A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(22)

I could see a faint glow of candlelight emanating from below the wooden panels, and the slight gap in the frame allowed the sound to carry in my direction. The door had no guards—could this be another way out?

I peeked up at Barney.

“Can I look at this painting for a moment?” I asked, nodding to the one closest to the mysterious room. Upon actually looking at it, I winced. The painting was of a rather well-endowed nude man cradling his… endowment.

Barney turned pale with embarrassment. “Uh… sure.”

I felt my face flush but counted my blessings. His discomfort at what he must have assumed was my sexual interest in this exaggerated oil painting was probably all that stopped him from saying no.

I inched closer to the open door while staring at the least fascinating painting of a naked man I’d ever seen, just in case Barney looked my way. I was about to try the handle when a harsh voice, speaking in low tones filtered through.

“With all due respect, your majesty, that’s what you said last time, and now we are losing men at an alarming rate. I can’t train men as fast as they’re disappearing.”

Your majesty? Was he talking to—

Another voice interjected, one that was smooth as silk and simmering with heat.

“And with no respect whatsoever—you’ll have to. Don’t make me turn another one of your lieutenants into an example. You know how much I enjoy it.”

King Ravenwood.

It had to be.

I went stick straight, heart hammering in my chest.

“You can brutalize whomever you’d like. It won’t help us locate what we need in time. Just means I have to go find new lieutenants.”

“Isn’t that what I pay you so handsomely for?”

“What about taking a break from the search for a single week, just long enough to—”

“No—you know the seer’s words as well as I do. Time is running out, Commander. We have less than a year.”

A seer? What could—

Barney’s rough hand encircled my arm, and I jumped nearly a foot in the air at the contact.

“That’s enough, the painting will still be here tomorrow,” he said, expression hard and cold. But his eyes flared with concern more than anything else. Had he too heard the furtive conversation? As he pulled me away, the other man—the one the king had called commander—sighed, and I heard a chair scrape back.

“You used to be more fun.”

Barney and I walked out into the chilly night air and away from the hushed argument. The last thing I heard was a dark chuckle that felt like a wave crashing inside my chest.





SIX


I was surprised to find someone already in the apothecary the next morning when Barney escorted me over. I studied the man reading behind the counter; he had gray hair with a few strands of black still woven throughout, a patchy beard, and a long lean build. He looked up at me with stern eyes, and I noticed dark bags underneath them.

“You must be Arwen.”

“Dagan?” I asked.

He gave a curt nod before going back to his book.

“Do you work here too?”

He looked up at me as if I were bothering him. Which, I probably was.

My cheeks went warm with the feeling of being a nuisance.

“Sometimes,” he mumbled, before losing interest in me once again.

Lovely. I made myself busy sorting some of the dried herbs and reading a new healing text.

All I had been able to think of last night was the conversation I had overheard. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I were smarter, I could use some piece of information from the king’s private argument to my advantage—to aid my escape plan. My very poorly constructed, not really existent yet escape plan.

All I had gathered was that the king was clearly searching for something, and that time was running out…

I didn’t know what to think about the mention of a seer. Yet another thing I had thought was only fable. The power to see the future, to decree the Stones’ will to us mere mortals. It was more than I could really comprehend.

My eyes flit to Dagan. He looked like he had lived in Onyx all his life based on his menacing scowl and comfort behind the counter. Maybe I could ask him, very subtly…

“Do you,” I swallowed awkwardly. “Do you know—”

“I’ll be back shortly,” he said before heading for the door.

Oh. Great.

“All right,” I sighed, confused. Remembering yesterday I added, “I think Mari was hoping to come see you today. If she comes by while you’re gone, shall I tell her you’ll be back?”

Dagan looked like years had been taken off his already long life. I had a feeling he barely tolerated Mari’s chaotic energy.

“No.” And with that, he was off.

About an hour after that, my herbs had been sorted not only by color and place of origin, but also by how handsome I thought they would be as boys—cardamom clearly took the win there—and my boredom had become excruciating.

I stood up and clasped my hands together, bringing them over my head and leaning forward to stretch my back after hunching for so long over the dried leaves.

My hum of pleasure at the release was abruptly interrupted by the husky clearing of a throat.

“I hate to complain about the view, bird, but I fear I’m in need of some assistance.”