you know what a hunger stone is?” she asks, breath warm against my skin. I shake my head. “In times of drought, there are stones that are only exposed when the river runs so low. People mark them, so that, next time, they will know when they are to starve. Their appetite will go unfilled.” She runs my fingers over a cut in the stone. “It is a death marker.” I dip my mouth to hers but again she moves, and I raise my eyebrow in question. “You see the river now, though. This stone is long drowned. The water is free and powerful and raging.” This time, she brings my hand to her lips and sucks the
...more
