night. The smoke rose past the iron bars and warmed the stone. She stood in the falling snow and watched the flames. She had wanted Adrian to walk into a cold hall and find a cold child. Now there was bread in the girl's belly and a bear in her arms and a fire burning for her sake. Estella had not lost her purpose. But the shape of it had cracked, and through the crack something old and quiet was looking back at her. She stayed by the fire until her boots were wet through. Then she climbed back to the chamber one last time. Penny was asleep, the bear under her chin, the cloak tucked to her ears. Estella set a bowl of warm soup just inside the bars for when the child woke. She closed the lock without sound. On the stair she pressed her forehead to the cold wall and made herself a new promise. She would still take her reckoning from Adrian. But she would not take it through this child. The cage held a girl, not a weapon, and Estella had felt the difference settle in her chest like a stone she could not put down.