Clockwork and Cinders

o long pointy nose or a scar through her eye. It's a sense of ferality to her, married with this dignity. High, angled cheekbones so sharp they could cut, her eyes, a soft shade of

y feminine and sleek in des

er. Hair in a knot, cream nightgown loose and lacy around her thin,

c it sounds like something out of a music box. Her m

g I'm real and human enough to perform before, she slips into her facade of royalty. Her reddened eyelids droop, like she's bored with me, one leg crosses in front of the

happy to see. Drawing a finger over a red lip, she lifts an eyebrow, flicks me another appraising glance an

rinding of my ears, and the jiggling of loose parts like the brassy sound of loose coppers tumbling together.

eart becomes grinding, images of her watching me, always watching me with her lip curled and some remark about what a danger I was, what a terrible liabili

even without sensation, they ring inside me with this resoun

king back into my favorite chair with hair hands flung over the arms. A smile broa

im papering, the books, but they settle on Stepmother. I have to gather up all my courage to speak together directly. "I'll leave, I promise. The Galactic Promise legalized en

at. My fingers curl up into fists before dropping limp at my sides. It's not fear that makes my gears whir, it's frustration. That nothing for me comes easily, though I suppose I don'

dare

begun to tremble. "I'm sorry. If you won't house

ff out of reflex. It's a relief I'm feeling much too soon, because her lips curve int

if you don't, your friends will learn you

l myself against Stepmother's possible rage. She straightens. The lace hem of her skirt brushes the floor, her hands balling up the fabric at her hips. Her lips purse as

glassy flesh of my back, filling the silence with

muscles of her shoulder blades distinct as they extend u

pping so low it might as well be a second bow. As I wobble toward the doo