Are they even going to be needed?
If Roshan is king, no doubt he’ll make sure all those people in Nyriell are safe and get to live the lives they deserve. That’s what the Dahaka had been fighting for—the simple right to choose how they want to live.
The House of Fomalhaut denied having any hand in the existence of death magi or knowledge of any Elonian prophecy involving Morvarid’s rituals. The rest of the magi have gone to ground, but as Vena said, the fates will slumber until they’re summoned... if Fero tries to rise again.
In the end, the newspapers proclaimed that King Javed and the queen mother had been killed during a Scav attack, and the Dahaka had been the ones to save the day—along with the life of the future king. I feel sad that the Scavs had been blamed, when they were only doing Javed’s bidding, but then I remember that Vogon had tried to kill me. That had beenhischoice, no one else’s, and he’d paid the price for it.
The Dahaka were hailed as the heroes of Oryndhr. Little did the houses know that their precious successor had been the leader of the Dahaka all along. But that’s Roshan’s secret to tell.
“Suraya?”
I turn to see my father standing in the doorway, his face covered in soot and grime. He has spent the better part of the week cleaning out the rubble and putting up scaffolding to rebuild the tavern walls. “Papa,” I say, rushing into his arms, uncaring of his dusty clothes. “Where’s Amma?”
He laughs his deep belly laugh. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it that it makes me laugh, too. “Where do you think she is? In the kitchen.”
“Good, because I’m starving.” Hugging him tightly, I snuggle into his comforting warmth and sigh. Sometimes all you need is a hug from someone older and wiser than you. After a long while, I release him and search his face. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Amma told me that when you and Mama left Kaldari, you ran because of Morvarid and what she wanted to do with me.”
He nods sadly, propping his shoulder against the doorjamb but still cuddling me to him. “We had our suspicions about her devotion to the death god.” He brushes a strand of pale hair from my cheek with a sad look and then lightly touches the now barely visible runes on my forearms. “We thought these could protect you, keep you from her.”
“These runes are Mama’s?”
“Yes, and yours.”
“Then why did you let me go to Kaldari when the invitation came?”
He sighs. “Poor judgment. I kick myself every day for it. But I foolishly assumed that the runes would work and that Morvarid had no reason to know who you were. Why would she? We were so well hidden for years. For all she knew, we died in the desert. You’d never displayed any signs of the gifts Nasrin had, and you seemed so happy for the chance to visit the palace. I hoped you would be safe for a few days.” Frowning, he pauses, taking my hands in his and thumbing the stars on my palms. “Like I said, I was foolish, and I have regretted it every day since. I should have foreseen that these would make an appearance.”
“How could you? They only did—” I break off, my mind racing as I consider exactly when my power had materialized and when I’d seen the first vision of the crone... the very day the summons had come. Papa’s brow tightens at my expression as he waits for me to continue. “It was when I received the invitation.”
“Morvarid’s work.” He grinds his teeth in frustration. “I thought we had erased any record of your birth chart, but clearly that wasn’t the case. More death magic at work, if she could dig up buried information from long-gone record keepers and forge an identifying spell.”
It makes sense. The queen must have used hidden runes on each invitation to make my magic awaken. She had plotted this ever since my parents had fled her reach. She had waited nearly a quarter of a century for me to come to her.
No wonder she’d been so pissed off in the temple.
“I should have put my foot down and insisted you marry Cyrill,” Papa says jokingly.
“Not a chance!” I snort, shaking my head. “It’s not like you had much of a choice. You are not to blame, Papa.”
“I could have gone with you.”
“And done what?” I ask gently. “You might have been hurt in the Dahaka attack on the palace.”
“I would have kept you safe.”
“You’ve always done that,” I say, swallowing past the lump in my throat. “Mama said that I was strong, but I don’t get that strength only from her; I get it from you, too. Thank you for taking care of me for all this time. I don’t know that I would have survived otherwise.”
“That’s my job,” he mumbles, sounding strangely choked.
I grin at him. “Your job should be to take care of Amma now.” His brows draw together and he opens his mouth, no doubt to argue. I cut him off before he can say anything stupid. “You love her, and she loves you. I think it’s time to make it official. And with me gone, you’re going to need each other.”
Disappointment clouds his face. “So you’re leaving then?”
“For now,” I say softly. “I need to be in Kaldari.”
