EMBER’S POV
“You stupid girl,” she hisses. “You stupid, reckless, selfish girl. You never think. You have never once in your life stopped to think before you fling yourself headlong into a thing — do you know whose house this is? Do you have any idea what these people do to those who lie their way onto their floors?” Her hands come up to her mouth, and she’s not even fully talking to me now; she’s talking to the room, to herself. “She’s buried herself. She’s walked in here and buried herself alive, and she’s dragged me down into the hole right beside her; of course she has, because that is what she does- that has always been what she—”
“Mother, stop.” I’m on my feet now, hands out, gentling, pleading. “You’re spiralling. Nothing has to happen here. Nobody has to know anything. I am beggi
