We step into the portal chamber in the Corehalls, and Sorina stumbles as the disorientation hits her, her legs buckle, and she pitches forward. I catch her by the arms before she goes down.
My hands close around her upper arms, and she’s so small in my grip that I’m terrified I’ll hurt her. She looks up at me with wide, unfocused eyes, and the ache in my chest turns into warmth, real and spreading, filling spaces that have been cold and dead for months. I want this to last one second longer.
She jerks back, pulling her arms free in a full-body flinch. She turns her face away, folds her arms around herself, and refuses to look at me.
I step back to give her space, keeping my hands at my sides where she can see them.
Of course she doesn’t want me touching her. I don’t know what was done to her, who left those bruises on her, how many times it happened, or what was said while it was happening. I don’t know what pushed her to the point where selling herselfto a monster was the only option left, and I don’t know what my hands on her arms just brought back for her. I hate that I might have, for even a second, been another thing she had to endure.
I say nothing. I wait and let her decide what happens next.
Chapter Three
Sorina
I haven’t seen the sky since we stepped through the portal. The corridor ahead is wide and carved from pale gray stone that runs with thin veins of quartz. The ceiling is so far above me that I have to tilt my head back to see where the walls end and the roof begins. None of this was built for humans.
Korr walks ahead of me, slow and heavy. His steps land with a dull sound that carries down the corridor. I walk behind him and stare at the cracks that run across his back and shoulders, deep fissures splitting the stone of his skin. Something green grows in some of them – moss or lichen, I’m not sure – clinging to the crevices the way it does on old rocks by a riverbank. I don’t know what any of it means. I’ve never met a golem before today, or any kind of monster, for that matter. I once checked out a book from the library in Tessana about the different species that live beyond human territory, but golems weren’t covered, and most of what was in there read more like rumor than fact.
“This is Steinheim,” Korr says.
His jaw moves with visible effort, and his words come out drawled.
“It was carved directly from the rock, not built on top of it. We cut halls, corridors, and chambers inward, so the city and the mountain are one and the same. There are five levels. At the bottom are the Narrowhalls. That’s the human quarter. It has lower ceilings and narrower corridors, taverns, market stalls, and workshops built for humans. There’s a tavern called the Pickaxe that’s very popular. It gets loud after the mining shifts end.” He glances back at me. “You will probably want to be among your kind until you get used to us golems.”
I can’t tell if it’s an invitation or a warning.
“Above the Narrowhalls are the Forgehalls,” he continues. “That’s where the diamonds are cut and polished. Golems and humans work there together. Above that are the Corehalls. This is where we are now, and it’s the civic center. The governing council meets here, and the common halls are also here for meals and gatherings. The council has four golem seats and one human seat.”
“A human sits on your council?” I ask.
“The humans who live here deserve a voice in how things are run,” he says.
Korr leads me to what looks like a lift shaft and steps onto the platform, which is a single slab of cut rock hanging from thick iron chains. I step on after him, and the platform barely shifts under my weight, though it groaned when he got on. He pulls a lever, the chains go taut, and a motor somewhere above us hums to life. The platform rises, and I look at the level below.
I notice that copper wiring runs through grooves in the walls, feeding into lights set in carved alcoves. The mountain has electricity! I expected a cave, but this is an honest city.
“Is there a way out of the mountain besides the portal?” I ask.
He doesn’t hesitate. “There’s a main entrance on the lower slope. To get there, there are stairs between every level, carved in spirals, and the lifts as well.”
I notice how easily he answers, because my husband never answered a question directly. Bran would change the subject, or tell me I didn’t need to worry about things, or say something that sounded right but wasn’t. Korr doesn’t go in circles, but that doesn’t mean I trust him.
Korr’s quarters are in the Highhalls, where the golems live. The door is wide enough that he walks through without issue, and the living room beyond it matches him in scale. The ceiling is high, the furniture is heavy stone and dark wood, and a fireplace set into the far wall is already burning. Thick wovenrugs cover most of the floor, in deep reds and browns that look expensive. The warmth hits me the moment I step inside, and I curl my fingers against my palms as I realize how cold my hands have been.
I look around while Korr waits near the door. There are shelves carved into the stone walls, and on them I see polished stones of different colors and cuts, and pieces of jewelry on careful display. Rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces that catch the light from the fire. The work is fine and precise, nothing I would expect from hands the size of his. There’s also a window covered by a sheer curtain.
“Did you make these?” I ask.
“Yes. It’s what I do when I’m not working.” He nods toward the corridor we came through. “My workshop is just down the hall. I spend a lot of my time there, so if you ever need me and I’m not here, that’s where I’ll be.”
I glance at his hands while he talks. His fingers are thick and blunt, and they don’t close all the way, curling inward and stopping short of making a fist. I don’t understand how those hands shaped the thin silver chain on the top shelf, but I don’t know anything about golems, so maybe this is normal for them.
He motions for me to continue into a short hall that leads to another room.
“This one is yours,” he says.
The bedroom has its own fireplace, already lit, and its own bathing room through a doorway to my right. I can see the edge of a stone tub carved directly into the floor, like a pool.
