Stone of War: Stones of the Seven: Book One by Allison Rook

Author:Allison Rook [Rook, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Kalena winced as the hot water scalded the abrasions on her knees and belly. Her hands and arms were cut, and she could already feel bruises forming where rocks had pelted her in the narrow tunnel.

Thank the gods Destin could swim.

She had known he'd be livid that she brought the bag with her on the swim to escape the flooded labyrinth. But Kalena was a daughter of Sarcony. She grew up on the sea with her sister, diving from her father's boats, plunging to the ocean bottom, searching for bright-colored shells.

The thought gave her heart a squeeze.

She was always a better swimmer than Bethani. Her father was so proud of her.

Lavender soap made the bathing room smell of springtime, but it was winter in her soul. The Widow Octopus was sacred to Serense. The goddess made it poisonous so that no man would touch it. And here in Concadia, this wretched, stinking city, they sold them for a fortune. Her father had turned his back on a goddess to make money. And that got him and Bethani killed.

And me too, if I'd been there.

The octopus sacred in her homeland had cost her her family. Drugs. Concadians cut the venom with alcohol and sold it, an illegal drug on the black market. Destin said that in tiny amounts mixed correctly, users got a tingling, euphoric high. In larger amounts, mixed incorrectly, they got very dead, very fast. In his eyes, she hadn't seen avarice when he looked at the jars of Widow Octopi, but anger. Had he lost someone to the drug? She hadn't asked, and he hadn't explained.

But they had to be returned to the sea. Tomorrow morning at sunrise, she and Destin would take a boat out to some point where they could be sure the carcasses wouldn't wash in and give them back to Serense. Kalena had insisted on paying to rent the boat but agreed to let him handle the transaction. Apparently he knew people on the docks. Destin seemed to know people everywhere.

The warm water of the bath soothed her, relaxing her muscles.

You trust him too much.

It was hard not to. He was handsome, there was no doubt about that. But Kalena had seen many a handsome face. It was something in the eyes. When he looked at her and asked her questions, it was like no one else existed in his world. Like he was looking so deep into her soul that telling him anything but the truth was silly. Like he was enthralled by every word.

It's a skill. Any good conman can do it.

She rolled her eyes at her inner voice, saying the things Bethani would say if she were here. The sweet soap washed away the grime of the tunnel, and she lingered with the washcloth on places that hadn't gotten dirty, closing her eyes and sliding down into the tub.

Her eyes snapped open when the washroom door opened and Prippa stepped in.

"Hello, dear. Is the bath still warm?"

Kalena sat up, water streaming from her shoulders.

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