Berryanna returned from Bam Bam's Inn alone, carrying a box. Her fingers were tight around the edges of it, knuckles pale, grip steady. She had dumped Vinegario on the way after he kept repeating that Straw tried to kill her using that pearl bracelet. He would not stop talking. The words kept circling, accusation after accusation, as if saying it enough times would make it true. But Berryanna knew it was not Straw's fault. Straw had no idea about it. If she had not been present with Straw that night, she might have believed his words. But she was there when she helped her win the game and the pearl bracelet was the prize.
What stayed with her was not Vinegario's voice. It was the pearl.
How could something like that make her knees weak? How could something so simple burn through her strength like that?
