see were blisters and dead skin. He would bear scars for the rest of his life, but he would recover as long as the wounds did not become infected.
‘Why does she hate us?’ he asked as she pulled his nightshirt down over the fresh dressings and drew the blanket back over him.
‘Hush,’ she soothed him, ‘don’t think about that now.’
She stood quietly, wincing slightly as the floor creaked beneath her stockinged feet. She tried to move as quietly as possible. She removed her dark blue woolen dress and laid it over the back of the plain wooden chair, leaving her in only her pantalettes and chemise as she perched on the edge of the bed and removed her black wool stockings.
She stood slowly and as she turned, the dim flickering candlelight highlighted the angry red slashes across the backs of her arms, her shoulders, and her back, disappearing underneath the white lace of her chemise.
‘Does it still hurt?’ he asked in a small voice as he stared at the thin vicious marks of the switch. His tummy hurt when he looked at them; she’d been punished because she’d tried to stop HER, from hurting him. It hadn’t mattered anyway; she’d still scalded him and beaten his sister. ‘I can put some salve on it.’
‘No love,’ she whispered, ‘it doesn’t hurt.’
She turned away from him, so he couldn’t see the lie in her eyes. It was painful, every time she moved it burned and ached, but there was only a little salve left and his need was greater.
She grabbed her long nightshirt and pulled it on over her undergarments and shivered, her breath puffing out in little white misty clouds. It was so cold in the topmost room, but the servants weren’t allowed to light the fire.
She climbed into bed beside him, clambering under the blankets and pulling him in close.
‘Sleep now,’ she murmured, rocking him gently in her arms.
‘Will you tell me a story?’ he whispered sleepily.
‘Only if you close your eyes,’ she murmured, her brow furrowing slightly as she felt the intense heat from his small, thin body.
Blowing out the candle, they lay together in the darkness as she whispered to him. Tales of faraway lands, of towers and palaces, of wild animals and elephants, the wonders of the world.
‘Will we go one day?’ he murmured, his voice slurred, ‘you and I?’
‘Of course, love,’ she stroked his damp hair, ‘as soon as I’m old enough I’m going to take you away from this place, far far away from this house, from her. We’ll be free and she’ll never ever hurt us ever again.’
‘Promise?’ he mumbled.
‘I promise,’ she kissed his clammy forehead, ‘now sleep.’
She held him in the darkness as he slipped into dreams, not knowing that he would be dead before the dawn.
4
Ava’s head broke the water and she dragged in a lungful of air. The early morning sun was bright and the air warm, although her skin pebbled under the cool water as it rippled and shimmered around her, catching the rays of light and reflecting them back.
Wading over to the rocky ledge she retrieved her bar of soap and began to wash, as Bailey barked happily and jumped in and out of the waves, playing like an excitable puppy. Then again, Ava couldn’t really blame her. Up until this point neither of them had spent any real time along the coast, now they found themselves on a beautiful little island and it felt good.
Ava dunked under the water to rinse the lather. She’d bathed in some pretty questionable places over the years thanks to her transient lifestyle, courtesy of her mother but there was something liberating about bathing in the ocean. Clean and fresh, with her skin smelling like a curious mixture of coconut and saltwater, she waded back to the shore and grabbed her towel. Completely at ease with her nakedness she toweled off and pulled her clean clothes on.
There was no way anyone could see her from this vantage point. The top of the cliff jutted out so that the beach was barely visible from above and the cliffs either side curved outwards so that her little beach was nestled in a U shape, almost like a small lagoon. The route of the ferry from the mainland passed the other side of the cliff and so there was no way anyone could intrude on her little slice of heaven.
Climbing up onto a huge boulder, with a bottle of water in one hand and her toothbrush