29. Give up

After being mocked by the servants and Lily, I run off to the backyard to wipe off the smelly eggs from my body. Tears stream down my face as I look at my stained clothes and skin, Zane would never allow such things to happen to me if he was here.

“You have to be strong, Cora. All we have to do is find a way to connect with Maritsa and defeat Maeve… easy peasy,” I murmur to myself.

I pick a dry rag and soak it in clean water, then massage it on my skin to clear the stains but they don’t come off.

“You need a hot bath if you want those stains to come off,” a voice says from behind me.

“Alma?” I am dumbfounded to see Alma smiling comfortably at me, so weird.

“Cora, it’s been a while,” she says.

We sit on the grass to discuss. It is surprising to see how kind Alma is to me, unlike last time when she mistreated me however she liked.

“You’ve changed a lot, Alma. This is unlike you to be nice to me,” I tell her.

She giggles and picks a grass, her fingers twirling around the grass before she