Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,18

in the hall before I got to the dining room where women work for free and get shitty tips.”

Daph shook her head. “No, someone shoved a bowl in my hands and told me to follow them while the older lady helped you put on your poncho.”

“Let me tell you about this lovely prison garment.” She tugged on the covering and went on to tell her cousin what Valori had told her about the men subjugating the women because they couldn’t keep it in their pants.

“That’s a bunch of bull hockey,” Daph replied.

She snorted. “Not quite what I said, but yeah. Then there were women serving the men and not eating themselves. Then to top it off, that bully showed no respect for what the women were doing for the men. Not to mention that women aren’t allowed to talk to men because of gender.”

Daphne laughed as they passed the throne room door. “I knew that would piss you off.” When they came to an intersection, Lilah guided them to the right. Daphne said, “I remember that case a couple years back when a woman who was a welder sued for discrimination. You were so awesome with the jury. I don’t see why you aren’t a partner at the office yet. The men there are idiots.”

Discrimination based on sex happened at more than blue-collar jobs. But she loved what she did, so she hadn’t complained since it was just her affected. The thing was she couldn’t stand to see an injustice. When someone was wronged, her inner demon flared to life, wanting revenge on the wrongdoer, to make him pay for the harm he’d caused.

She couldn’t beat the shit out of those people, so she took them to court.

“I’ve had enough of this place to last me forever,” she mumbled. “If they want to live in the stone age, then let them. But we are finding a way out if I have to crush every piece of rock to do it.”

“I forgot about that. How did you do that?”

She shrugged. “It just happened. I have no clue.” Lilah wiped her forehead. “It’s getting hot.”

“I noticed. I don’t think we're in the right tunnel. We’ve been walking too long.”

She scowled. “I think you’re right. We probably should’ve turned left instead of right.” When she pivoted on the ball of her foot, movement caught the edge of her eye, and she screamed from being startled. Daphne did the same. And holy shit.

It was him. This was the first time she had seen him up close and…all of him. Their training “uniform” of short-shorts type of covering outlined everything it hid. All she could do was stare at his perfection. Everything about him was fine, head to toe.

Yeah, so she understood how men could get riled up at seeing a woman scantily clad, but was she about to attack the man? No. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she had control over herself. Enough for the moment anyway. If she could keep it in her pants, so could the men here.

Her eyes fixed on his plump lips as he spoke. His voice was sweet music in her head. She breathed him in. He smelled like crisp, clean air like after a snowfall. Next thing she knew, he had his hand on her back, guiding her farther down the tunnel. Where were they going? She didn’t care as long as he was with her.

Then she saw boys coming out of a hole, coughing from the dust-laden air, carrying containers of crushed rock to dump into a huge cauldron. At the black pot, a young woman as wet as a fish worked a device that lowered the large kettle to the top of a lava flow. Wait, she wasn’t doused in water, but sweat. And the kids were mine laborers.

She stared back and forth between the two areas. She didn’t know which was worse. Which was the most significant, most unethical treatment on the planet?

Wanting to know what was going on, she went to the woman manning the cauldron.

“Don’t you have any water? When was your last break? Are you the only one doing this?”

The lady’s eyes widened, and she stepped back, closer to the edge leading into the lava.

“Stop!” Lilah said, holding her hands out. She slowly pointed. “Don’t fall in.” The woman glanced into the pot hovering just above the molten rock river. With a long hook, she rolled it toward her and to the side where stone molds in the shape