“How dare you come here under the auspices of my House?” Heleen hissed. “The house that clothed you and fed you? And where is Adjala?” Inej opened her mouth, but panic rose up, tightening her throat, choking the words before they could come out. Her tongue felt useless and numb. Once more, she was looking into the eyes of the woman who had beaten her, threatened her, bought her once, and then sold her again and again. Heleen grabbed Inej by the shoulders and shook her. “Where is my girl?” Inej looked down at the fingers digging into her flesh. For a brief second, every horror came back to her, and she truly was a wraith, a ghost taking flight from a body that had given her only pain. No. A body that had given her strength. A body that had carried her over the rooftops of Ketterdam, that had served her in battle, that had brought her up six stories in the dark of a soot-stained chimney. Inej seized Heleen’s wrist and twisted it hard to the right. Heleen yelped, her knees buckling as the guards surged forward. “I threw your girl in the ice moat,” Inej snarled, barely recognizing her own voice. Her other hand seized Heleen’s throat, squeezing. “And she’s better off there than with you.”
Six of Crows- Chapter 33 (Leigh Bardugo)
Inej just realized even Tante Heleen can be harmed.
Once you realize mortality of whoever represents your greatest fears, it will get easier to face them.
Inej panted, heart racing. I could have killed her, she thought. I felt her pulse beneath my palm. I should have killed her.
