Jack's breath shallow'd as he lay bound to the bed.

The one thing his mother would never have done was threaten him with Arrest; she hated the constables. He will'd himself not to think of her, not to wish himself backwards by one day. 'Twas awful there, too—'twas awful there, too. His mind gritted its teeth against thoughts too terrible to think. The miseries of his mother's household had given way to Torments still worse.

His ribs ached from unsobbed sobs. They stung his chest like a diseased Pulse, and he fell to sleep in pain, a dog of Shame and Sorrows.

Excerpted from Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg. Copyright © 2018 by Jordy Rosenberg. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.