𝑮𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 | 𝑘.𝑏.

34

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T H E  M O U T H  O F  T H E  B E A S T
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THEY STRIPPED THE GIRLS DOWN to their underclothes, then bound all the girls' wrists and ankles with cords from the curtains and gagged them with torn pieces of their prison clothes.

"Clock is ticking," said Inej.

"Sorry," Nina whispered to the Kaelish girl.

"Thank you," Feta whispered to the Kaelish girl alternatively. It was the least she could do since Nina was already doing her best to bleed the bright red color directly from the girl's head onto Feta's, leaving the poor Kaelish with a mop of pale waves that looked vaguely rusty in places, and Feta with strawberry blonde hair that mixed rather well with her own fair locks for such hasty work. Feta got to work using white powder from the Kaelish's beaded bag to make her skin paler.

Meanwhile, Inej dragged the other girls into a tall silverwood cabinet on the far wall, arranging their limbs so that there would be room for the Kaelish and the Ravkan. As Feta hauled the Kaelish over to the cabinet, she offered Inej a thin smile as Inej forced herself to secure the Suli girl's gag.

They had stopped doing business with the Menagerie after they'd recruited Inej, but that didn't mean the faces of the girls weren't ingrained in Feta's memory. She had spoken to them about themselves, known their real names: a rare thing when they weren't treated like people otherwise.

Along with the Kaelish girl, Feta didn't recognize the Suli Menagerie member, who was evidently Inej's replacement. She had the same bronze skin, the same thick sheaf of dark hair, but she was soft and curving instead of Inej's lethal angles.

"Saints protect you," Inej whispered. Feta clapped a hand on Inej's shoulder but said nothing else.

A rap came at the door and a voice spoke in Fjerdan.

"They need the room for the next girls," Feta whispered lowly.

Inej and Feta helped Nina shove the Kaelish into the cupboard and managed to get the doors closed and locked, then yanked on their costumes. Inej was glad she didn't have time to dwell on the unwelcome familiarity of the silks on her skin, the horrible tinkling of the bells on her anklets. Feta tried not to look too comfortable as she adjusted the topknot that went with her mare ensemble. To her it was just another costume, another act, another way to be underestimated. Another way to be exactly what people wanted her to be.

The girls swept on their capes and took a quick look in the mirror.

Feta was almost shocked to see how nearly seamless her display was. This is who Feta had been the entire time; if you blinked and could have sworn something changed, that's on you.

However Inej and Nina didn't have as much luck. Inej's purple silks were far too loose, and as for Nina...

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" she said, looking down at herself. The plunging gown barely covered her substantial cleavage and clung tightly to her buttocks. It had been wrought to look like blue-green scales giving way to a shimmering chiffon fan. They had grabbed the wrong costume when they'd stripped down all the Menagerie girls, and they must have tidied away the Ravkan fox. Oh well, this would have to work.

"Maybe a mermaid?" Inej suggested. "Or a wave?"

"Maybe a sea whip," Feta mused.

Nina smoothed her hands over the ridiculous costume, though there was still just as little fabric as before. "I'm about to be very popular."

"I wonder what Matthias would have to say about that outfit," Inej said.

Feta snorted. "He'd have a heart attack."