KINGDOM OF THE STONE -- a Wattpad featured novel

Chapter Thirty Six

Charissa sat on the edge of the bed watching Garanth explore the room, playing with odds and ends he'd found while she fought back the urge to throw up. She'd lain awake, occasionally getting up to vomit or fill the chamber pot with diarrhea while little Garanth had snored his peaceful little baby snores all night. Now he was awake and wanting to play while she waited impatiently for Apaidia to come and watch him so she could get some rest. It seemed to her that Apaidia woke increasingly later each day as if she were not a servant, but had gone back to being a daughter of the household, or perhaps something else. The other servants, all of whom Amantis had hired and filled the house with, had all begun to talk about her behind her back and though she never quite heard the words, she could guess at their meanings from their vicious smiles.

The door slowly creaked open and Apaidia poked her head into the room. "Are you well?"

"No! And I'll thank you for not coming so late in the future."

Apaidia flounced into the room, wearing a new and expensive dress. "I'm sorry, Mahd, but I was helping your husband."

"Helping? What help did he need from you?"

"Oh, he just needed a little help finding a place to... store something."

The stupid cow blushed furiously and Charissa felt shock and cold rage wash over her.

Apaidia covered an embarrassed smile with her hand, bracelets of lapis-lazuli clattering on her wrist.

Charissa snatched at the bracelets. "Where did you get those? Did you steal them?"

"No!" She looked genuinely surprised. "They were a gift."

"Amantis gave those to me; he thought he could buy my affections. I threw them back in his face."

"Well, perhaps he decided to give them to someone who would be more appreciative," she replied with a smug expression.

"That necklace was mine!" Charissa snarled at the realization. She snatched it, breaking the strand, sending pearls flying around the room. She clutched the remains of the necklace, waving it in Garanth's direction. "Watch the baby," she growled and stormed out of the room, heading for Amantis' main receiving room.

This was too low. To give her things to his mistress! She intended to publicly expose her husband's infidelity in an as embarrassing a manner as possible and put an end to it once and for all. If she had to live in miserable matrimony, he would as well.

Charissa heard a heavy wooden pole rumble on the stone tiled floor and paused at the receiving room's entrance to listen in on Amantis' irritated response.

"What is this?"

She peered around the corner at the log-sized pole covered in strange engravings and clods of dirt. Amantis stared down at it with an expression of suspicion and irritation.

"We pulled it from one of the fields unaffected by the blight. The locals said that an oracle called Karux put it there to stop the blight," Kaelis said.

Karux? Charissa gasped, her heart pounding so hard she feared it might burst from her chest. He still lived!

A spasm of disgust crossed Amantis' face. He clutched at the pouch hanging from his belt and took a step back.

That accursed stone, Charissa thought. Everything started going wrong when he found it.

"Why did you bring that here?" Amantis demanded.

"We thought we might make copies to end the blight here."

"Why would we want to do that? Do you think the people would allow us to take their food if others weren't starving? Do you think they'll continue to sell their sons and daughters to us for our promise to take care of them if they can take care of themselves? We have to keep them dependent on us or we will lose all the power we've gained!"