“Mia!” Stefan screamed to her. “Run!”
But the villagers caught her, pinching and hitting. She tried to hold her breath after they began spitting in her face. She was shoved at Bastion’s feet, the crowd in chaos. Bastion grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up, turning her to face the crowd, his breath on her neck like a burst of steam.
“Look at them, Mia. Look in their faces. They want you dead. There is no future for you here.”
Mia could not see Alma in the crowd.
“Friends and good Christians, patience.” Bastion called. “You do not know the law. We cannot burn Mia. Not yet.”
“I’m offering you a chance to live,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll give them my witch Ava to burn. I’ll put a sack over her head and tie it at the neck. No one will know it is not you. Come with me and live.”
“Make her die in my place? Crawl inside her cage?”
“It is the only way out.”
Mia searched the crowd again for Alma. She couldn’t see Erick, either.
“I forgive you for disobeying me, Mia. We can still be happy.”
Mia looked down at the angry, spitting crowd, her body starting to bleed from her wounds, her scalp burning as Bastion held her. She turned her head, wincing, to face Bastion. “I have lived my whole life in a cage. The bars were my own, made by my own hands from my fears, and all the lies in the world held it together. But I have been made free. I will never be caged again.”
“You will die.”
“But I will die free.”
Bastion pushed her, and she tumbled down several steps, trying to catch herself.
“What says the law?” someone yelled. “Why can we not burn her right now?”
“A woman cannot burn until she has confessed,” Bastion said. “Do you want Mia to confess? Shall we know all her secrets?”
Someone hit her on the back of the knees, and Mia fell to the ground.
Bastion glared down at her. “We will break her. We will get what we want.”
A hand shoved bread at her mouth. Mia spit at it as she came to, accidentally spitting on Dame Alice’s face. Her mind cleared, and she tried to sit up, reaching for Dame Alice, apologizing.
“’Tis all right, Mia. I shouldn’t have tried to feed you so soon. But you asked for bread.”
“Alma? Where is she?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“Please.”
“You didn’t confess. Bastion will put you to the question again in a few hours. ’Tis better if you do not know about Alma.”
Mia tried to press one hand down against the wooden bench she sat on to make the room stop spinning. She tried to move forward but her hand was limp. Pain screamed through her shoulder.
“Why can’t I move my arms?”
Dame Alice stroked her cheek. “Bastion tied them behind your back and lifted you off the ground by them. He did this three times, making all of us watch. Still, you confessed to nothing.”
Mia lowered her eyes to look at her shoulder, swelling underneath her shirt.
“Whose clothes?”
“Mine,” Dame Alice whispered. “I won’t get cold in here like you. You’ve always been too thin.”
Mia tried to focus on her. Dame Alice looked like she had tied herself up in rags.
“Alma?” Mia asked again.
Dame Alice stroked her cheek. “I cannot tell you. Not if you love her. You might confess, if the pain becomes too great.”
“Please. I won’t survive this. Tell me.”
“I will tell you this and no more: I have not seen Alma since the crowd stripped and beat you and the interrogation began. But neither have I seen Erick.”
Mia groaned. She knew Dame Alice was right. “I killed Bjorn, didn’t I? Hilda tricked me.”
“Then why did you go into the forest? Didn’t you know there were witches about?”
The jailer’s voice cut her off. How he must have enjoyed eavesdropping on these women. “But I forget, you are one, aren’t you?”
“Leave her alone,” Dame Alice called back. “She did what none of us had the nerve to do.”
“I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Don’t tell us that. We’re just starting to like you,” Dame Alice said.
“She said it would set Bjorn free.”
“It did,” Dame Alice said. “In its own way.”
“But I’m going to burn for it! There is no one now who can prove my innocence.”
“There is no way to prove your innocence,” Dame Alice told her.
“But why? Why will truth not be accepted?”
“My dear, we’ll all be dead in a few hours,” Dame Alice said. “It makes no sense to worry about it now.” She put her arms around Mia. “I do not want to die with a stranger. Tell us your story, Mia.”
“No. I am ashamed.”
“Why?”
“You have been so kind to me. I hated it when you called my name in the market. It was not because I did not want to know you. I did not want you to know me.”
“Well, that is all in the past now. There is still time.”
“Time for what?”