Chapter 7
IN THE STREETS in the Harbour District, people tended to be friendly. They said “Good Morning” and asked how you were, and sometimes they would try to chat. Except, Zaina discovered, when you were female and had bruises on your face.
She had woken up in the morning with a headache, and checked her face in the little hand mirror, which was one of the few possessions she had that used to belong to her mother. Her eye had gone black and blue, with a blotch of red underneath her eye that looked like she was crying blood.
So yes, she was quite a sight, and people looked away when she passed, even those who normally greeted her, afraid of attracting the attention of the violent lover who considered her his property. Maybe they thought she’d cheated. Maybe they thought she didn’t do
