Page 50 of Crown of Ashes and Awe

"True, but don’t you wish to be closer to Kivi—never mind.” His smile stretched tight. “Of course, you’re nervous. You don’t yet trust me. So, stay here with your friends today, tonight. And tomorrow I will show you, dear Lennon, what you are missing." His suddenly sober gaze took in all our faces. “Remember what I said. Stay where you are expected. Surprises will prove…unfortunate.” He suddenly turned on his heel, his cloak sweeping the floor behind him as he vanished through the doorway. As if remembering his manners, he called out from down the hall,“Until tomorrow!”

Still, I held my breath, expecting him to come back and swing his sword at someone.

"We can’t trust a word he says.” Lennon’s attention remained on the door as well.

Tearloch agreed. "Not for a second,"

"Then what do we do?"

Tearloch and Griffon exchanged a nod, then said in unison, "We stay awake."

* * *

I hatedto admit that Ciro was right about anything, but we were exhausted. Morrow took his men and Nogel to the room next door. If there was trouble, they could get back to us quickly, either through the hallway or from the courtyard. No one had locked us in.

We split into shifts and sought out the bedchambers so we could rest up for whatever lay ahead. Tearloch and Dower took the first watch. I got a bed to myself, so I stripped off my damaged gown and stretched out. With Tearloch on guard, it was almost easy for me to relax and let sleep take me.

I hadn’t been unconscious for long, however, when the food arrived. I donned my apprentice robes—they were much warmer than the gown, able to keep out the cold as well as they’d kept out the sun and the heat of the south for most of my life. It was a comfort to be back in familiar skin.

I received a few surprised looks from my friends when I joined them at the table.

We were given trays full of meats and pungent cheeses, fruits, and breads, tureens of hearty soup to chase the chill away, and pitchers of ale and water. Bain went to collect Morrow and the others. But when the servants tried to take their leave, Tearloch stopped them.

He towered over one young man and demanded, “Has the food been poisoned? Drugged?”

The youngling shook his head.

“Then you wouldn’t mind sampling it all?”

His brows flew high, but his surprise came with a smile, and he happily went around the table, tasting every dish. The poor thing was probably hungrier than we were, and that was saying something. Tearloch came to the same conclusion and insisted that all eight servants prove the food was safe, and after they were finished, there was still plenty left for the rest of us.

When they finally slipped out the door, Nogel followed. And we all tucked in while we waited for him to come back, unsure what his plans were. Half an hour later, the door opened. The look on our dragon rider’s face was difficult to read.

Lennon pushed him into a chair and passed him food. We should have known something was wrong when someone so young and so hungry had to be forced to eat.

“Leave the man alone,” Griffon said gently. “Let him speak.”

Tearloch checked the hall, then closed the door and nodded. “All clear.”

Nogel pushed his food away. “We need to get out of here.”

“Tell us.”

He shivered. “Do you know why those servants never spoke? Because they don’t have tongues. They’ve been cut out.Burnedout. Most of them areArd Draoi, the ones who pray for the return of the blue dragon. They thought that by serving in The Soundless they would be the first to hear when the blue dragon returned. But they didn’t know what the DeNoy were like. Those monsters think it’s amusing to force a druid to decide between serving here and the ability to say their prayers aloud.”

While we all exchanged looks of revulsion and disgust, Nogel reached for a cup, filled it with ale, and drained it.

Lennon patted his free hand. “If they have no tongues, how do you know?—”

“They took me to a woman in the kitchen who could speak. She says if Lord Ciro wants good food, his cook needs her tongue. She also said Ciro is a devil, and we want to leave before…before we are trapped here for good.”

Tearloch leaned on the table. “Did she say how they’ll trap us? Is it the dome?”

Nogel paled and shook his head carefully. “If we break any law, any rule, we’ll be sent to their arena—for their bloodsport games. You think that’s why Ciro suggested we keep up our training?”

“Bloodsport?” Lennon got to her feet and began pacing. “What the hell does that mean?”

“A fight to the death.” Griffon ran both hands through his hair and tipped his head back. Tendons stretched in his neck when he growled at the ceiling. “Obviously, he is setting us up to break the law somehow. And not knowing those laws, we’ll walk right into his traps.”

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