Read Online Daughters of Ruin by K. D. Castner - Free Book Online

against the rocks of their desire. No good salesman or storyteller would. She would be like water—flowing and unstoppable. She would read her audience, and she would give them what they wanted—for a price, even if that price was something as begrudging as their respect. Or, at least, the inability for them to hold their noses up and claim their queen superior, as they always did.
    Cadis was Findish, after all. And if she told the right story, she had to believe they would listen.
    A cadet cut herself on her shield, taking the blowback from an opponent’s mace. The crowd roared its approval once again.
    Cadis watched from the conductor’s pit as she waited for her archery exhibition. She had warmed up already. By herself, speaking the words that calm, breathing the rhythm she had long ago established to steady herself—the rhythm of a ship at sea, a metered verse, an even fight. The war drum in her chest pounded.
    Cadis felt the beads of sweat forming at the nape of her neck, under her long dreads, the droplets pooling and finally sliding down her back, under the leather breastplate armor.
    She wore crimson and gold, the colors of Meridan, a gesture—maybe futile—toward unity . . . or at the very least, an evasion of the previous year’s insult, when she defeated Meridan’s future queen wearing Findish green.
    Cadis had no intention of being any less proud of her skills, but it might appease the crowd that she salute them in this way, not to mentioned the convenient fact that there would be no rematch with Rhea.
    On the coliseum floor, only two cadets remained standing in the open melee—one lumbering she-bear with double clubs, the other a scout with several open wounds and nothing but a trapper’s knife.
    The people of Meridan cheered on the giant, the obvious favorite. They had no sense of good drama.
    Cadis adjusted the greaves on her forearms, which protected her from the recoil of her bow. She should have had Hannah—her maid—help her tighten the straps, but Cadis had dismissed her a few days ago, when she’d caught Hannah rifling through her private drawers.
    There was nothing to find. Cadis had no part in any Findish rebellion—if such a conspiracy even existed. She was loyal to Declan, though no one believed it. But she wouldn’t tolerate maids spying. It was too close to mutiny to be overlooked. She put the seal of her father’s guild on a promissory banknote and gave it to Hannah before sending her away. Any merchant of Findain would redeem it for a small fortune in dry goods. At least the maid wouldn’t go around claiming the Findish were as pinch-purse as people said.
    Cadis felt a gruff hand clasp her shoulder and another pull at the strap.
    â€œWhere’s Hannah?” said Marta as she adjusted Cadis’s armor.
    â€œI set her adrift,” said Cadis. And then she added, “Thank you. What are you doing down here?”
    â€œI came to help,” said Marta. “You need a squire.” She looked up from the harnesses long enough to catch Cadis’s eye.
    â€œSo you knew,” said Cadis.
    â€œOf course,” said Marta.
    â€œWhy’d you ask?”
    â€œI knew that part. Now tell me something else. Why you sent her away.”
    Cadis clenched a bit. It was vaguely shameful to admit. “She was spying on me.”
    â€œDid she find anything good?” said Marta.
    â€œNo,” said Cadis quickly.
    Marta patted the armor plates. They were secure.
    â€œToo bad,” said Marta. “When I suspected people were searching my goods, I used to leave a dagger with their name engraved into the blade for them to find.”
    Cadis laughed. “Really? A knife? Really?”
    Marta nodded. Cadis laughed again.
    â€œThey’d run out of my tent, wet in the pants.”
    The giant made short work of the scout. A club to the jaw. A splatter of blood and teeth. Cheering and ecstasy. Blood-mad