Page 105 of Kingdom of Rot & Ruin
Like Shava, she’d survived her reaping. I supposed she could stay. What harm could one girl do, anyway?
I stood in the desert surrounded by refugees, glaring up at the cave where I knew ZariahandZion were holed up with Mari.
What fucking damage could one girl do, eh?
The entire kingdom was about to implode because of one goddamn girl. She’d tried to kill me in my own domain and had threatened everything I’d worked sohard to build.
Everyone else was happy–ecstatic, even. The dragons had flown far and wide and brought back food. Meat. A giant bonfire blazed and Mari’s people from the mud quarter danced with the exiled Nobles, everyone happy and free.
I was furious.
“Here they come. Bitch.”
Shava patted me on the shoulder as a dragon glided down from the cliff, the other twin and Mari on its back. I turned and busied myself with distributing the remaining food, only turning when I heard the crowd behind me. At least Shava understood. She was the only other one angry at the meddling mud girl for attempted murder. To make it worse, Mari knew my secret.
She had to die, and quickly.
“Here. Don’t think I forgot about you.”
Zion took a giant drumstick from me and handed it to Mari. She grasped the greasy meat in her fingers, frowning at it.
“Where did Zariah get this? The land around here…”
The tips of Zion’s ears blushed red. “It’s … well, there are kingdoms far from here that aren’t so far for a dragon. And their farms are large, with huge herds of prey—I mean, animals. Trust me, they won’t miss these.”
I rolled my eyes and sat down next to the fire and Shava.
“Sit and eat,” Zion insisted. “Everyone else has. It’s your turn.” Zion guided Mari down to sit in front of the fire, next to me and Shava. Shava ignored Mari.
Time to get in her head.
“Do you know I’ve read books about witches?” I asked her.
“Witches?” she replied dully, not really interested.
“Yes, like the one that laid this curse,” I confirmed. “They come in different kinds, I guess. Each represents an element like air, water, fire, that sort of thing.”
She stared at the remaining meat in her hands.
“It’s fascinating,” I continued, my enthusiasm not in the least bit dampened by her aloofness. “There’s also different kinds of magick: black and white.”
Her head perked up. “Like good and evil?” She asked.
I scoffed. “No, not at all. Different kinds of energies. Good and evil is subjective, anyway. Did you think mercy killing the demons was evil, or a ‘good’ thing to do?”
She squirmed under his intense stare.Good.
“My point is, they’re just different types of energy. The books say magickal creatures can harness both, but it’s horrendously difficult. Most pick one or the other. Neat, eh?”
She blanched and I drew back, hands flexing on my knees. “I thought you’d be more interested.”
Her shoulders shrugged. “Aren’t any witches around here, are there?”
I gave her a look before I could help it. I just couldn’t pretend to be nice to her.
“Well …” she said, “what kind of witch do you think laid the curse?”
I perked up immediately. “Ah, nowthatis a worthy question. It’s hard to say. Cursing a bloodline to be dragons hardly fits a particular element, does it?”
