Ash Princess (The Deviant Future #6) - Eve Langlais Page 0,21
go. Nowhere safe at any rate.
“Kayda.” He rolled her name on his tongue.
“And you are Cam?” she queried to be sure.
“Yes. How did you find me?”
He struggled to rise, and she suddenly remembered Gorri’s warning. Too late to put back on the rope. Instead, she assisted him in sitting, noticing the wince as he managed to get upright.
“I came across you by accident.”
“Where?” He rubbed at his face. “Actually, it matters less where you found me and more where I am.”
“Somewhere you should have stayed away from.” The words slipped from her without thought.
“Am I still in the Diamond Kingdom?”
He was aware of where he’d been travelling. She nodded. “Yes. And you are from?”
“The Marshlands.”
“Which is in Sapphire?” Best to confirm.
“Not anymore. The Marshes are now their own kingdom. State. Fiefdom. Whatever you want to call it.” He coughed. Hard. She tossed him a cloth knowing what to expect. When he was done, he grimaced at the mess in it. “Gross.”
She went to grab it, but he closed his fist around it. “You shouldn’t look at that.”
“I assure you I’ve seen it before.” Just not recently. The ash sickness started with a cough that got harsher and harsher—bloodier, too, until the person expired, their lungs too full of fluid to breathe. It took her mother. It wasn’t something she ever forgot.
She tugged the cloth from Cam’s grip, and he reluctantly allowed her to take it. She tossed it onto the floor beside his dirty clothes.
Returning to his side, she felt his forehead.
“I don’t have a fever,” he grumbled.
“You might not know if you did,” she retorted. Although he proved correct. His skin remained cool and dry.
“I’ve got a good constitution.”
“Evidently or you’d have died already.” She pointed to his chest. A muscled chest that drew the eye. “How does it feel when you breathe?”
“A bit tight. But it will pass I’m sure.”
She snorted. “Doubtful. Did no one warn you that the air in Diamond is toxic?”
“They did.”
“Yet you still came?”
His lips quirked in a masculine fashion that caused a strange tingle. “What can I say? I’m a man who likes to live on the edge.”
“And fall off it apparently,” she quipped.
For a moment, he looked taken aback, and then he grinned. Widely. “I guess I did. Lucky for me I landed somewhere soft.”
“Is that what you call a rampaging river?”
“It was a bit brisker than I’m used to.”
“The good news is it cleaned out your wounds. The surprise is no infection set in. However, I should warn you that the same taint that’s in the air is in the water, too.”
“I would have been surprised if it wasn’t. Is all the water in this place affected?” He nodded toward the washbasin.
“Yes.”
He eyed her. “You don’t look sick.”
“Because I’m not. I’m one of those immune to the effects of the taint.”
“One? You mean there are other survivors?” His brows arched. “We thought everyone in the kingdom must be dead.”
“Almost. There aren’t many of us left.”
“I’m sorry.”
To her surprise, he actually sounded sincere.
“Sorry, for what? You’re not the one who killed us.”
“How come you haven’t left the kingdom? The Marshlands might be a bit savage, but you could have carved out a new place for yourselves.”
“We can’t leave.”
“What do you mean can’t?”
Her turn to ask questions. “How did you get over the lava river?”
“You mean the big crack in the ground? A giant tree made a bridge.”
“You mean we can cross?”
He shook his head. “Not on the one I used. It fell in the hole.”
Her lips turned down. “That’s a shame.”
“If it’s a bridge you need, just build one.”
“We would if we could.”
“Why can’t you?”
She pointed to the wounds on his shoulders. “The dragons won’t let us.”
Chapter 5
It took Cam a second to grasp what Kayda had said. Mostly because he was sure he’d misunderstood. Obviously stunned by her long hair and delicate-featured beauty to the point he didn’t hear her right. “Excuse me? What won’t let you leave?”
“The dragons,” she stated without a hint of mockery. Yet she had to be joking.
“Dragons aren’t real.” They were the monsters in fictional stories. The impossible creatures featured in ancient literature. They guarded treasure, and princesses, from those who would steal them.
“Maybe they don’t exist in your kingdom, but I assure you, they thrive in ours.”
“They? How many are we talking?”
She rolled her shoulders. “Impossible to tell, but enough of them that they have us pinned inside the tunnels.”
“They hunt humans,” he stated to ensure he understood her correctly.