A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(25)

I swallowed hard, shifting under his unflinching eyes. “I’m Arwen, the new healer. Who are you looking for?”

He shot me a devastating glare and I cowered. Without saying anything further, he turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him.





SEVEN


Just one day after the ridiculous window escape, a miracle happened—I found my way out.

And his name was Jaem.

Jaem was the butcher’s son. Today, he had come in with two mangled fingers. While trying to hammer a cut of pork, he had caught the eye of a lovely young woman named Lucinda. With her long, fair hair and narrow nose, she took Jaem’s breath away, and he had hammered right down onto his own hand. Poor kid. While I fit the digits that looked more like ground meat into a splint, he told me he was hoping to bring something back from town tomorrow for Lucinda. He went into the capital once a week to sell the keep’s leftover meats and hides and didn’t tell his father so that he could keep the extra coin. He left each week at midnight.

Tonight, I was going to sneak onto his cart.

I had realized my cell lock was rusted on my first morning here, but I’d yet to find a way to use that to my advantage—until now. Once inside the Onyx capital, I could get to a port city and find safe passage on a ship. I had a little coin still on me from the night we had tried to leave Abbington hidden in my skirt pockets, and I hoped that would be enough to pay for travel from the Onyx coast to Garnet. As long as I could navigate the capital, and whatever creatures or villains lived within its walls… But my unease about being in Willowridge was nothing compared to my fear of the Shadow Woods. If I could get through them safely in Jaem’s cart, I could manage whatever was in the city.

The fear that Barney or Bert or—Stones forbid, the King himself—might realize I helped the prisoner escape the other day was a constant rattle in my mind. Each day there was a new, more pressing reason why the sooner I got out of this keep, the better.

Still, I found I had replayed my conversation with the stranger more than a hundred times in my head. What could possibly have kept him in Shadowhold after finding a way out of his cell? Why had he disappeared before hitting the ground? Surely my eyes had played some kind of trick on me.

That, and the conversation with the king I had overheard, spun in my mind on a constant loop each night when I was locked in my cell—they were all that distracted me from the clawing, dripping fear.

“Does the myrtle leaf go here?” I asked Dagan, pulling myself back to the herbs in front of me.

A slow nod.

I should have known. It was all I ever got from the older man. He seemed to despise me for some reason, and I tried to keep my mouth closed when around him as much as I could. We worked in silence as the final hours of the day crept by.

Now that I knew midnight meant I might be able to leave, the day was kicking and screaming its way toward dusk.

“Hi, you two! What a party it is in here.”

Mari’s chipper sarcasm as she bounded through the apothecary door was a welcome reprieve from the monotony.

“What’s that?” I asked by way of greeting, pointing to the leathery book in her hands.

“A witch’s grimoire. I think it’s over a hundred years old. I’ve translated as much as I can, but Dagan, I thought you might be able to help with the rest?”

Dagan huffed but I could tell he was pleased with the request. Maybe he was just as bored as I was. The thought made me laugh. He took the book from Mari and went into the closet, presumably for something to help him translate.

I whispered to Mari while he was out of earshot. “I think he’s said about six words to me today. Not a chatty fellow. Who is he, exactly?”

Mari giggled. “He used to be an advisor or something to the king before Kane Ravenwood, and before that, I think he served in the Onyx army, but now he just works in the apothecary. Some of the younger kids think he’s a warlock and that’s why King Ravenwood keeps him here, but I’ve never seen him use any magic.” She tapped her fingers on the wood counter in thought. “He pretends I annoy him, but I can see right through it. I know he loves to help me with old texts and my research on Fae and witches. He’s just a lonely old man. I’m not sure he ever had a family or anything.”

A twinge twisted in my heart for Dagan.

“I have to get back to the library, but maybe we can have supper together tonight? It’s the brisket I told you about.”

I wasn’t sure why I felt guilty turning Mari down again. I didn’t even know her that well. But it had been a long time since I’d had an invitation of friendship from anyone. Plus, I had avoided the great hall for the week I had been here. I had avoided everything except this room, the infirmary attached to it, and my cell.

Even if I was daring and decided to brave the rest of the shadow-filled castle, I didn’t see Barney approving of a dinner date with a new friend.

“Tomorrow?” I wouldn’t be here then, Stones-willing.

If I was successful tonight, I’d likely never see her again. The somber thought surprised me. I hoped she wouldn’t think it had anything to do with her.

Her expression told me she knew I was holding something back. “What’s wrong?”

“Just a little homesick. That’s all.”

Another half-truth.

“All right. We’ll see how you feel tomorrow.” Mari gave my arm a squeeze before turning to leave.