Page 82 of The Poison Daughter
I note the lack of guards stationed at the armory doors. At least I’ll be able to get access to more weapons if I need to.
“Shouldn’t you have someone stationed there for security?”
Henry pulls the door open and waves me inside. “We don’t have enough guards for that. We have other means of protection.”
I freeze inside the doors, the glow of magical booby traps cluttering the entryway. The one to my left is made of glowing orange light that shoots up and down in jagged bursts of lightning. The one on the right is a swirling red vortex. In the distance, I can see more of them, in almost every kind of magic. There must be at least a dozen in the corridor alone.
Henry’s hand on my lower back startles me. “What do they look like?”
“A deadly rainbow. How do we get in?”
He walks to an ornate stone plaque on the wall. “Come here.”
He presses his fingers to the sharp white stone, then draws away, letting a drop of his blood dribble on the stone below it. Then, he pulls a flask and a handkerchief from his pocket and pours some alcohol into the fabric. He wipes the stone point.
“This marker is enchanted. Once we are married, you’ll be able to press your finger here alone and get in. But for now, you’ll need my blood too.”
He grabs my wrist and presses my finger to the point. I hiss as it pricks my finger and he squeezes a drop onto the stone.
“Strength above all,” he whispers.
Our blood sizzles as the stone lights up. I turn and watch the magical traps disappear one by one and a heavy door at the end of the long corridor grinds open.
Henry snatches my wrist as my blood begins to drip onto the floor. I gasp as he takes my finger in his mouth and sucks gently. The heat and pressure soothe the sting. I should be disgusted, but the intensity in his gaze warms my blood. His pupils dilate as he pulls my finger free, the wound healed by his magic.
“Neat trick.” I mean for it to be a taunt, but I sound too breathless to pull it off.
He smirks and feeds my hand through his arm. We continue down the hall and through the stone doorway. It opens to a large storeroom with an arched wooden ceiling. Racks and racks of broadswords, short swords, crossbows, and longbows cover the walls down the entire lengthof the building. Mountain Haven might have been caught unprepared once, but they clearly won’t let that happen again.
It’s impossible to tell what Henry’s game is. I thought he’d be cautious about showing me where I can avail myself of more weapons, but he didn’t even hesitate to bring me here and show me how to get in. He must be trying to lull me into a false sense of security so I’ll let my guard down.
The few men in the room nod at Henry, then go back to their work sharpening blades and stocking arrows in quivers. On the far side of the room, a man dumps water from a small jar down the length of a blade. The runoff drips into a bucket below him. He holds the blade in place until it’s finished dripping, then hangs it on a hook on the wall. Finally, he puts a funnel in the jar, dumps the water inside, and restarts the sequence with a new blade.
“It’s well water,” Henry says. “As you probably noticed in the forest, it burns the Drained down to nothing.”
The wells hold sacred water, so it makes sense that it would burn the abomination of the Drained, but I’m shocked that we have never used it as a defense for the city. We’ve only ever thought of its healing properties. It never would have occurred to me to wield it like a weapon, but now I’m eager to get back and share. This could be the solution to protecting the city walls.
“I didn’t know until I saw you use it,” I whisper.
There’s judgment in Henry’s gaze.
“The well is only part of sacred ceremonies in Lunameade.”
He waves a hand to the wall. “We keep all the blades forged here dipped in well water so they’re ready for any attack.”
“How do you have access to well water?”
“You’re quite curious about that.” He continues to stroll down the central walkway.
I jog to catch up to him. “Can’t imagine why?”
“And I thought I wouldn’t answer.” He grins at me. “Unless, of course, you want to trade secrets. I’ll tell you where I get the water if you tell me why you murder men.”
I sigh. It’s not as if I thought it would be easy, but it would at least be nice if he didn’t get such pleasure out of goading me.
They must have someone sourcing them in Lunameade. I should tellKellan about it—maybe them taking from the well without permission is corrupting the water that flows through the well. But before I tell him, I need to understand what they’re using it for. Kellan can be a bit quick to assume he knows what’s best, and if the well water can truly give an edge against the Drained, that’s worth knowing. Even more interesting is the fact that he offered to trade for this knowledge, which means Henry knows how they source it.
He shepherds me back toward the entrance. “How about I take you to see some art? We’re more than just brutes here. I promise.”
