Page 64 of Fire in Stone

The gray eyes of the woman grew larger at the sight of me.

“Who is that?” She lingered.

“Move it,” Isar urged. “Get the Mother.”

* * *

“Who are you?” A tall, stately woman walked slowly around me, taking me in from head to toe as I shivered in the middle of a large, gloomy hall.

“She’s not a gargoyle, Mother,” Isar said for me. She crossed her arms over her chest, taking a wide stance. She had removed her hooded robe and put her dress back on before meeting the woman she called Mother.

Their robes and buckets now gone, Zenada and Ertee stood nearby, too.

“ThatI can see.” Mother pursed her lips in concentration. “I can tell what she isnot. I just can’t figure out what sheis.”

“Werewolf, maybe?” Ertee offered tentatively.

Mother came closer. A finger under my chin, she lifted my face to hers. A web of wrinkles crinkled the skin around her eyes in a peculiar pattern. It looked like cracks in the hard crust over liquid lava.

I hugged my arms, not even trying to stop my teeth from chattering. My clothes were still damp from the river, and it was chilly inside the hall carved into the mountain, even without the wind.

“She’s cold,” Zenada stated, with a hint of compassion in her voice. “Can I warm her up, Mother?”

The woman ignored Zenada’s request. “I sense not a trace of magic in her. Which is highly unusual.”

“I’m a human.” I jerked my chin out of her fingers with a flash of irritation. If she had to interrogate me, at least she could give me a blanket first or let Zenada touch me with her warm, magical hands.

“A human!” The Mother’s dark eyebrows shot up to the lace trim of her hood. She wore an identical red robe as the other women. The only thing that distinguished her from them was a flat, wide chain on her shoulders with a golden pendant of a lizard hanging over her chest.

She slid her gaze down my body as if seeing me for the first time.

“You crossed the River of Mists,” she said, her mouth agape. “You couldn’t have done it alone. Humans don’t belong to Nerifir. Who helped you?”

After Isar’s reaction to my mentioning Elex, I thought it wise to keep my mouth shut about him, at least until I had learned more about this place. Isar glanced at me expectantly but didn’t volunteer any information to Mother on my behalf.

“Does it matter who did? They’re no longer here.” I rubbed my arms with my hands, trying to keep my blood flow going for a modicum of warmth.

The hall had no windows. Several torches on the walls illuminated it, but it didn’t feel much warmer inside than it did outside. In addition to the cold, I felt so exhausted, I feared I’d collapse on the stone floor any minute. Adrenaline must be the only thing that kept me upright.

Mother’s pale-blue eyes focused on the red ruby on my left ring finger.

“Where did you get this from?” She took a step closer, grabbing my hand.

“It was a gift.” I yanked on my hand, but she clamped her fingers around my wrist, holding tight.

“The crest of the Sanctuary, carved in the royal ruby stone,” she muttered under her breath, staring at the ring with a shocked expression.

She tried to pry it off my finger.

“It’s mine!” I jerked at my hand, but she wouldn’t release it, twisting the ring around my knuckle.

No matter how hard she tried, however, the ring wouldn’t slide off.

“A gift, you said?” She dropped my hand, and I promptly stuck it under my armpit, hiding the ring from view. “Whoever gave it to you clearly didn’t want it to be taken from you against your will. Who was it? Who gave you this ring? Was it the same gargoyle who brought you to Dakath?”

I pressed my lips together, not saying a word. Why should I? So far, she’d done nothing for me to trust her. I wouldn’t reveal even my favorite color to her, not to mention anything else.

Zenada stirred, clearing her throat. “She may have a powerful patron in the Bozyr Peak.”

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