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The next morning, I woke up in a world of pain - both my eyes were swollen shut, and I was stiff and sore all over. My whole body was a jellied mass of pain, and I could barely walk. I managed to feel my way to the bedroom door by touch, but when I tried the knob, it wouldn't budge, and I groaned. Either Patience had cottoned on to me, or my sisters were just being spiteful. The latter seemed likely, and I hobbled back to sit on my bed, wishing I was dead. I also rather badly needed to pee, and I feared that my sisters would make me wait, or force me to go here in my room, like Mary had done long ago.
I didn't have long to wait; the door crashed open, and I winced as I felt my hair seized. "You're a disgrace," Patience snapped, hauling me to my feet. "If you hadn't deceived us, none of this would have happened. You've only yourself to blame for the state you're in. And yes, you are to blame for your injuries. Truth be told, you got off lightly."
I winced, but Patience slapped me hard across the face. "No," she said. "You brought this on yourself. This is all your fault, and you are not allowed to feel bad about it. In fact, you're grateful, aren't you?"
"Yes," I muttered. I got another slap in response.
"I said, you're grateful, aren't you?" Patience snapped.
I opened my mouth to repeat my answer, before realising Patience actually wanted me to repeat her words back to her. I felt sick, got another slap, and had to concede this battle. "I'm grateful," I muttered.
Patience sighed as she dragged me into the bathroom. "You're a disgrace," she muttered. "Why you were never drowned at birth astounds me. Get in the bloody shower before I rectify that mistake."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWREkK95PFK
I struggled to get my clothes off, not helped by Patience's caustic commentary in the background, and by trial and error, I got myself in the shower and under the scalding hot water. My attempt to close the curtain was halted by a sharp blow to my hand, and I felt humiliation scorch me from head to toe. "No," Patience said, her voice glass-edged with anger. "If I have to force you to drop your fake woe-is-me act, you're going to get a beating that will make yesterday's seem like a love-tap in comparison. Do you understand me?"
"I understand," I said, trying hard to suppress the sheer revulsion beating at me to be let out
"No, you don't." Patience let her actions do the talking after that as she hauled me out of the shower by my hair and slammed me to the floor. I cried out as she struck all the tender spots she and her sisters had inflicted on me yesterday, but while her fists and feet hurt, the words she hurled at me stung even more, until I was left a broken, bloody, bruised and sobbing mess on the floor. Patience delivered one final kick to my cracked ribs, and I screamed in pain, only to get another kick to the head which left me seeing stars. "Now do you understand?" she snarled. "You brought all this on yourself. If you'd just been obedient and grateful, none of this would have happened. You are the reason this happened. This is all your fault. And if I've got to beat you black and blue every day, by God, I will do it. And don't think you can get away with deceiving me as you did before. I can get right down to the very core of you, and if I've got to give you nightmares to further keep you on the straight and narrow, I will. Faith wants to keep you alive for some God-forsaken reason, but she never said you had to be in one piece. I'd prefer you in several pieces, to be quite frank, but Faith is the alpha, so I've got to defer to her. Now get up and finish your shower."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrHONp53z7
I scrambled awkwardly to my feet, but this time, Patience kept her hands and her filthy words to herself, and I was able to finish my shower in relative peace. Faith arrived as I was towelling myself off, and the anger coming from her was an almost physical presence. I feared she was going to add to the damage; instead, she rounded on Patience. "The hell is wrong with you?" she snapped. "You've about rendered her incapable of the most basic functions!"
"She brought it on herself," Patience snapped. "You can take charge of her if you don't like my methods. Besides, she's still not broken. She insists on feeling sorry for herself when she brought all this on herself in the first place!"
Faith groaned. "You're a stupid fool," she said. "Get out of my way." She took my arm with a surprisingly gentle hand and guided me out of the bathroom. I refused to believe it was sisterly concern which drove her seemingly changed attitude towards me, and once I'd been settled back in bed with hot packs and ice packs applied to all the abused areas, she proved me right. "I'm not advocating for you because I care," she said. "I just don't believe in beating a dog until it can scarcely walk. My sister lacks, well, patience, as you can see, and she doesn't like the way you fooled her into believing you were our pliant little creature."
I kept silent, and Faith continued. "The point is, we now have to waste precious time healing you, when we could be busy making alliances. Patience is right on one score; you brought all this on yourself. But I'm not going to stand by and let her beat you into a bloody mess. I'll be taking over your watch, but don't think you're going to get it any easier under my control. I can do much more damage than all my sisters combined. Now go to sleep. I'll use some of my wolf's energy to undo the worst of the damage, but for now, rest is going to be the key. But this is a one-time thing; if you piss me off in the future, I'll let Patience tear you limb from limb, and you can recover on your own without any help." So saying, she walked out, slamming the door shut behind her, and, once I was assured I wouldn't cop backlash, I let a few silent tears fall. 92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWffTexBO1m
Faith meant what she said, and as I let sleep claim me, I found myself wishing for Patience's brutal, but less harmful treatment. It was a sad state of affairs when you wished for physical abuse rather than the promised mental scourging Faith had in store, and as sleep took over, I wondered how long it would be before I broke.
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