Page 75 of Daughter of the Darkened City

He’d get a good idea of who she was tonight if she continued this way. She looked down at her drink, the deep reds and faintly floral scent beckoning her. She started to set it down, but that vulture swooped down, ready for the carrion in her soul.

Kaemon had no idea who she was because he’d been captured and left for dead. She’d needed saving because she had run forward instead of away. Because she’d been too weak to defend anyone. Dryston had to choose to save her, and it had cost Kaemon everything. It had cost her mother her life.

So Enid took the drink and gulped it back.

When she looked up, Dryston and Onora were staring at each other with a rage that made Dryston’s shadows darken around him.

“Who won?” she asked.

Dryston turned to her. “It was a tie for this game.”

Onora scoffed. “My dart was closer to the center.”

“That’s impossible to tell.”

“It’s not. But I’ll let you have your tie if it assuages your ego.”

Dryston’s glare snapped back to her, and Enid couldn’t choke down the laugh. She held up the other glass of wine.

“Want it, Onora?” she asked.

Onora gave her a faint smile, the first one Enid had ever seen from her, and it was wolfish in a way that was almost frightening. It took everything in Enid to stay upright in the chair.

“No,thank you,” she replied. “Let’s continue.”

Dryston gave a curt nod, and they played again, this time Dryston going first. Enid sipped the other glass, her mind becoming muddled and hazy.

“Does all of this seem odd to you?” Kaemon asked.

“Onora and Dryston playing darts? Yes, immensely so.”

Kaemon chuckled. “No, I mean, Evolis. The ritual. Everything.”

The server came by, and Enid grabbed another drink. “You mean that a city enchanted so its residents can never leave and has been lost to fables seems odd to you?”

Kaemon rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. “Why would someone put a spell on an entire city and go to these lengths to hide something that could heal anyone?”

“They didn’t want anyone else to have it. There’s more profit in sickness and war than in health and peace.”

He shook his head. “I know. But why hide it away so absolutely? Why not control it?”

Enid’s head swam, too many thoughts sloshing in her skull. She took another drink.

“King Edond seems kind…” Kaemon said, his voice trailing off.

“But?” Enid asked, looking down at her almost empty mug. Damn, maybe she should slow down.

“Fucking cheater,” Onora growled, snapping both of them out of their conversation.

Onora was staring up at Dryston, nostrils flared, disgust on her face, as Dryston looked down at her with a smile tinged with insanity. Godsdamn, this woman was really able to get under his skin, wasn’t she?

“How is it cheating?” he asked, his tone patronizing.

Enid groaned and looked at Kaemon, who grimaced.

“This is the bad Dryston, by the way,” Enid told him.

“He’s very…” Kaemon searched for a word.

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