Seeing Sapphira\u2019s five brothers ready to forcibly sever his fingers, Paxton knew he was out of options. After telling Vivica to call their family doctor, he picked up the dull knife, positioned it over his pinky, and through gritted teeth, brought it down hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHiss\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The blade was so blunt that the first cut barely broke the skin, slicing only into the top layer of flesh. Even so, the shock of pain made him gasp, and he nearly blacked out as the knife slipped from his trembling hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vivica couldn\u2019t bear to watch. With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. \u201cPaxton, stop\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gloria sneered. \u201cIf he won\u2019t do it, then you can do it for him. You\u2019re husband and wife. You can share in this hardship together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vivica\u2019s words caught in her throat. She stared at the blunt knife in her husband\u2019s hand, unable to imagine that kind of pain. She loved her husband, yes, and couldn\u2019t stand to see him suffer, but she didn\u2019t have the courage to take his place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finley started to step forward, to offer himself, but then he remembered his own crippled leg. If he lost a finger as well, he would be truly broken. He hesitated, then stopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Suddenly, an idea struck Vivica. She turned her pleading gaze to Honora, who had been standing silently beside Finley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHonora, what if you did it for your dad? Just one finger?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Honora\u2019s body went rigid. If not for the mask she wore, everyone would have seen the venomous look\u00a0<\/p>\n
on her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if? What the hell does she mean, what if?\u201d Honora thought furiously. \u201cDoes this old woman have any idea what she\u2019s saying? She wants me to cut off my finger for Paxton!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa let out a short, derisive laugh but said nothing. It was pathetic, really. All it took was the threat of one finger for the whole family to start turning on each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Avril couldn\u2019t hold back. \u201cWhoa, hang on a second. I thought you guys adored your adopted daughter. That\u2019s why you abandoned your real one, right? Now you want the young, beautiful girl to lose a finger for an old man? Doesn\u2019t seem like a fair trade to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa chuckled. \u201cWell said.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haskell grinned. \u201cDon\u2019t stop now, Avril. You\u2019re on a roll.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got it, Haskell!\u201d Avril gave him a proud thumbs\u2013up. Her whole purpose here was to make life difficult for Paxton\u2019s family on her cousin\u2013in\u2013law\u2019s behalf, and she was more than happy to deliver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vivica\u2019s eyes, glistening with tears, shot a hateful glare at Avril. \u201cWe don\u2019t need your commentary on our family\u2019s affairs!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cToo bad,\u201d Avril said brazenly. \u201cI\u2019ll comment all I want. You can\u2019t stop me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vivica\u2019s chest tightened with rage. Ignoring Avril, she turned her desperate eyes back to Honora, who\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
09:45\u00a0<\/p>\n
femained silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHonors, your father and I raised you for so many years. tert it time you repaid her it\u2019s yet one finger it won\u2019t affect your life\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s insanel\u201d Honora screamed internally. \u201cHow could one finger not affect met for a young beautiful girl, it would change everything! But for a middle\u2013aged man like Parton, it\u2019s practica nothing!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Honora debated her next move. She could play the martyr, a tactic that had served her well in the past, but she worried that if she actually offered, Paxton might just agree. Then there would be no turning back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She forced her lips to move. \u201cMom, L..\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before she could finish, Finley cut in. \u201cHonora has been through enough. She\u2019s already disfigured from the poison. How can you ask her to endure this too, Mom?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
09:45\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Wings of Broken Time by Alina Das 359 Seeing Sapphira\u2019s five brothers ready to forcibly sever his fingers, Paxton knew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-throne-of-thorns-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}