Page 66 of Fire in Stone

“If dragons find out about you, you’ll have no peace,” Ertee insisted softly. “They’ll take you. It’s safer for you to stay here with us.”

Zenada stroked my hand that Isar firmly held in her grip. “The Sanctuary has the king's protection. The villagers can’t harm us.”

“Not that they don’t try to find a way,” Isar muttered under her breath, bringing to mind Weyx and the women’s claims that the well was poisoned.

“Why do they hate you?” I asked.

Isar scoffed. “The men, because they can’t have us. The women, because they think we steal their men, anyway.”

“It's not that simple.” Ertee gave her a disapproving glance. “We just don’t fit. The kingdom’s laws state that asalamandra’splace is under the protection of a dragon. Every woman needs a man for the society to thrive. But it doesn’t always work for everyone that way.”

“Some of us thrive the best without a fucking man,” Isar spat through her teeth.

“Or we can’t always have a man we want,” Zenada added.

Ertee sighed. “Single women have no role in Dakath life. If you’re unmarried or widowed, if your magic isn’t strong enough to take the hag’s oath, the Sanctuary is the only place where you’re allowed to exist.”

From Elex’s words, I had a very different impression about his home world. He told me women in Dakath were well-respected and loved.Cherished, he’d said. Did he mean the married ones were? As if the rest didn’t matter at all?

I didn’t peg Elex as someone as cruel or narrow-minded as that. Could I have misread him that badly? Or was his life in the royal castle so cushioned and isolated from the rest of the kingdom that he had no clue what was going on in his own kingdom?

“He never mentioned that…” I let the words slip.

“Who? The dragon who brought you here? Did he lie?” Isar shook her head, unimpressed. “Why am I not surprised?”

I didn’t want to believe Elex deliberately lied to me. He had no reason to do that. Maybe he didn’t know the whole truth himself, living a sheltered life of the crown prince? Maybe he chose to ignore it, hiding behind the walls of his father’s castle?

“I don’t have to stay in Dakath.” I grasped at straws. “I never wanted to come here in the first place. Take me back to the river. I’ll find the portal and leave.”

The women exchanged worried glances.

“But Mother said…” Ertee started.

Isar jerked her head impatiently, making her stop.

“Every trip to the river is fraught with danger,” she said.

I drew in some air to argue, but she wouldn’t let me.

“I’m not going to the river again unless there is no other choice. The night is near. You’ll have to stay in the Sanctuary, at least for now. And you can’t stay here unless we do what Mother told us to do.”

“It’s for your own protection,” Zenada implored.

“Look, I’ll take a sip, too, if it makes you feel better.” Ertee took a swig of the odd-looking liquid from the vial. “By MotherSalamandra, I needed it myself.” She licked off the shimmering drop that clung to her lip.

I glanced at the ceramic pot standing on the wooden stool nearby. Black tar dripped down its side, ready for whatever insane hair removal procedure they wanted to put me through.

Ertee stroked the side of my face. “We’ll be gentle. We’ve done this before.”

“It hurts more when you struggle,” Zenada added.

Isar loosened her grip on my arm, allowing me to free my hand. I took the vial with the liquid that shimmered pink and blue from Ertee.

“What is it again?” I asked, taking a sniff. The pink-blue liquid emitted a pleasant scent that reminded me of a cake shop.

“Camyte,” Ertee explained. “Zenada gets it through her benefactor in the Bozyr—”

Zenada jammed an elbow into Ertee’s side, making the other woman gasp then go quiet.

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