A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(21)

My eyes nearly popped out of my head—I would never speak so poorly of my own King Gareth, even if he was the halfwit son of our once great King Tyden, Stones rest his soul.

“What do you mean by that?” When Mari gave me a strange look, I quickly added, “I grew up in a very small town. Don’t really know much about politics.”

This was true, actually. A swift look of disappointment clouded Mari’s dark caramel eyes, as if she had hoped her new acquaintance might have been brighter, but she seemed to think better of it when she realized she could educate me.

“Well, for starters, he’s kind of a whore.”

This time I snorted, and she broke into a bright laugh.

“It’s true! I’ve heard he’s slept with half the kingdom, but he never plans to take a queen. I think it’s because he doesn’t want to share any of his power. Which I guess is smart, politically speaking, but pretty cold if you ask me. He’s also not afraid of violence, torture, betrayal—anything to get what he wants in battle. The history books already describe him as one of the fiercest rulers ever to grace the continent. He goes through lieutenants like pairs of undergarments. Nobody seems able to hold a position in his army for long, other than Commander Griffin. He’s never even had much of a relationship with the noblemen or lords of the kingdom. Just cold and ruthless, like I said.”

This fit with everything I had heard my whole life about King Ravenwood. I wasn’t naive enough to think Amber’s tales of Onyx’s King and soldiers weren’t a bit inflated, but to hear it from a member of the kingdom itself only proved the stories true.

Knowing he was now here, in the keep, only fueled my need for escape.

Mari stared at me, clearly wondering what I had drifted off thinking about.

“Sorry, it’s just—” I hesitated, “horrible to hear bad things about our king. That’s all news to me!” I cringed at the phony surprise in my voice. Why was I so bad at this? “I heard King Ravenwood keeps dragons, is that true?” I did not want to run into another one of those on my way out of here.

But she only laughed. “Only the one. I’ve seen it circling above the keep once or twice. Ghastly thing.” Mari shuddered. “There are all kinds of beasts in the woods though. Chimeras, ogres, goblins.”

I twitched in quiet horror.

I hadn’t ever considered such creatures might be real, hadn’t given an ounce of credence to the rumors and gossip that swirled around my hometown. I had once seen a basilisk fang when a traveling merchant hawking oddities had passed through, and I had figured it was some kind of hoax. “Those things are real?”

“You really are from a small town,” Mari raised a skeptical eyebrow at me. “Next you’ll be saying Garnet’s salamanders or Pearl’s snow wraiths are myths too.”

I tried to keep my jaw from falling through the floor.

“It’s after dinner time.” Mari held her elbow out for me to take. “Shall we catch the tail end of this play together?”

But I shook my head. Given how much she feared King Ravenwood, I didn’t think she’d want to befriend me further if she knew the truth: that I was a prisoner here and had to get back to my cell. Plus, I didn’t want to venture farther into the castle—if those creatures prowled in the woods, what was inside the castle walls?

I looked over to Barney who had awoken and was standing just outside the apothecary doors.

“Sorry, I’m exhausted from my first day and need some sleep.”

“All right.” Her face fell just a bit, but she rebounded quickly. “I’m sure I’ll see you around. I have to come ask Dagan something tomorrow, anyway. Be well!” And with that, she was off.

“Wait, who is Dagan?” I called after her, but she had already made her way down the gallery hall toward the great stone staircase.

My raised voice did bring the needling eyes of both a broad-shouldered soldier with a skull helmet of bone and a noblewoman dressed in a dark lace corseted dress and violet and ebony jewelry.

Shit, shit, shit.

I winced before ducking back into the apothecary to catch my breath.

Everyone here scared me. They all brimmed with violent, shadowy power and cruel intent. Like I was meat, and they were starving.

Except maybe Owen. And his red-haired daughter. And maybe Barney—I wasn’t sure about him yet. But regardless of the outliers, the Onyx people were to be avoided at all costs.

I waited until there was nobody in the gallery before leaving the apothecary. Barney was waiting outside as he had been all day and greeted me with a tired smile. I followed him down the stairs in silence. Gloomy portraits of Onyx royalty with pale, melancholy faces stared back at me alongside wrought iron candelabras and chandeliers.

I tried to avoid the threatening looks of the soldiers coming into the grand hall, and to keep myself from watching longingly as their families met them at the end of a long day to share a meal together. I missed Ryder, Leigh, and my mother desperately. I wondered where they were, and if they were as worried about me as I was about them.

The halls were growing dark as night cascaded on the castle, and I needed to find a way out that wasn’t through the main castle doors which were heavily guarded. Before we rounded the shadow-shrouded corner on our way back to the dungeons, hushed tones coming from a closed door down the hall caught my attention.