Duality

part seventeen

"We're killing two birds with one stone, Mila. Just sit still."

Mila tried, but she couldn't stop her next flinch. Somehow, Anna knew that Mila and Ashton had more or less made up, and at least had another heated moment. Anna seemed to take that knowledge personally in the punishment she currently delivered.

Anywhere he touched would bring Mila pain. In fact, walking back to find him in the woods would probably cause her pain, which Anna counted on.

Anna still thought Ashton lied to her, that he knew exactly how they could die permanently. "If he cares as much as you think he does," Anna said, making a quick line up Mila's leg. "Then this should bring the truth out once and for all."

"He doesn't know," Mila said through clenched teeth.

"Doesn't hurt to check before we move to the final stage."

Maybe it didn't hurt Anna, but Mila felt plenty of pain. Her nails bit into the skin of her palms as she tried to breathe through Anna's next mark. A droplet of blood hit the floor. Mila hadn't looked since the first slice, so she didn't know where the blood came from.

"Can you lure him to the pit?" Anna asked, dragging the knife across Mila's stomach.

Mila hissed out a breath before she could answer. "Yes." He would walk there willingly, if she asked, which Anna didn't understand and Mila was only just starting to grasp. He said he would always be there for her.

She was about to put that to the test.

"He's not that bad," Mila tried, fingers curling as Anna cut again. "I don't think he's a threat."

The next cut crossed her ribs and nicked the underside of her breast, making her wince. Anna had put all of her feelings toward Mila's words in that cut. "I know exactly what you think of him," she swore, slicing into Mila's other breast. "Are you even a virgin anymore?"

Mila decided to suffer in silence after that.

The knife blade cut into her skin easily, but Anna's probing, searching for untouched skin with firm fingers, drew out the process. She traced lines up Mila's neck and then stopped, as though to leave Mila's face alone. Mila exhaled through her mouth in relief, which brought a new wave of pain.

"I don't want him to notice anything at first," Anna said, twirling the knife handle in her hands. "We'll see how serious he is about not hurting you, that way."

Mila had enough time keeping her breathing shallow to least disturb the cuts, so she didn't protest the unfairness. When Anna's fingers found her lips, however, Mila asked, "Won't that make it a little too difficult for me to ask him questions?"

Her finger traced the shape of Mila's lips, the knife following behind. "This way, he can't even seduce you with a kiss."

Even with her lips closed, Mila tasted copper. The knife moved away and she held still, knowing Anna wasn't finished. If there was any possibility Ashton could place a hand on her safely, Anna hadn't accomplished her mission of physically placing her will on Mila's. Sure enough, the knife drifted to her forehead.

"Last one," Anna muttered. She started where Mila's hair parted and swept down, ear to ear.

Mila had questions, but that required moving her bleeding lips, so she waited.

Grabbing the edge of her shirt, Anna started roughly dabbing at Mila's face to remove the welling blood. "Grow new flowers to hide the blood," she instructed. "And then you should be good to go."

Even if there was humor in the idea of walking through the woods all cut up, Mila had no muscles to laugh with. Keeping still—as still as she could, with Anna pushing against her face—Mila closed up the flowers on her dress and imagined new ones replacing them. The cuts on her neck kept her from looking down to check her handiwork.