“I think it’s a warning. She’s trying to reach me and—”
Silence stole his voice from me, and I lunged forward as if I could catch him as he physically vanished, until where he’d just sat there was nothing more than a ray of moonlight on the rooftop.
Gone.
But the panic in my heart remained, and I had a feeling it would live there until I set eyes on him again.
CHAPTER 8
VARIDIAN
Ilurched upright in the luxurious bed I’d been given in Chakir’s palatial home in Daurith, the slant of light through the arched window both unfamiliar and alarming. A shadow stood in that beam of light, moving closer at a deadly rate, and as lightning flashed beyond the window, it illuminated the wicked curve of the blade the figure held.
Finally, the lightning soul snapped. You sleep like the dead. Any longer, and youwouldbe dead.
I ignored that, settling immediately into the icy rage that had won Mak, the legion, and I nigh on every battle we’d flown into. Paranoia made me sleep with a knife under my pillow, and it was the work of a moment to wrap my fingers around the cool handle and leap out of bed, putting the tall wooden posts between me and the intruder.
“Who are you?” I demanded, thunder raging across the city beyond Chakir’s home, my wrath given the form of a storm. I pulled power from my core, striking a dagger of control magicinto the figure’s mind and—nothing. Like the ground warriors who lurked in the hills outside the sacred city, there was nothing in this man’s mind at all. That was all the information I gathered—he was male—before he flung the curved blade at me.
I ducked aside and rolled along the floor, adrenaline coursing through me, so different to the lazy peace I’d felt in the dream with Ameirah. Air whipped past, but no pain followed so the knife had missed.
I allowed momentum to carry me back to my feet, narrowly avoiding a wooden cabinet as I flung my dagger at the shadow in my peripheral vision.
“Bastard,” I snarled as he jumped onto the window ledge. Keeping my eyes on the intruder, I grabbed the post of the bed and leapt over it, landing on the other side just to watch him jump through the window.
We were on the third story, a surely fatal landing. My heart thundered as I threw myself at the window, my knife nowhere to be seen, and only trees thrashing in the storm winds below.
Whoever the man who tried to kill me was, he was gone.
CHAPTER 9
AMEIRAH
The silver chains of my headdress rattled against the detailed charms that dangled down my hair as I took my seat beside Mihrunnisa in Jamaa Square, the grand gathering place where the greatest performers of Ithanys entertained Morysen’s citizens. The royal family had been seated in gilt-covered, elaborate chairs with the best view, the king’s throne towering so high that the droves of gentry and common spectators had no hope of seeing the storytellers, musicians, and acrobats that usually performed upon the tan stones.
We had a similar square in Strava where I grew up, though with far less gold and the only stairs cut into sun-warmed stone were for the gentry family. Everyone else stood in a circle around the performance area as most of Morysen’s spectators stood behind our seats. I tried not to think too much about my father and brothers these days, though their words always seemed to sneak into my mind when I was distracted or tired.
“This is all very secretive,” Mihrunnisa murmured, glancing at me beneath the elaborate weight of silver and charms on her head, a matching but far more lavish version of my headdress. We were both dressed in finery, and I’d recruited her help in draping the Saber-violet hijab that had been left for me.
The weight of it was new and strange, and I knew it had been given to me without thought or meaning, but sitting here among the family, among a crowd of similarly dressed women, I couldn’t keep the lump from my throat. Even if it was for this hour alone, I felt like I belonged, not out of place as a child of two lands. Even if the fit was strange, itdidfit. It was part of my culture, and now that I’d been free of Xiu’s poison for months, I could soundly tell her to go fuck herself.
I’d gladly say that to her face now I had a husband who loved me for me, a mother-in-law who saw me as an equal and not inferior, and two new siblings who had never once lashed me with insults.
“Normally the performers are listed,” Mihrunnisa told me, watching the square in front of us, not a single clue in the vast space to indicate whether we’d watch acrobats or animal charmers or be blessed with the angelic voice of a singer. “But all it said for today wasthe greatest spectacle you will ever see.”
“Mysterious,” I murmured, running my fingers over the bracelet she gifted me. I’d experimented with it a few times and was delighted by the ring of spikes that burst free when I hit the secret catch. If I hadn’t known it was there, I would never have guessed the jewellery was a weapon. “Have you ever performed here?”
She snorted. “Lord, no.”
“You should.” She had a singing voice that could stop an army in its tracks and make even criminals weep. The fact she used it to sing tawdry ballads full of swearing and creativeinsults only made me enjoy it more. “Gather some gold to support your hefty spending habits.”
Mihrunnisa glared, a hand at her chest. “Hefty? Excuse me very much, sister. My shopping habits are so vast they can only be described with the words boundless, awe-inspiring, andterrifying.”
I laughed but softened my smile into a more respectable smile when guards in deep purple arrived, cloistered around King Bakshi and Queen Adeela. Mihrunnisa sat straighter, falling silent as some of her vibrancy dimmed. I was sad to see it go, to watch her hide those parts of herself.
I nearly jumped out of my seat when a shadow tucked itself into the seat beside me, followed by the scent of anise and… was that blood? I gave Kamaal an alarmed look, but he was as stone-faced as ever, facing straight forward, not even his eyes wavering when I breathed, “Are you alright?”
“Fine,” he grunted.
