Sisters' Fate by Jessica Spotswood Read Free Book Online Page B

hand. There’s a small red cut on her palm; the bleeding has already stopped. The second I touch her skin, I can feel the injury as well as see it. It’s a tiny needling thing.
    Maura’s watching me, her pink lips pursed. She’s always said healing was the most useless form of magic. Naturally. Because it’s what I’m good at.
    I squeeze her hand, unthinking, and blood trickles across her palm. “Ow,” she cries, trying to pull away, but my grip is tight. Instead of stitching the cut closed, I reach out with my magic and rip it open. The cut stretches. Gapes. Becomes a two-inch gash, splashing scarlet onto my own skin.
    “Cate!” Elena grabs me, her fingers pinching the soft flesh above my elbow, pulling me away.
    My sister stares at me, her blue eyes wide and shocked.
    I hurt her. I used my magic—my
healing
magic—to hurt her. On purpose.
    I turn, heading for the door.
    “Stay away from me.” My breath is coming fast, my cheeks flushed. “I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t even want to
look
at you!”
    As I step into the hallway, I hear a crash. Across the hall in the sitting room, the babble of voices continues.
    To my left is Inez’s classroom. I open the door cautiously.
    Alice is on her arse next to an overturned stool. She’s got her black skirts flipped up over her knee, and she’s massaging her ankle. Ordinary boots won’t do for her; she’s wearing heeled shoes with decorative buckles. They’re new, judging from the shiny, unmarked look of the leather.
    “What do you want?” She scrambles to her feet, wincing.
    Gracious as always. “I heard you fall. I wanted to see if you were all right.”
    “I’m fine,” she snaps, limping to the nearest desk.
    “What on earth were you doing?” My eyes travel up the wall and land on the open brass vent near the ceiling. It connects to the formal parlor next door. “You’re spying!” I declare, voice low, rather delighted to have caught her at it. “On whom? What’s going on in there?”
    Her porcelain cheeks flush. “Sister Inez and Sister Johanna are meeting with Brother O’Shea. About his plans for the Sisterhood. Sister Inez—she said—”
    “What? What did she say?” I demand, righting the stool.
    Behind me, the door creaks open. Elena and Maura peer in. “What happened here?” Elena asks. She’s carrying a thick roll of bandages. Maura’s hand has been wrapped.
    “I tripped,” Alice says crossly, tucking a stray golden tendril back into her pompadour.
    “What were you doing?” Maura asks.
    Alice’s blue eyes dart between Maura and me. “Nothing,” she lies. “I came in to fetch a book and wasn’t watching where I was going and walked right into that stool. I twisted my ankle something fierce.”
    I bite my lip. Alice is the biggest gossip at the convent. Why isn’t she rushing to tell Maura what she heard?
    “Is Cate going to heal you?” Maura smirks.
    When Sister Sophia told me that there was a dark side to healing, I never imagined I’d be capable of using my magic to make someone’s pain worse.
    Never thought there would be something in me, something small and dark and shameful, that would be
glad
of hurting my own sister.
    “Excuse me,” I choke out. And then, coward that I am, I flee.
    • • •
    Later that night, Elena and I make our way through the market district, keeping to the shadowy, garbage-strewn alleys that run behind the shops. The air smells of rotting vegetables and spoiled meat, and we surprise more than one person digging through the bins in search of a meal. Up ahead, an open door spills light and music and men. Three sailors meander down the alley, weaving and laughing. Elena clutches my elbow, and we slip into a dark doorway until they pass.
    Two doors down, a man with a toothless black smile whistles at us. “Hey, darlin’,” he says, grinning, indiscriminate in his interest. Elena gives him such a look that he scuttles away in the opposite direction.
    We cross the street onto a