Crimson Heart (The Sworn Saga Book 5) by Kate Avery Ellison

Author:Kate Avery Ellison [Ellison, Kate Avery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I DRAGGED THE cloth from my eyes and blinked in bright, unnatural light, taking in my surroundings.

White walls surrounded us. No windows. I saw chairs, a table. Bunk beds stacked against one wall.

A house?

Garrett stood near the door, his hands shoved in his pockets, watching me.

“I never felt us come out of the cave,” I said.

He tipped his head to the side. “That’s because we didn’t.”

I looked up. The lights were harsh and unblinking. Electricity. “Are we… underground?”

Garrett gave a shrug with one shoulder.

But… the lift. The spires.

I didn’t understand.

Later. I’d wonder about it later.

“I need to speak with— with the Crimson Heart,” I said. The pulse point in my throat beat hard against my skin.

“I’ve sent a message letting them know you wish to speak with them.” Garrett rocked on his heels. “So far, no one knows you’re here, or I don’t think they’d have let us in. They think you’re a nameless Chosen girl that I picked up in the forest.”

I nodded. Good.

“Can I explore the city?” I asked.

“I’m not letting you wander around alone. You’ll get lost.”

“Go with me, then.”

His eyes narrowed. “Perhaps. You should rest first. You look like you’re about to faint.”

I touched my cheeks. I felt numb. “This is strange, that’s all.”

He crossed the room to stand at the far wall. I noticed a sink, cupboards. Some sort of kitchen.

“Water?” he asked, turning a knob.

“Sure.”

He brought me a cup, and I drank. The water had a mineral taste to it that lingered unpleasantly on my tongue.

“Do all Chosen girls get these accommodations?” I asked of the room.

Garrett grinned with half his mouth. “Oh, nothing as nice as this. This is my house when I’m here.”

I looked at the bare walls and shining, tiled floor. I remembered Dahlia’s words.

The white walls, the smooth floors. Made from materials I don’t have names for. Things from the Beforetime, they told me. I’ve never seen anything like it.

And our entrance through a cave—she’d described that, too.

I’d done it.

I was in the Red City.

I swallowed the rest of the water in the cup and stood. “I want to explore.”

“Rest first,” Garrett insisted. He pointed at one of the beds. “Really, Red, if you could see yourself—”

He paused, considering his words, and went to a door set in the wall. “Here,” he said. “Look for yourself.”

I followed him and found a tiny room with indoor plumbing. A toilet, a sink, and a bright, uncracked mirror.

And my reflection.

I stared, entranced. I hadn’t seen myself in months, and the young woman who gazed back at me seemed like a stranger. My cheeks were gaunt and hollow, and my chin came to a narrow point. All fat and softness had been whittled away by constant walking, running, worrying, and grieving. My eyes were hard and sharp as arrowheads.

I was an ashen color, almost ghostlike.

“Maybe I’ll lie down for a little while,” I agreed.

I used the toilet and washed my hands first. Everything was strange and instantaneous, even more marvelous than what I’d seen in the Sworn capital, but in a faded, neglected kind of way.

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