In the corner of her room, where there is an empty spot, I focus on the stone and memorize its formation. I close my eyes and sense along its surface with my magic. It is good brick, pliable. When I push down, it bows with ease while connecting with one of the warm water pipes. Crystals dot the space, some glowing gently after I pull them up from deposits below the palace. It takes concentration to ensure that none of them are sharp enough to hurt her.
Each beryl crystal will react with her Fuegorra, helping her heal faster.
When the space is filled with warm water, I turn around and leave. It feels like tearing a stone sliver from my flesh—the pain is far worse than staying and indulging the irritant.
As I exit the tunnel room, I try to push the thought of Estela out of my mind, but the mating bond tugs at me relentlessly. I head towards the throne room, where I have another council in a few hours. Maybe the routine tasks of being a king will distract me.
Soon, the giants will send word about what happened under the mountain. Preparations should be made. The sick should be healed, the humans will require more attention, and weapons and armor should be forged. There is still an entire court to be taken care of.
1 Love.
2 I love you.
Chapter9
Aquamarine
ESTELA
One second I was at my table working, the next two female lumber slaves were clutching at my arms and holding me down to the ground. They hold a bucket of water over my head and I thrash in their arms.
“You stopped bathing again,” Prince Rholker says down at me. He looks side to side, making sure that we are secluded in the trees. “I want you to serve in the palace tonight. We need to get you washed.”
I open my mouth to scream when one of the women jams her knee intointo my throat while yanking on my coarsely spun pants and shirt. They strip me naked in front of the prince, revealing the scars from his brother’s whip and knife. It’s cold, and it’s nearly nighttime.
I choke on the lack of air, and the Second Prince jumps.“Get off her. You won’t fight back now, will you, Estela?”
The woman removes her knee, but my respite is brief when the bucket of ice water is dumped across me. I whimper.
“It would have been warm if you had bathed when I told you to,” Rholker says.
I continue to ignore him, closing my eyes so I don’t have to see the way his gaze lingers. While their rough hands hurriedly scrape soap over my tender bits, I mentally return to my table.
I refuse to stay in the present, choosing to escape with a world of plants and poultices. Memorizing the potion for the common cold was one of my first tasks as an herb preparer, so I think about making one just in case the chill of tonight is too strong.Endure a little longer,I think, when a jagged fingernail catches my navel.
It works.
When a rough towel is handed to me, I start ringing out my hair and drying off the water. I shiver forcefully, almost missing the hiss of sharp steel exiting a sheath. However, I can’t ignore the wet, meaty thud of a head landing on the ground.
I whip around to find the two slaves dead. Their heads lay next to their bodies, unseeing eyes open to the forest brush. The blood leaks from their necks and soils the ground. I step back, covering my mouth and nose as Prince Rholker shakes the blood off his blade.
He looks up at me, remorseful. “If my father found out I was following you around still, he’d be angry. Really, you only have yourself to blame. If you had bathed when I told you earlier, they would still be alive.”
My back hits a tree trunk. I’m vulnerable, naked, and terrified.
“I’m not a monster, Estela. I care for you.” Prince Rholker reaches his hand out.
A loud, harmonic banging starts up, interrupting my sleep.
I shift in bed, pushing myself up despite every inch of my body protesting. I almost don't notice the ever-present song, singing sweetly, easing me out of my nightmare.
It is strange to dream again. It happens so infrequently, and now I am haunted by my past. The hollow pain in my chest is gone, but it’s been replaced by a sad confusion.
A bottle clanks to my left, and it has me bolting upright. I must be in the healing hut. I worked late, I need to get back to my den to see Mikal and Arlet.
No, a voice says.You are under the mountain, and you are safe.
My hands claw at the space around me as I gasp, only to be met with immediate pain. I’m in the Enduar Mountain. That is what the melodic ringing is.