Chapter 3

The next morning, I woke to a piercing scream.

Daphne stood in the kitchen doorway, pointing at me, her eyes rimmed red.

"Rowan, why are you sleeping in here? Are you trying to make Mom and Dad think we're abusing you?"

I opened my eyes, my vision blurred.

Every bone in my body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together wrong. The slightest movement sent a grinding, teeth-aching sound through my joints.

Our parents came running at the sound of her voice.

Daphne's expression flipped instantly. The accusation vanished, her voice going soft.

"Dad, Mom, Rowan doesn't look good... do you think she's sick?"

She reached out as if to help me up, but her fingers never actually made contact.

Odette pulled Daphne behind her protectively and turned to glare at me with venom in her eyes.

"What are you scheming now? Get up already!"

I braced myself against the cabinet and forced my body upright.

My left leg could barely bear weight, propped shakily against the floor.

"I'm sorry, Mom."

"Enough. Stop putting on this dying act." Alaric cut me off, impatient.

"Go take a shower and put on your skates. There's a winter figure skating selection trial in town today. Daphne's competing."

I froze.

Figure skating?

Daphne had never been able to handle the cold, not since she was a child. She wouldn't even step in snow. How could she possibly skate?

As if sensing my confusion, Daphne peeked out from behind our mother, biting her lip, looking utterly pitiful.

"Rowan, you know I've always dreamed of dancing on the ice. But my body..." Her voice broke.

"The coach said this trial allows a partner-assist format. You skate so well—if you just lift me, carry me through the moves, I could actually get a spot."

I understood then.

She wanted the glory, the applause—without the exhaustion, without the cold.

So I was meant to be her shadow partner. Or more accurately, her human scaffolding.

"But..." I lowered my head, staring at my trembling hands. "I don't think I can lift you."

My muscles were wasting away. My bones felt as brittle as crackers.

Forget lifting a grown woman—right now I could barely stand on my own.

The words had barely left my mouth when Alaric's palm cracked across my face.

He jabbed a furious finger at me.

"You selfish little wretch! Daphne just wants to fulfill a dream, and you can't even do this one small thing for her? You eat our food, live under our roof, and the one time we ask you to actually contribute, you make excuses!"

Holden came down the stairs, adjusting his tie, his voice dripping with mockery.

"Dad, don't push her too hard. She's probably just scared Daphne will look better than her on the ice and steal her spotlight. Our Rowan does fancy herself quite the ice prodigy, after all."

Prodigy.

I had genuinely loved skating once.

Back in the days when no one paid me any attention, gliding across the ice was the only time I ever felt free.

But then, one accident—I'd collided with Daphne while she was watching me practice, triggering one of her heart episodes—and my parents smashed my skates and banned me from ever setting foot on the ice again.

Now they wanted to push me back onto it.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with my sleeve.

"I'll do it. I'll skate with her."

Daphne's tears vanished instantly, replaced by a bright smile. She hurried over and looped her arm affectionately through mine.

"Thank you, Rowan! I knew you'd always be the best sister to me!"

Her perfume hit me like a punch to the gut, my stomach churning violently.

Odette pulled a competition outfit from the closet and yanked it onto me without a word of warning.

I lifted my arms to help, and a tearing pain shot through my shoulder.

I sucked in a sharp breath, my movements slowing for just a moment.

"What are you standing there for?" Odette snapped, grabbing my wrist and pulling hard. "Daphne's waiting. How much longer are you going to drag this out?"

I clenched my jaw and said nothing.

The zipper of the competition suit caught on my back. Odette yanked it upward, the cold metal teeth scraping viciously along my spine.

I let out a muffled groan, my vision going black for a moment.

"So thin-skinned. Can't handle the slightest thing." She clicked her tongue in disgust but didn't ease up.

Alaric rushed me to put on my skates. The moment I bent down to reach for them, a sharp, stabbing pain lanced through my lower back.

Like something inside had just cracked open.

I gasped, my knees buckling, and I pitched forward.

"Here we go again." Holden's voice drifted from the staircase, thick with irritation. "Can we not waste time? The competition starts at nine."

I pressed my palms flat against the floor, my knuckles going white from the pressure.

The skates were only halfway on, and my toes were already going numb.

Odette glanced down at me, frowning. "Stop dragging your feet! Daphne's still waiting."

She grabbed my arm and hauled me up off the floor.