Page 70 of Fire in Stone

“The worst thing they did,” Isar noted.

“United, Dakath had hundreds of thousands of years of peace and prosperity,” Zenada disagreed with her.

“Until it didn’t,” Isar tossed over her shoulder at Zenada. “Until King Edkhar’s grandfather closed his eyes on his son’s stealing and raping Lord Orirel’s niece.”

“She came willingly,” Zenada protested.

Isar propped her hands on her hips. “That’s what she said after being kept in the prince’s chambers for years, chained and tortured. She was coerced to lie in exchange for her freedom.”

Zenada shifted uncomfortably under Isar’s glare. “She ended up marrying a High Lord far above her station.”

“They married her off to shut her up. Then her family started a war, using her life tragedy as an excuse to advance their standing, when they did nothing to free her before.”

“But King Edkhar can’t be held responsible—”

Isar threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “Open your eyes, Zenada. Do you see where we are now? Where is the unity and prosperity you’re talking about? All of that has deteriorated since King’s Edkhar’s father took the crown. His cruelties saw no bounds, and his son isn’t much better. In some ways, he’s even worse.”

“The king isn’t evil.”

Zenada’s voice was barely audible. Tears glimmered in her eyes. Yet Isar showed her no mercy.

“Just because he takes you up in the sky once in a while doesn’t make him a good man, Zenada. He uses you. You have enough scars on your body to prove me right.”

With a strangled sob, Zenada jumped to her feet and dashed for the exit.

“Isar,” Ertee said softly. “It’s not her fault that she loves him. Love doesn’t always choose wisely. Not everyone is as lucky as you and I.”

The golden eyes of the taller woman filled with warmth when she looked at her friend. Isar bent her head quickly, gently touching Ertee’s lips with hers.

They were more than friends, I realized. The feeling that shone in their eyes directed at each other had the power and tenderness of love. I never had that in my life, but I couldn’t mistake it for anything else.

The heavy doors opened before Zenada reached them. More women entered the hall with Mother at the head of the group.

“Stay, Zenada,” she ordered. “Sunset is upon us.”

With her head bowed, Zenada joined the group. They all headed to our end of the hall where the statue of the MotherSalamandrastood, surrounded by the rock perches.

The women spread around the statue. Out of their robes, they all were dressed in similar linen shirts with wide embroidered sleeves under the sleeveless red dresses. Their heads down, they cast curious glances my way. Mother gave a quick look at my head, still partially covered with the wet cloth.

“The human woman will stay at the Sanctuary,” she announced. “You are not to talk about her to anyone beyond these walls.”

The women—about three dozen of them in total—nodded silently, taking their places on the long flat rocks strewn around the dais with their goddess.

No one had asked for my name, and I hadn’t offered it to anyone. To all of them, I was but a “human woman.” And maybe it was for the best.

“Good night.” Ertee patted my hand before heading to an empty rock nearby.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” Isar said with a brief nod, then took a place on the rock next to Ertee’s.

With no windows in the hall, it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. But the gargoyles sensed the sunset was coming.

The rocks were long enough for the women to lie down. But like Elex, they preferred sitting positions. Some sat straight, with their hands folded in their laps. Others leaned back, propped on their arms, with their legs bent or stretched out on the rock.

In a heartbeat, their flesh turned to stone. Their skin, of all shades of beige, brown, and gray, turned to rock that didn’t necessarily match the color of the living skin of the same person.

Isar’s stone was a speckled granite of white and black with a dust of gold shimmer. Ertee turned into a rock the color of terracotta and brick. And Zenada’s looked like a semi-transparent light-gray quartz, with a hint of pink deep inside it.

No one was watching me anymore. Even if some could still see me, no one would stop me in whatever I wished to do.

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