Releasing my hand, Eleos adjusted his sling. “Don’t bother her for no reason, Seth. This is taxing for us.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to find Seth’s consciousness. “Your thoughts feel grumpy, Seth.”
“I am grumpy,” Seth said aloud.
Percy cooed. “Aw. Does the prince-ling need a treat?”
Before Seth could respond, Seraphim touched my shoulder. “Ready?”
Percy slipped between the two men. “Off we go—can’t keep a lady waiting. The pyramid isincredible, El. You’re going to love it.”
Smiling, I followed Seraphim in the opposite direction, feeling Seth’s gaze on my back until we turned a corner.
“What’s our job?” I asked.
“The perfect task for two con men,” she said, pulling Phaedrus’ hood over his head. He swatted her hand away.
For a moment, I almost believed they were two normal siblings.
Lowering her voice, Seraphim leaned in. “Cerys sent us to one of her allies. We’re to help them, to earn their trust.”
Nodding, I scanned the crowd. People here had much darker skin and dressed in loose clothes to help keep cool while beating away the sand. I tried to imagine Seraphim’s wife, tried to imagine what kind of woman could match Seraphim’s fire.
“Your wife was born here, right?” I asked, turning back to her. “What was she like?”
“Rhea was born with fire in her soul.” Seraphim smiled fondly. “Her parents had been punished by the Morai, condemned to another cycle. Her mother worked at the palace, cleaning. Her father hauled cargo. She grew up seeing how weary they were. How old. Always missing the families they had been ripped away from—not knowing if they’d been granted death or were still out there somewhere.”
“Why wouldn’t they try to find them?”
“Anyone who defied the god of life’s gift and strayed from the Morai’s fate,” Seraphim explained, “was sent to the Duat.”
The dread humming beneath this country made more sense by the day. How many people pined for someone they could never see again? Those on their third, fourth cycle must’ve thought like Seth: love was a pointless thing to pursue.
Phaedrus looked around, rubbing his arm with discomfort. “Have you run into a psyche yet, Aethra?”
“Yes,” I said, wincing at the memory. “Do they all go mad here? From that song?”
“I can’t blame them,” he said. “It’s already driving me toward the edge.”
“Hm.” Seraphim raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were alreadyatthe edge.”
“It’s a figure of speech, sister.”
Holding up a hand, Seraphim stopped us. “See any guards?”
Wandering to a street corner, I leaned down to pluck a bright pink flower from a prickly bush. Two guards, their backs covered with wing-shaped cloaks, stood at the edge of a channel a few paces away. But they weren’t looking.
Lingering, I envisioned Seth wearing their purple uniforms and winged helms. Back then, he would have been happy, free from the burdens he carried today. Smiling,genuinely.
Rising, I returned to Seraphim. “All clear.”
Nodding, she ducked under an inn’s sign and pushed open the door, ushering me inside. I shouldn’t have expected much, but the dismal state of the place disheartened me. Stained, uneven stone floors felt rough under my feet, and the dim lighting painted unfriendly shadows across the low tables.
Striding past me, Seraphim approached the woman who walked by, carrying a basket of towels. Setting her basket down, the woman rubbed a smudge of dirt from her cheek and folded her arms. “Need a room?”
“A friend of a friend recommended your bunkhouse,” Seraphim said. “I’d like to stay the night.”
Though her expression did not change, light entered the woman’s dull eyes. “Come this way, then,” she said, beckoning us to follow her down the stairs.
