It silenced him at once, that strong, demanding motion.
The young woman reached into her duster, revealing an ancient journal from the deep pockets. A Dohrsaran horse, fierce as it reared up on the front cover. The girl slammed it down on the grass, just before the toes of Karr’s heavy S2 boots.
“This is your sigil, is it not?”
She knelt before him, opened the journal, and with practiced finges, flipped to the very first page.
The sketch was faded, drawn in black. But Karr found himself leaning forward as he recognized it. He knew it like he knew his own sketches in his quarters aboard the ship.
It was a phoenix, a mythical bird of ancient lore.
And it was the very same one painted on the bottom of theStarfall.
Chapter 14
Sonara
“Ten years ago,” Sonara said, tapping her fingertip on the worn page as she knelt before the Wanderer. This one was much smaller than the others, a square jaw and plain face barely visible from inside the tinted helmet. She’d seen him step away from the group, then slip quietly away, unnoticed. On instinct, she’d gone after him. “A ship with this insignia came in the night. And yesterday, your ship arrived, bearing the same exact fowl.”
Her heart was a war drum pounding against her ribs.
“I saw it with my own eyes. You have been to Dohrsar before, and you didnotleave empty-handed.”
The Wanderer, behind his mask, simply stared at her. As if he hadn’t understood her words.
“You’re wrong,” he said suddenly. She couldn’t sense his aura beyond the damned suit, couldn’t decipher a truth from a lie, a threat from peace. But she did not miss when his gaze dropped to the sketch again, and narrowed just the slightest before he looked back up at her. “We’ve never been to Dohrsar. I’d remember if we had. But if you want to talk to my captain—” His words trailed off as he glanced back towards the table where the queens and Jira sat,still speaking to their leader. None had made a move,yet,towards this plan Azariah and Thali spoke of.
But the suns were beginning to dip lower, the sky shifting colors as they did.
Dusk would arrive soon, and Sonara would lose her chance, when the Wanderers moved.
On instinct, she reached out and grabbed the Wanderer’s wrist.
The strange armor he wore was cold. Lifeless. Almost skeletal, like a sand beetle.
She dropped it at once.
“You know the truth,” she said. Her hand went back towards Lazaris. “You stole him.”
Slow down, Sonara,her conscience whispered. But her blood was getting hot.
She scooped up the journal and held it out again, the pages rippling in the wind. “What did you do with Soahm of Soreia?”
“Touch me again, and you’ll regret it,” the Wanderer said.
Inside, Sonara’s curse writhed, trying to escape its cage.
She hadn’t meant for it to go this way. But he was smaller than the others, andalone,and since they hadn’t arrived with their ship as she’d hoped, she’d taken the chance to seek her answers the easy way first.
“Sonara. That’s enough.” Behind her, Jaxon stood at the edge of the crowd, eyes pleading. “This is not the time.”
Oh, but it was. She’d been waiting for it to be so for ten long years. “Back away, Jaxon.”
He shook his head. “Please.” His eyes flitted towards the Wanderer leader, the queens and the king. Her mother would take notice soon.Jirawould take notice, and perhaps recognize the very girl who’d bathed his throne room in blood.
Sonara turned back to the lone Wanderer. She had only moments.
“Tell me the truth.”
