I believed her.
She came over and twined her long fingers in my hair. I rammed my chin on my chest so she couldn’t get at my face.
“Don’t make it difficult,” she said, pulling at my hair. It scared me to feel how strong she was.
I braced myself and kept my chin down. She kept pulling and it felt like the top of my head was coming off.
“Damn you!” she said suddenly and touched my ear with the knife.
I jerked away with a yell and the next second I was staring up at the ceiling with the knife hovering a few inches from my eyes.
Then the door burst open and Arym marched in.
Lydia released my hair and stood away. Arym stared first at me and then at Lydia, and I could have hugged her if I’d been free.
Lydia was the first to recover, “What do you want?” she said in a flat, sullen voice, “go away!”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Arym demanded, her eyes flashing. “What’s happening, Ross?”