The Enemy Within

Astrid

My mother carefully picks a skull fragment out of my hair, her jaw set but her lower lip still quivering a bit. Cleo and she had carefully unraveled the careful coif my maid had made earlier that morning to get all the blood and bits out of it. Then they scrubbed it, and me, thoroughly. While my mother helps me dress, Cleo disappears and so does the ruined wedding dress.

Cleo returns, and m