Erm… I'm not totally sure where this came from, to be honest. I was rereading "The Invisible Ring" the other day, and this just… popped out of my head, I suppose you could say. It didn't even take all that long – it wrote itself, really.
Yes, I know that the grammar is odd. And yes, it is intentional. Repeat: It is intentional. Please, no reviews telling me to fix my grammar; this is from the point of view of an extremely traumatized (to say the very least) woman who's in the process of losing her mind, so I'd be very surprised if her thoughts were coherent.
One last thing before we begin. The lines in italics that separate the big paragraphs are all part of a sentence that Grizelle!Lia says at the beginning of the book, during the apple-throwing scene.
Onward!
Disclaimer: "The Invisible Ring" and all its characters are the sole property of Anne Bishop.
…And you would do well to remember…
remember O yes I remember Lady remember the screams liquid pain tearing through the air as teeth bite through lips wrapped around a gag pressed into flesh lips cracked open in fake smiles O yes I remember those smiles burning ripping cutting O yes O the minds ripped open and scraped clean O the hands that force legs apart yes tied to the floor tied to the bed tied down down down O yes Lady I remember yes I remember I remember it all remember tears flooding eyes flooding the room dripping over the bed O yes a waterfall of tears O yes but that's impossible absurd yes O everything is absurd yes no so I remember Lady I remember remember despite a mind cracked open by violated flesh O I remember Lady should remember could remember do remember must remember but I still remember Lady O yes I know I remember despite not knowing anything despite heads thrown back in a howl but still human yes always human even when they are inhuman so I still remember Lady O yes I still remember
…that not all scars…
scars O yes I know all about scars ropes tracing backs ropes not ropes but still the ropes that anchor flesh O yes whips that cut words that cut there is no difference none despite blood and screams and knives O yes counting each stroke O yes lines in flesh O yes knife against wrist and whip against back there is no difference no O yes I found him Lady found him I found him happy so happy O yes so happy to be lying on the floor eyes closed lips smiling relaxed O yes strange for him to be relaxed yes our Lady didn't like her males to laze around but so hard not to with blood spurting out of the wrists red bright red so red red red O yes and I screamed O yes screamed like shattering crystal O yes screamed I screamed and they ran ran ran to the sound of crystal screaming and spurting blood so red red red and they found him Lady found him like I found him our Lady's favorite not favorite anymore with his blood his blood pooling onto the floor O yes Healer shaking O yes and he was smiling Lady he was smiling O yes smiling about slit wrists that bled too fast to scar before he died O the scars yes I know all about scars O yes I know scars
…are visible…
visible O no not visible not always with knife eyes glaring O no never visible secret O yes always secrets between Sisters mothers lovers daughters O yes screams without voice and bodies too weak to stand O yes eyes veiled from sight eyes that can't speak only speak with each stroke of the whip each cut of the knife flesh cut away O yes veiled eyes words without words not many words no just enough: O we lived on we lived on we lived