Knight of Wands (A Steampunk Fantasy Adventure Novel) (Devices of War Book 2) by SM Blooding

enough food to sustain us, though, to be honest, the caves provide more than enough. I doubt we’ll have to gather much.”
    “That’s great news.”
    He stopped at the food table and picked up a few things.
    I didn’t know what I was looking at. Were they fruits? Vegetables? Obviously, they were safe. I didn’t doubt that. A green, oblong fruit with red fuzz about the size of my thumb lay on the table. I didn’t even know how to break into it.
    Garrett threw his head back and laughed. “Everything here is safe. Here. Try this.” He tossed me something with curly spikes.
    I caught it and stared. “How do I eat this?”
    Chuckling, he split one open with his thumbs, and popped whatever was inside into his mouth.
    With a shrug, I did the same. It was blood red inside and whatever it was looked like a soft fruit. It was sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted and covered my tongue with a slight film that dissolved slowly. Warmth shot through me. “What is this?”
    Garrett chuckled and turned back to the table. “We call it a prickleberry.”
    My eyes widened as I nodded. “That is a very apt name.”
    “Yes.”
    We munched in silence, listening to the waterfall and murmurs of the gathered people.
    “You want out of those clothes?” Garrett asked.
    “Yes, I do.” I loathed everything about this uniform. I wanted to burn it.
    He gestured to someone behind me, took two more prickleberries, and headed along the wall of the cavern.
    I followed suit, grabbing a few strips of dried meat. The spray of the waterfall pressed against my cheeks.
    “So, tell me how you’re not a knight.” Garrett came to a circle of boulders and sank down to the floor.
    I sat across from him, leaning against a boulder. The ground was sandy and comfortable. “I’m not quite sure to be honest.”
    “When dealing with women in general, things are often confusing. When dealing with the queens, they always are.”
    I chuckled and ripped off a piece of the dried meat.
    “We all heard of your sacrifice after you saved Sky City.”
    I hadn’t intended it to be a sacrifice. Replaying that moment in my mind, I felt like a complete idiot. All I’d wanted to do was to save one of my best friends from being captured by the Hands. Instead, I’d ended up offering myself. And for what? Just how gullible was I? “Do you have word on how the Families are doing?”
    He nodded, but waved off my question. “What happened? You were there for weeks.”
    I sighed and leaned my head back, staring at the ceiling high overhead. It glowed green and blue and purple. “Dyna drugged me so I couldn’t use my Mark, and then one day, she let me out. I talked to Nix. We had an argument and they agreed to let me go.”
    His eyebrows shot up.
    “Then they tried to trick me into telling them how to get into contact with the Families, which I refused to do. Then I told them all to eat dirt and flew off.”
    “Not alone. I hear I have Hands on my island.”
    I sucked air through my teeth. “It was the only way out of the city. I didn’t want to bring them here. What do you call this place?”
    “Peacock Rock, and I do appreciate the sentiment, but what do I do with them? They’re on my island. They could stumble onto a tunnel at any time.”
    “Make sure they get lost if they leave the plane?”
    Garrett rolled his eyes.
    I didn’t know what else to tell him. “What about the Families? How are the Ino? Shankara? How is my fleet? Asim City?”
    “Is it true that you have the power to negotiate a treaty?”
    I scratched the back of my neck. “I don’t know, Garrett. Those women are so . . . ” I pulled my lips in and shook my head searching for the right words. “I don’t know. They’re manipulative and conniving, slimy. I have no idea what happened up there. I thought I was handling the situation, but I’m pretty sure all I did was fall further into their trap.”
    Garrett’s gaze was distant as he studied the sand between us. “They are tricky that