Free Of Sea and Stone (Secrets of Itlantis) by Kate Avery Ellison Page A

after Crakea as sweat prickled across my back and the palms of my hands. Would she terrorize me? Berate me? Throw things at me?
    We reached the quarters with the waterfall and the beautiful glass walls that let in the light of the sea. A girl with glossy black hair sprawled on the bed, her back to us. She looked roughly my age.
    “Mistress Lyssia,” Crakea said. “Did you enjoy your dancing lessons?”
    “Oh, about as much as anybody could enjoy torture,” the mistress said without turning around.
    “Your father is hosting dinner with the visiting diplomats from Volcanus and Magmus, as well as the governor and his son,” Crakea said. “Your father said you could have the option of dining alone, since you were in a foul mood.”
    “Foul mood?” Lyssia laughed. “I suppose that is an accurate description, since I’m forced to go to those horrible classes he chose.”
    “Would you like to join them, or have your dinner brought here?” Crakea asked, ignoring her comments about the master.
    “Us?” Lyssia turned. Her eyes were large, like she was in a state of perpetual surprise, her face was thin and angular, and she had a tiny birthmark on one cheekbone.
    “Who are you?” she asked, giving me a crooked smile.
    “She is nothing,” Crakea said, swatting a hand at me as if I were a fly. “Your father got her to replace Glis. She will be helping me.”
    “I liked Glis,” Lyssia said mournfully.
    “Glis was slow and ignorant.”
    Lyssia ignored the doumeu. “You’re probably about my age,” she mused. “What’s your name?”
    “Aemi,” I said. My voice sounded rusty, and I cleared my throat.
    “Aemi. That’s a beautiful name. I like it.”
    Crakea frowned. I didn’t think she liked seeing me get positive attention from the mistress. “Dinner here or in the dining room, Mistress Lyssia?”
    Lyssia shrugged one slender shoulder. “Here, I suppose. That way I don’t have to eat with Cal.” To me, she explained in a conspiratorial tone, “He’s the son of the governor, and he keeps visiting and inviting me to walk the gardens—apparently his favorite place—with him. I’d rather not. My father has another visitor from Primus named Dahn, and he’s quite handsome. I wish he’d ask me to walk the gardens. Have you seen him?”
    “You shouldn’t speak so to the Indentureds, as though they are your equals,” Crakea said. “It breeds bad habits.”
    Lyssia froze. She turned her head and looked Crakea in the eye. “You shouldn’t tell me what to do, doumeu. It breeds bad habits.”
    Crakea’s eyes tightened, but she said nothing. She shot me a furious look as if this were somehow my fault.
    “Now bring me my supper,” Lyssia said. “Aemi, you stay.”
    “She can’t stay long,” Crakea said angrily. “She has other duties to attend to.”
    Crakea left, shutting the door behind her. Lyssia looked me over again.
    “Don’t mind her,” she said. “She hates everything.”
    “So I’ve been told.”
    Lyssia smiled. “If you need anything, let me know. We aren’t all monsters in this house.” She paused, gazing at me steadily as if looking for something. “Do you think I’m pretty?”
    I hesitated. I could already feel my cheek stinging from the slap that would follow an honest answer. “Yes.”
    She flopped down again. “That was a test to see how honest you’d be, and you lost. But I still like you. Listen, I’m not pretty. But I’m rich, and that is just as well when it comes to matchmaking, so believe me, I don’t care.” She rolled over on the bed and opened one of the drawers of the bureau beside it. As I watched, she removed a bundle of tools and unrolled it on the bed. She began to sort them. Some were long and slender, like very thick needles, and others were blunt and short.
    “What is that?” I asked, before I could help myself.
    “It’s a lock picking kit. I like to pick locks. Do you like to do anything in particular?”
    “I used to like spear