"Stay away," I yell, my eyes adjusting to the darkness. Small glowing lights are all around us, but none of them are bright enough to reveal the details of my room. Something is wrong.
“Hush, child, I will not hurt you,” a deep, aged feminine voice says.
My hand presses to my chest. The hardness there is foreign, and I look down to see the scars of bite marks illuminated by a glowing flame-colored gem embedded in my skin. Memories of the monster, the blood, and the agony come back. I start breathing faster, my hand trembling over the spot where I've been deformed.
“Stop that. All is well,” the voice says again.
There’s more shuffling before several orbs above me flare to life and bathe the world in gentle, yellow light, revealing a beautiful room covered in gold details and crystals. There is a spacious dresser, more murals of flowers made with green, blue, and purple gems—the source of the glowing earlier—and a bath.
My eyes widen. It’s been too long since I was clean, and I know that has consequences. My room is nicer and bigger than the one I was forced to share with Keksej.
My eyes land on the Enduar woman standing next to my bed. She is tall and lithe and positively covered in crystals. Short, stick-like formations hang off her sleeves, and hundreds of small ones are stitched into her vest. She wears a tunic-like dress that hits her knees with hip-high slits on either side. The fabric is flowy, graceful even. Her leggings appear plain, but jagged, pointed stones are on the tips of her feet.
I look up at her face. There are three piercings on each of her ears, one on her left eyebrow, between her nostrils, and one on her lip. Enduares don’t seem to age like humans because their skin, while slightly wrinkled around her eyes and mouth, still appears taut. She isn’t smiling.
“You are the one who put the gem in my chest,” I say. “You bound me to this place.” I think of the hollow heartbreak I felt trying to leave. What happens if I feel that way again? It chills me to my bones.
“You are bound nowhere. My name is Liana,” she says sternly while grabbing a small mortar and pestle. “And before you ask, Ma’Teo asked me to stay and care for your wounds. You’re almost finished healing, thanks to me.”
My stomach drops.
Can you hear my thoughts, too?I think toward her.
No response.
As she grinds something in the bowl, there’s a strong bitter scent in the air. I tilt my chin up and sniff.Willow bark. I regard her warily for several minutes, trying to decide the severity of our situation.
“There was a sound earlier that woke me me. What was that?” I ask.
“A clock of sorts. There’s no sunlight under the mountain, so long ago, some of our best astronomers used his magic to sync the tower with the sun’s cycles. It will ring every hour, with one note for each hour. Don’t worry, the songs change too.” She keeps grinding and reaches down to pluck a leaf that I can’t quite see. My healing training kicks in, and I look at her ingredients to see what she’s making. I see lavender buds, dried marigold leaves, niue root, and willow bark.
I blink. Just a simple healing poultice.
“If you add those leaves, it will taste better,” I say to her, pointing at some dried peppermint in the herb box on the table.
She looks over at me again, this time pausing her mixing and raising her eyebrow. “Do you know about healing?”
I press my lips together, easing back. “I was the one who prepared those herbs. I know about healing from caring for slaves, but I am not a doctor.” True, but the royal doctor did rely on me more than he should’ve.
She scoffs. “You humans and titles. One of the men said something similar the other day about mining.” Then, she pours the mixture into a metal goblet and stirs. She holds it out to me. “You may ask me whatever you’d like, but your friend should be here soon with breakfast.”
Reaching out, I take the glass and look down at it. I should feel threatened, but I don’t. It helps that she doesn’t have those awful, steel teeth.
It smells right. But what if there is some kind of drug hidden that I didn’t see before she started working?
She crosses her arms. Not in a defensive way, the way that a mother might seconds before scolding her child. “Drink. I have glimpsed my future—the only vision I could see with you. We will be close friends, you and I.”
I want to laugh at her words, but something in me stills. My mother believed in seers and shamans, and a small piece of that embedded itself into me.
Even still, the idea of befriending one of these Enduares is preposterous. I am here against my will. It takes effort to ignore the pain throbbing in my shoulders and arms from my last escape attempt.
When I look into Liana's eyes, I see kindness. Somehow, it is cold, like stone, but kindness nonetheless. I place the goblet on the table. She all but growls.
"Where am I?" I say, my tone guarded.
She purses her lips. “This is called the queen’s suite.”
I cringe. “What?”