Firetide Coast by Claire McKenna

Author:Claire McKenna [McKenna, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-06-15T12:00:00+00:00

In the back room, the servants had already drawn a bath in the copper tub. Steam floated off the top. It smelled of oudwood, a scent of cedar and flowers. Candles guttered in their glasswear, yellow like a dozen pairs of eyes, watching.

It seemed too carefully arranged, like a trap. Arden undressed and submerged herself quickly. The heat soaked into her bones, dizzying her.

‘I thought the bath was for me.’

She froze, indignant at Miah’s arrival. ‘Aren’t there workers’ showers?’

‘Bellis has forbidden them use of the wash rooms. Her punishment for the behemoth, I suppose.’

‘Punishing them, not you.’

‘If they see me frolicking in hot water then I’ll likely swallow a blade before morning. It’s hard enough convincing them I don’t give two shits about that woman.’

Miah had already stripped off his dirty clothes, gummed almost solid from sweat and tree resin, and discarded them. His arms and shoulders were ruddy from the sun. Streaked bruises bisected his thick abdomen where the cable had lashed into his body, refusing at first to move for this lesser mandatum, remembering the Saint who had forged each length and twist. He’d cut his upper arms amidst the ghosts of old summonings.

She wondered how he’d taken the evalescendi. Rubbed it in? Drunk it?

He was more animal than man, even in the way he slunk into the water, his eyes on her, not entirely tamed. Not entirely trusting.

‘Almost too hot,’ he said, though by then it had grown lukewarm, and his chest flushed as if he were radiating heat, for he was a coldwater man and this heat was not for him.

‘It was hotter before.’ His ankles slid on either side of her hips, his calves whiskering against her thighs. She tucked up her legs and debated getting out, before deciding against it. She’d damn well gotten in here first.

He flopped his arms over the sides of the tub, swung his head back. His bruised, blackened eyes became unfocused, and briefly she saw Jonah there. Trapped in his stinking hole.

‘Mr Lindsay says we will be finished tomorrow night.’

‘Did he? I can’t really remember.’ He rubbed his head.

‘He said it down at the gazebo.’

‘Oh.’

‘Have you thought about what happens next? When you go to Clay City as part of Bellis’ army?’

He raised his head and looked at her as if confused. ‘I haven’t thought about it.’

‘You haven’t?’ Arden reached out to move a candle-dish before the wax overflowed into the bath. ‘When Bellis gets past the sanguis sentries, when she overwhelms Clay with her orientis powers, I doubt Mr Lindsay will have much of a use for you. Clay already has people who can talk to metal, and they’re pure-bred for it, too. They’re not carrying monster-wrangling shadow-talents that get in the way.’

Her comments were measured but she intended them to land painfully. Miah made a sour face.

‘Bellis has got shadow-talents too, Beacon. We’re just piebald whirlwinds and I’m only along for the ride. I haven’t thought about it because I don’t care. Whether Bellis burns down the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.