I open my mouth to tell him the location, but another tremor steals my words.
Now!Leela cries.
An invisible force wraps around my torso and yanks.
The oasis rushes away, and the next moment I’m lying on the sand looking up at clear blue skies.
“That was close.” Leela offers me a hand, and I take it, allowing her to haul me up. “Hesenses the seam, but it’s closed now, and his attention is elsewhere once more. You’re safe. The core is safe…for now…” She studies me for several beats. “Why didn’t you tell C’ael the whole truth?”
“You know why.”
She sighs. “Yes, but I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I. Neither do I.”
Chapter 20
A SUDDEN CHANGE OF PLANS
LEELA
C’ael woke me with my name whispered in my ear. The world was gray, his warm breath lingering on my cheek.
“Mmmm, one more minute.” I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper into Pashim, who chuckled softly, drawing me closer against him.
“No, Leela, this is important,” C’ael said. “I saw him. I saw Araz.”
He might as well have doused me with ice water. I sat up, my heart galloping. “Where?”
“In my dream,” he said.
“You woke us for a dream?” Kalani mumbled sleepily.
I ignored her, my focus on C’ael. “What did you see? Did you speak to him?”
His bright green eyes raked over my face. “He gave me a message.” He frowned slightly. “I don’t quite understand it.”
The pulse in my throat throbbed harder. “Tell me.”
“He said…He’s sorry that you had to kiss evil to shield him.”
My heart lurched, leaving me breathless… “Oh…”
“You know what he means?”
“Yes. Yes, I do. What else?”
“He said not to pull on the golden thread because it would summon the evil. He said that I could be a bridge to connect him to you. That he had something vital to tell you, but we needed to go to the place where he left a fragment of his flame eons ago.”
“What does that mean?” Ravi asked. “Araz hasn’t been alive for eons.”
“No, but Iblees has.” I looked across at Pashim. “The temple in Shantivan has a flame. They believe it belongs to Iblees. It burns without fuel. I think that’s where Araz needs us to go.” My veins fizzed. “If he’s asking us to make a bridge, then we have to do it. I need get to Shantivan.”
“Wait a second,” Ravi said. “You want to abandon the plan to see Vasuki over adream?”
A flash of heat lit up my chest. “It was more than a dream. Araz spoke to C’ael. The message he gave him was real. I saw the primordial evil inmydream last night,andI saw Araz, and I…I had to kiss the evil fucker to distract him from seeing Araz, so…It’s real, and I’m going.”
Ravi exhaled, his eyes flashing. “And how do you intend to get there? We have no means to cross the oceans.”
