This Poisoned Tide: The Last Water Witch Book One

CHAPTER 42

The crowd at the Sea Dog had been growing since morntide, spilling out onto the walkways and street when the gathering inside swelled until the tavern seemed to fit to burst from the rafters.

Grimefell's most popular—and raucous—inn was used to its ale-swilling congregation, assembling to worship the barrel and the wine flask with a greater fervour than they'd ever paid homage to the dead gods, but Elara could see this was different. The people of the slums were well-known for how brutally ruthless they could be. Here, it was every rat for himself. Where a man could be persuaded to turn in his life-long neighbour to The Order if it meant an extra water ration, or extra coin in his pocket. Where people feared to speak louder than a whisper when discussing the King and did so only in the company of those they knew for certain they could trust, for even whispers were treason.

There were no whispers now.

Now, there was outrage and angered talk, simmering at the edges until Elara could practically see the smoke rising from the crowd, tiny sparks of fury and fear flickering from within the crush of irate faces and raised voices.

From her vantage point across the street, concealed in a nook in an alley directly opposite, Elara pulled the hood of her cloak further over her head. Kelena had helped mask her hair yestertide, pulverising foxwort seeds into a paste and massaging it into Elara's tresses until they took on a reddened hue similar to that of Clova Dell.

Once it was dry, Elara had stared at herself in the mirror for the longest time. Her mother had had red hair. Not like this, but deeper, with streaks of the richest carmine running from root to tip. Under the water, the base colour always seemed darker but the shades of red always caught a vibrant glimmer.

Looking into the mirror and seeing her mother staring back made her heart flutter in her chest and Elara wasn't sure if it was a good feeling. It had made her massage her breastbone with her knuckles, wishing she could still the quiver she felt there.

Or maybe the tremble that had lodged itself behind the bone was for Juda.

When he'd finally left the bedchamber to return to the novice barracks for the final time, Elara had watched him leave with that same feeling inside her throat, which was just as well, for they had exhausted words as much as they had exhausted their bodies. She knew not when she would see him next, if at all, and as much as she'd wanted to say everything to him then—let the words gush from her mouth in a flood—she found she could say nothing more. Instead, they had dressed in silence, and he had crushed his mouth to hers one last time—the taste of their sex still lingering on his lips—and then he had gone, leaving her to this cramped attic room where the window was too high through which to watch him walk away.

Probably a good thing. She would do as he said and focus on what she could control. She couldn't stop him from walking away, any more than he could make her board the Dreynian trade ship. Instead, she would concentrate her efforts on the plan at hand.

A plan that had taken root far quicker than she'd imagined it would.

Bazel had got to work planting the first seeds with the other slum rat kids, whispering in darkened corners with Erron Rhomm and his gang, who'd ran on bare feet or worn-down boots to the next alley, and the next. Anton had murmured into the ears of the other courtesans and any Grimefell resident who had extra coin in their pocket for his services—for he was not above taking his wage from the lower echelon. Kelena had lit a spark in the tavern, watching it catch from person to person, the tiny flames dancing over each in turn.

Elara knew the fire would grow, but not like this. Her heart thumped hard in her chest as she watched the crowds gather. Could this really be the start of it all? She'd been firm in her insistence to Juda that he underestimated Grimefell, but even she hadn't been able to suppress those little itches of doubt that had scratched at her skin.