I hold out my palm and she drops the money into it.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” I say. “You just made me a tad richer, just because you didn’t think I had the balls.”
“Oh, I knew you had them,” Bloom says as she walks away. Over her shoulder, she adds, “I just wanted to see that pretty face bloody.”
Ravenna chuckles.
Just as she’s done patching me up, a shadow falls over us.
I lift my eyes to see Elder Arcon. At first, I think he’s here for Ravenna, but he levels his steady gaze on me and says, “Blood Sentineal. Walk with me, will you?”
Startled, I blink at him. But when I realize he’s serious, I rise and follow him inside the monastery.
CHAPTER THIRTY
JAX
We walk in silence.
The only sound is the soft drag of his robes over stone.
A man of few words. Got it.
My jaw throbs with every step, so I don’t bother breaking the silence.
Finally Elder Arcon’s steps halt when we reach a tall double door that has a mural of the mountain peaks and the sun setting behind them carved into the dark wood. Wordlessly, he opens it and enters.
I follow him.
The room is spacious, with very little furniture or windows. None, to be exact.
The left wall is covered with the biggest map I’ve ever seen. It’s a detailed mural mapping out part of Ekios.
Lots of mountains, and forests.
Wait a second.
It’s the map of the mountain range where we are now.
But it’s not the map that captures my attention. And it’s not even the large table in the middle that has miniature mountains, the monastery, and the surrounding forest carved into the tabletop. It’s what lives on the right wall.
The sheer amount of steel is stunning.
Blades of every length.
Coiled whips.
Bows strung and ready.
Crossbows resting like sleeping predators.
Traps I recognize from prison cells and battlefield graves.
It may not have surprised me to find something like this in the home of one of the Ezkai. But for monks to have such a collection of weapons displayed is worrisome.
The two monks standing by that wall look just as harmless as the ones we’ve encountered so far.
I find it hard to imagine them fighting in those robes.
