Page 24

“I added bayaroot. When cooked right, the scent is hard to resist. It seemed to do the trick, don’t you think?” Her molten-gray eyes glittered for a moment, despite the dark circles that surrounded them.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my relief and gratitude beyond measure.

“Come on, let’s get you clean before they wake up,” the girl said, gesturing me forward.

But now I was looking past her, toward Meat’s unconscious body. I moved toward him, heart pounding. I could easily kill him. No one could stop me. He’d never be able to hurt anyone again.

I knelt and slowly pulled the knife from his belt. Tears blurred my vision when I saw blood crusted on the blade. Hen’s blood. I choked back a sob, tightening my grip on the handle. Rage flooded my senses. In the mine, we’d kept our heads down, been obedient, and Hen had still lost her life. I was tired of being silent and submissive.

I felt a hand on my arm. “Don’t.” Sable crouched down beside me.

“He deserves to die,” I said through clenched teeth.

“I know,” she whispered, her voice filled with understanding. “But you and I don’t.”

I exhaled, closing my eyes. Nothing had changed. If I killed Meat, then the commander would have the three of us put to death the moment he returned. Death only begets more death inside Malengard. That’s what Hen had tried so hard to teach me.

I let my hand drop. I couldn’t bear being the reason harm came to any other workers today.

“Come on,” the girl said softly, taking the knife from me. She slid it underneath a set of drawers out of reach, and quietly led me back to the bathing area.

The two girls pulled the dirty tunic over my head and helped me step into the warm bath. Not used to being naked in front of anyone, I wrapped my arms tightly around my exposed breasts until I was submerged in the water. Scents of lavender and citrus filled the steamy air.

“What’s your name?” the Arden girl asked. Her melancholy eyes and wavy red hair reminded me of a wilted rose in winter, faded but not yet gone.

“Raven.”

“I’m Sable,” she said. “This is Krish. In case you didn’t already figure that out.”

“Where did you come from?” Krish asked, watching the bath water change to black as they helped me scrub away the malarite and filth from my skin.

“I’ve been working in the malarite mine,” I said, trying to keep my voice from breaking as I silently added,with Hen.

“The mines?” Looks of surprise registered on their faces.

“Do you not know about the mines below this tower?”

“No, we know about the mines,” Sable said, her voice suddenly tight. “The matron is always threatening to send us there if we slack on our duties or make any mistakes.”

“And shewill,” Krish said to Sable as a warning, glancing sideways at the unconscious guards. The way she scolded the other girl reminded me of Hen.

“It’s just that we’ve all known workers who’ve been sent to the mines, but none of us has ever seen anyone comeout,” Sable explained.

“Never,” Krish agreed.

“If we didn’t have to hide from the mineguards every time they trekked through the tower between shifts, I’d think the matron had just invented the idea of the malarite mines to scare us.” As she spoke, Sable reached for my right hand to scrub the dirt out of my fingernails.

Then I remembered.The map. After everything that had happened, I’d forgotten about it. I quickly jerked my hand away, hearing Sora’s warning in my head.Don’t tell anyone about the map.

Sable’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but she didn’t protest when I took the scrub brush from her to do it myself under the water.

“When I first got here, I used to have nightmares about it,” Sable said in a way that made me wonder if she’d ever stopped having nightmares.

“At least you can sleep,” Krish griped, making me notice the heavy, dark circles under her eyes that matched my own.

I could tell the two of them weren’t close friends. Having friends in this place made you too vulnerable. That’s why most of the mine workers never spoke with each other.

“Why did they take you out of the mine?” Sable asked, curious.