It was as though time had folded in on itself, and she had never left this house at all. That was how it felt to Belle as she turned away from the table and went toward her mat beside her mother's chair. Humiliation burned her cheeks, but she sat down quietly. She did not touch anything on the tray; she only stared at it.
She was starving so much and knew a small bowl of custard and a slice of bread would do nothing for her stomach. Since her pregnancy and after giving birth, her appetite had increased, and her body required more meals than before. But she wasn't going to eat this if it meant starving.
The insult she felt, though she hadn't wanted to feel anything, made her lose her appetite altogether. Sit where you belong? So she belonged on the floor? Belle scoffed, wondering how blinded she had been in the past and how she had allowed them to treat her this way.
