Merida's POV
My daughter.
My beautiful, impossible, stubborn daughter was here, in the belly of the beast, bleeding out on cold stone while that monster Marcus stood some distance from us.
Twenty years. Twenty years I'd been trapped in these chains, enduring Marcus's games, his torture, his casual cruelty, all so that he would never know she existed. All so that Maeve could live free, could grow up safe, could become the woman I'd always dreamed she would be.
And now she was here, unconscious, because somehow she'd found me.
The irony would have been laughable if it weren't so devastating.
I pulled the silver dagger from her chest with shaking hands, trying not to think about how deep it had gone, how much blood was already pooling beneath her still form. The blade came free with a wet sound that made my stomach turn, but at least it was out. At least that much poison wasn't still buried in her flesh.
