“Get up.”
I jolted awake to a sharp pain in my lower back. Suppressing a moan, I rolled onto my back and pushed down the blanket I was burrowed under. Above me stood Bauchan looking ready to kick me again if I didn’t move fast enough. He liked to kick people when they were down, something I’d learned well during the last two days.
I staggered to my feet, letting the blanket fall to the pallet. Bauchan had visited me once each day in the two days since he’d beaten me unconscious in front of the queen. On his first visit, he’d demanded to know where my parents were after Aibel reported they were nowhere to be found. Laughing at him probably hadn’t been my best move. He’d bashed my head against the door a few times until I nearly blacked out. When I collapsed to the floor, he’d kicked me tw
