what I found terrified me, or rather it was the lack thereof. Her mind gone, locked away deep inside her. Was that my fate? Eventually my mind would succumb to the drugs?
“Can you help me?”
She wrung the sponge out and dabbed it gently on my face around my eye. The silk curtain moved to the side, and Madam Esme stepped inside and moved over to the lamp. She replaced the incense, and the drugged fog filled my small room again.
“Good news, Aurora. After the initial query to my secret buyers, your beauty may have caught the attention of some very rich and powerful men. Offers have already begun pouring in. Your injuries healed pretty well, and with a bit of makeup, we can cover the bruises and burns.” She held a pink paper in her hands and waved it under my nose, and I caught a whiff of rose water. She fanned herself with the paper and grinned.
“I will have to make the most of this debut. Maybe have something special planned. I know. I will inform everyone it will be an auction.”
“N-no,” I muttered. My tongue was thick, and I struggled to form words.
Esme frowned. “Now, don’t be difficult. I want you to be the perfect little angel for me.”
“I will never stop fighting,” I seethed and pulled at my bindings.
“Oh dear. I was afraid of this.” She reached into her pouch and blew the stronger dose of the hated devil’s breath in my face.
I was prepared and held my breath, pretending to come under the effects. I let my head droop and shoulders slouch.
“You think you’re so smart, holding your breath, but I’ve been doing this a long time. What do you think Tamara is bathing you with? It’s the same drug. It’s already in your bloodstream. And in the incense, and your food. But get some rest. Your debut will be in a few days’ time, and you will make me very rich.”
She was right. I could feel my eyelids drooping as I fell into a drugged slumber.
Night came. Then another day. Then night again.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been drugged or kept as a prisoner of Madam Esme’s. Time did not matter. When food came, it wasn’t at inconsistent times, or I was too drugged to remember eating. It was only by the yellow-green hue of my bruises that I was able to estimate that I had been a prisoner for close to a week.
Seven days and no one had come for me. Liam hadn’t found me like he promised. But then again, maybe I had dreamed of him. Maybe everything was a dream. The longer I was there, the more real this life became, and my other life was just a fantasy.
A candle on my bedside table had flickered out and the tip of the wick faded from red to black. Slowly, I raised my head and focused on the wick.
“Fiergo.”
Nothing. The trails of smoke disappeared.
“Fiergo,” I said more firmly. The wick didn’t even glow or flicker. I plopped my head back onto my pillow, feeling helpless. My magic was truly gone.
“It’s the drugs.” Tamara came in with a basket full of cosmetics. She sat by my bedside and set out powders on the table. “The devil’s breath makes you compliant to the power of suggestion. They compel you to obey.”
“You speak?”
She nodded. “Today is a good day. I can remember more of myself, of who I am.”
“And the other days?” I asked.
“Not so much.” She sighed and pulled out an expensive jar of perfume. Her hand trembled slightly, and it clattered against the wood. She clasped her hands together to keep the shakes from a minimum.
“You’re having a withdrawal,” I said. I knew the signs, having seen my mother treat addicts before.
“Yes,” she breathed out. “After a few days, I say I’m fine. I can go without, but by nightfall, I’m begging for more.” She dropped her head in shame. “It’s too much. This place is a nightmare. The drugs are the only escape we have. When we no longer feel, we forget.”
“Then let’s escape. Untie my hands, and we will escape right now.”
Her head rose and those soulful brown eyes filled with hope, but then I saw it die. She pulled out a brush and placed it next to the perfume bottle.
“We can’t. They filled the place with guards and powerful men since tonight is your debut.”
“Untie me, please,” I begged, but she shook her head.
“There’s no escape, and if you try