Page 53 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
Zariah frowned. “Yes … I believe so. I never noticed before. The entrance must be hidden from view.
He studied the map some more, then abandoned it as he stood and disappeared behind the shelves.
“Zariah?”
I waited with ill patience as he rustled in the stacks, clearly searching for books if the thumps and mumbling were anything to go by.
“Ah ha!”
He came around the corner with three thick, dusty volumes in his hands. He dropped them hard on the table and I jumped, wrinkling my nose at the small cloud of dust that exploded in front of my face.
“More records of the sla—workers. The workers.”
As he read, I was deep in thought. “I assume we stopped mining when the wall was built? That’s what I heard.”
Zariah hummed in agreement, still deep in his book. Did he even realize how privileged he was with his reading and his fed family? I thought of Azalea and Leilani, and how sad they were to leave their families. I’d been sad, but we understood in the mud quarter that leaving was a good thing: there was more food, opportunity, and jobs elsewhere.
Wait.
Jobs.
Everyone in the kingdom had jobs. The stone quarter, the bread quarter, the art quarter … even the nobles in the Seat didsomething.
But the mud quarter didn’t. We were beggars and thieves. We had no education. We couldn’t read, and there was no land to plant crops and no mines underneath our homes to maintain. We had no purpose.
My blood went cold.
Maybe we had no purpose because the only purpose we had was taken from us.
“Zariah. When do you switch with Zion?”
He paused from his reading, an excited gleam in his eye. “Can’t get enough of the dragon?”
I kept my face stone cold. “I want to visit the mines.” I pulled the book over to me, stabbing my finger right on the illustration so my meaning was clear. “These mines. And I want to go as soon as possible.”
Zariah closed the book on me, grinning. “Of course. You’re my princess now. Our princess, that is. We can do whatever you want.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Is that why Zion canceled the games?”
Zariah clapped his hands twice, then wriggled his fingers in the air in what I supposed was a celebratory manner. “You won. Woo-hoo.”
I didn’t feel like a winner.
“You’re going to marry me?” I stuttered out, recognizing he was trying to change topics again, but it was a hell of a topic change.
The same hands waved dismissively at me. “Marry, mate, live with, ravish … it’s all the same.”
I scowled, resisting the urge to pummel him. “Just come get me when it’s time to go. Can you handle that?”
The smirk he sent me made me feel as if somehow I’d gotten the raw end of this deal, yet again.
* * *
Hours later, I was still thinking about the archives even as I took a bath without a prima or a fireguard trying to drown me.
The smaller, shallow tub with its hot water felt marvelous. I was a new woman. Unlike the bathing pools where I nearly drowned, the water only came up to my chest. I don’t know how the primas knew to come in and set it all up for me, but the likely answer was Zariah.
As soon as they poured the water in the tub, I dismissed all of them. Apparently, I had that power now.
