"For how long?" Marenda asked as they rode on horseback, back to Albridge castle.
"What are you asking me about m?" Vinnandra feigned ignorance as she stared ahead, willing the world about her to disappear at that moment. She was embarrassed and ashamed of herself. Although the latter feeling had more to do with being caught than the doing of the act itself.
"Since when did you start hurting yourself?" Marenda threw the uncomfortable question like it was the most normal thing to say. In that moment, Vinn wished that the woman would go back to being her sullen, insufferable, silent self.
With a sigh she answered, "I can't remember."
It was pathetic, but that was the truth. Perhaps it started at the time whenever Vinn slept and all she could see was Saegra, caressing the hair of her three-year old self. And then Xander and his mother would approach them, and Saegra would stab at Xander's mother's protruding, pregnant belly.
