A slow, cold smile spread across Razia’s face, doing nothing to warm his expression or unfeeling eyes.
I nearly shivered.
“Haven’t you heard?” he asked, his voice slithering over me like serpents.
I cocked a singular brow. “I am in no mood for games, Razia. I have other things I need to be concerning myself with.”
“Clearly,” he deadpanned with a gesture toward the training below, his expression never faltering.
We stood like that, silence echoing between us as we stared each other down. I felt a trickle of power wind itself around my neck, but it disappeared before I could identify what it was—a ghost of a touch.
“The child has been delivered to my tribe. Their initial experiments proved . . . unsuccessful.” Razia pouted slightly, an expression that simply did not belong on that man. I wrinkled my nose in response.
“But no worries, Lady d’Hida. My worthiness is guaranteed for as long as the gods have need of me,” he cooed. “I’ve heard from my sources that they’ve discovered a way to keep her blood . . . untarnished forever. She will be a conduit for their Blood Magic for—” He spread his hands wide, but paused his monologue as what looked like snowflakes landed on his outstretched palms.
I frowned, watching as more thick flakes fell, landing on our hair and clothing. It quickly accumulated on the parapet and stone floor of the balcony.
“Snow?” I asked, but instantly knew that assessment was wrong. There was something . . . off about the substance falling from the sky. There was a slight sulfur and earthy scent to the thickening flakes, not the biting frostiness of snow.
I tentatively rubbed my fingers together, trapping some of the fallingfibers in my grip. The unknown substance felt almost silky as it mushed into my hand, leaving behind a dry, black-grey coating.
Ash.
My gaze instantly shot to the sky, searching for the source.
“Are we under attack?” Razia asked, a hint of panic in his voice. I would have smirked at his weakness, but was too preoccupied with locating what was burning.
I sniffed the wind, but only caught the faint scent of embers and earth, like a fire long since dead.
Nothing in Samyr, then.
My brow furrowed as I looked across the sea once more. The ash was thicker across the bay, and my eyes widened impossibly when a sudden gust of wind cleared the view long enough to see the Valley beyond.
A plume of ash so dark it was nearly black stretched heavenward from the Valley, its tendrils reaching higher than I could even comprehend. Periodically, lightning flashed within the vortex, the glimmer of lit embers twinkling throughout.
It would have been beautiful if I wasn’t suddenly frozen with fear.
A stronger gale of wind followed the first burst, sending the soldiers below scattering as they covered themselves from the falling ash that now swirled into their faces, biting against exposed skin and obscuring their vision.
“Fuck,” Razia cursed quietly, turning to head back into the war room. “She is coming,” he muttered, gesturing to the white dot that progressively grew as it streaked toward the palace.
Without another word or backward glance, Razia fled inside, his boots stirring up the thick ash that now covered nearly the entire balcony.
As his cloak swished behind him, something dropped from the pocket within, causing the cinders to plume upward as it thumped lightly to the ground.
I waited outside, letting the grey-black dust coat me nearly completely until I heard the door slam shut before moving to the object.
I swept it quickly from the floor, wrinkling my brow at the unknown signet stamp on the outside. With a deft sweep of my finger, I opened the letter and scanned the contents. My breath quickened as I read and reread the letter two, three, then four times. One of my hands came up to cover my mouth while the other clutched the paper in my shaking hand. The parchment rustled with my tremors, but I found myself unable to look away from the damming words written in bold ink on the page.
My skin was cold, sweat running in rivulets down my back and forehead as I grappled with the information Razia kept hidden in his cloak.
A quiet, terse knock on the door jarred me from my stupor, and I quicklycrumpled the letter into a ball, hiding both my fists behind my back like I was a child again, caught with a toy or sweet I was forbidden to have.
“Lady d’Hida.” I blew out a tense breath I didn’t realize I was holding, my lungs constricting painfully as I fought the urge to panic. I’d expected Razia to come storming back into the room, searching for the misplaced letter. Thankfully, it was simply one of the servants. “We need to prepare this room for Solace’s arrival.”
Did he drop it on purpose?I wondered, dread sinking into my bones with the implications of that thought.
I nodded, crushing the parchment into an even smaller ball.
