“This couldn’t possibly be your headquarters—” I turn to say to Inkar.
But it isn’t Inkar who stands behind me in the doorway.
It is Temujin.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HE SLAMS THE DOOR,ENTOMBING US IN DARKNESS.
“Thought this would be more comfortable for you,” he says in a playful tone. As if this is some sort of twisted game.
Sweat stipples my face and pools beneath my arms, yet somehow I’m freezing cold. I stagger back as far as the tiny room allows. “What’s going on? Y-you told me to find you….”
When Temujin doesn’t answer, I flatten my body against the wall and clutch at the moonstone, as if it will protect me.
He must know what I’m really up to. That I’m working for Ghoa.
There’s a quickscratch,and a second later a flame bursts to life. Temujin’s face is a hand’s breadth from mine. His hot breath spills over my cheeks, and his smile is feral and twisted in the flickering glow of the match. His hand moves closer and I flinch, but he reaches past me and lights the lamp on the dressing table.
“Relax,”he says with a chuckle. He snuffs the match with his fingers and flicks it to the dusty floor. Then he leans back against the bedpost, surveying me as a weak yellow glow fills the room. “Are you always so jumpy?”
“Are you always so cryptic and unnerving?” I bite back.
That makes him laugh. “I like to make an entrance—if you couldn’t tell from Qusbegi.”
I shake my head and draw my first full breath since he trapped me in this room. “Well, you certainly did that.” I busy my hands brushing off my cloak and peer at him out of the corner of my eye. He’s wearing a gray tunic, like he did at Qusbegi, and the five golden earrings climbing his left ear gleam in the lamplight.
“You’re from Verdenet,” I blurt before I can help it.
“So are you.” Temujin nods at my leggings, which are bunched up from my scramble across the room, revealing curls of my family’s tattoos. He lifts his breeches to expose the blue ink encircling his own calves. His design has slashes and points, like a barbed-wire fence, while mine alternates between spirals and diamonds.
“Not that it matters,” I say, tugging the leggings down with a jerk.
“Of course not. We are all ‘One army, one nation.’” He repeats the Imperial Army mantra with a saccharine smile. “One big, happy family.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard….”
“What is it you’ve heard?” He pushes away from the bedpost and saunters toward me. “Why are you here, Enebish?”
His bluntness throws me off balance, and I grapple for an answer. I knew he’d ask these questions. And I know what I’m supposed to say. But nothing could have prepared me for the way his golden eyes pin me in place, like Orbai honing in on her prey.
“Y-you saved me from the Sky King and my sister,” I finally bumble. “You told me to find you. That you need me. I thought—”
“You thought I’d have mercy on any stray dog that wandered in off the street?”
“Yes? No. I don’t know—” I scrub my hand over my face.
Burning skies,Ghoa was right. I don’t even have totryto act weak and pathetic. Apparently, every last vestige of Enebish the Warrior is gone.
“Relax,”Temujin says again. “I’m just teasing you.” He ruffles my hair in a way that would be friendly if we were actually friends. But since we only just met, it feels almost condescending. Like I’m a clueless puppy chasing its own tail. “The Shoniin aren’t like the Sky King. We welcome all, regardless of their strength. Or past.”
I duck away from his hand. “You could have led with that.”
“I have a reputation to keep up. It’s exhausting, being the leader of a rebel gang. So many expectations …”
“You’re clearly crumbling beneath the pressure,” I jibe as I move away from the wall. “Sothisis the infamous Shoniin hideout?” I crinkle my nose and wave around the shabby room.
“What? You don’t like how I’ve decorated?”
