“People are not property, you twisted prick.”
My stomach clenches as the mirror flickers and reverts to the previous Scav delegation. Someone is being pushed to the front.
Please don’t be my father or Amma. Please don’t be my father or Amma.
But as matted green hair comes into view, relief is the last thing I feel. The blood drains from my body at the sight of my best friend. The dullness in her eyes disappears as she sees me, her nostrils flaring with suppressed emotion. “Sura, you’re alive,” she whispers, her speech slightly slurred, and my face tightens. Has she been drugged, too?
“Laleh, are you all right? Did they hurt you? Did you see my father? Amma?”
“Amma is here, but she is too ill to walk.” Rage fires in my chest as Laleh’s lip trembles, her eyes darting in fear to the king of Oryndhr. “Your father wasn’t here whenheand his fucking army came.”
“Now, now,” Javed chides her. “Don’t make me regret sparing you.”
Laleh swallows a strangled sob as fury settles deep in my belly. My blood boils to unbearable levels, the wings of the beast inside of me beating harder and harder. I glare at the king, wanting to claw that satisfied smirk off his face with my bare hands, to scorch him to coal where he stands, but I can’t. It would be consigning Laleh, Amma, and Roshan to death, and who knows how many more innocent lives.Control, calm, control.
Shuddering, I exhale and inhale, tears stinging my eyes.
“Exciting, isn’t it?” Javed crows, tongue snaking out from between his lips as if he can taste my power in the air. “That this all depends on you—a commoner with such uncommon magic.”
“Go to the pits of Droon.”
“A more than generous exchange, I say. You for them.”
My magic flails, helpless, a trapped bird behind my rib cage. We have been outplayed and outmaneuvered despite all our efforts, and I have only one option left to me to save the lives of three people I care about most in the world. Not that I’ll ever get to tell Roshan that. After this is over, I’ll be wed to Javed, and according to Oryndhr’s laws, I will belong to him in every way.
“Your oath that my family and my friends will be safely released and remain safe,” I whisper through clenched teeth, though I know trusting him is pointless. He’s a liar and a killer. “And that my family will be left in peace and returned to me. You must release Roshan and Aran as well.Unharmed. To a city of their choosing.”
Javed’s mouth curls at my familiar use of his brother’s given name, but his eyes glitter now that victory is in his grasp. “Very well. Now kneel to show your fealty.”
“Suraya, no!” The cry is from Aran, being restrained by the two other Scavs in the room. “The prophecy—”
“This is the only way, Aran,” I cut him off.
Maybe that prophecy is built on nothing but myth and my magic is a mysterious fluke of nature. But all I can do is barter what I have in hand, which is my life for theirs. I’m out of options and out of time. I hope that Aran is wrong, but as his eyes meet mine, I see the real fear in them—fear of what I will do... and fear of what I might become.
I slowly lower myself to kneeling, the pitted floor biting into my skin. I swallow and meet Javed’s gaze, even as my heart drops. “I accept your terms, Your Majesty.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
God of Night
My shadows writhe with rage, but I subdue them in an iron fist.
They’ve become much too possessive, much toodisobedient. They aided her escape from Nyriell. They’d taken vicious pleasure in ending the lives of the men who’d thought they could touch what wasn’t theirs. I’d paid the price, of course.
I’d been lost to my father’s fucking curse for a fortnight.
And now, a bargain has been made and though I long to obliterate every soul in that room, I cannot. A red haze descends even as I struggle for calm. With a snarl, I bury the bond.
She’s on her own... as am I.
The fates will only be manipulated for so long, Darrius.
I growl at the unwelcome intrusion and slam the barriers down in my mind.
Vena, that meddling crone, needs to mind her own fucking business.
Chapter Twenty-Five
