Priti presses her lips together. “You won peace…for a short time. But your king was betrayed, and the peace of your people was stolen. Even now those souls that remain on the other side lament that betrayal, thirsty for vengeance. Desperate for a chance to right the wrong that was done.”
“How much time has passed?” the specters ask in unison.
“Eons.”
“And our people?”
“Enslaved,” Priti says. “Their blood entwined with those of your oppressors.”
A soft wail rises around us, a lament that claws at my soul. One of the specters shifts and appears right in front of me, his fiery gaze boring into me.
“I sense the air in you, wild and untamed,” he says. “A storm waiting to rage, to put right the wrong that was done to us. Will you accept the mantle?”
I look to Priti, unsure what thismantleis.
She nods slightly. I trust her to lead me in this. I trust my instincts, so I focus on the specter, look into his glowing eyes, and speak. “I accept the mantle.”
A collective sigh fills the air around us. “Then so be it.”
All the specters fly toward me, a shock of energy rushes through me, and a fizzing and crackling sensation arches my back. My eyes snap wide open as a ball of flame coalesces behind my sternum. A scream bubbles up my throat. It burns and sears, eating at me, and yet the scream refuses to break free, vibrating in my throat like a trapped bird.
If I were not already dead, I would fear that the agony would end me.
But in the next breath, the inferno dims. The fire sinks into me, becoming something quiet. Present but no longer active.
The specters drift toward Priti.
“We know now why we could not leave,” they say. “But it is time. We are ready.”
Priti raises her hand, and a staff appears. Thick gnarled wood with a bulbous top, it exudes power. “Then allow me to take you home, my brave warriors.”
The specters dissolve to mist and pour into the staff in silvery streams of energy. The staff vanishes, and Priti’s attention drops to my chest. “It worked. They gave it to you.”
I track her gaze, my pulse quickening at the sight of a golden spiral spinning at my breastbone. “What is that?”
“It is the spiral of remembrance,” Priti says. “You’ll need it soon enough.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. In time.” She smiles with her eyes.
“Who were those djinn? You mentioned a war, and…are they connected to the hungry specters that live in the gorge in the land of the living?”
“How about we walk and talk. Because I don’t know about you, but I’m more than ready to get the fuck out of this place. The exit is on the other side of this gorge. Are you ready?”
All my questions suddenly mean nothing. The exit is close. The way back to Leela is within reach, and that’s all that matters. “I’m ready.”
Chapter 25
DO I CRAVE EVIL’S KISS?
LEELA
C’ael led me into a network of carefully crafted tunnels to a stone arch, opening into a cavern dappled with moonlight streaming in from massive apertures in the ceiling.
A shimmering body of water sat in the center of the chamber, and a towering figure stood looking out over it, his back to us.
I’d know that back anywhere.
