“Then you’d be distressed if she joined you down here,” he said casually, glancing around the arched cells. In the distance, someone was sobbing, pleading.
“You—you’re threateningyour own daughter.”
Bakshi shrugged. “If you think I’m a man of empty promises, I assure you I’m not. And yes. I’m threatening my own daughter. She matters less than the journal I want you to retrieve for me. The fate of this world hinges on it.”
Fate of the world? Fate of his dark invasion was more accurate. But he was already king of Ithanys—why did heneedto conquer, to send wyverns and ruthless riders to attack our cities?
“Why would I help you?” I sneered. “If it benefits you, it benefits the wyverns that sacked Wyfell, and your fake clergy.”
“Oh, the clergy are real. They were, at least.”
“And now…?”
“Like I said.” That slimy smile again. “I can’t reveal all my secrets. And if you have no interest in cooperating, I accept your choice.” He pushed off the cell wall, all colourful menace and corrupt power. “Expect your new cellmate within the hour.”
I knew he was testing me.Knewhe was bluffing. Except… I couldn’t say that for sure. And part of me remembered the pain he’d ordered Kaazhim to inflict on me, the magic he’d commanded torn out of me, and I flinched from the idea of his next punishment. That and my soft, compassionate heartdamned me. Mihrunnisa was kind to me, and I couldn’t forget that.
I spat through gritted teeth, “Fine.”
Bakshi paused and turned to give me a beatific smile, his congenial mask on full display. “Perfect. I’ll send someone to retrieve you within the hour.”
I stepped away from the bars, leaning against the wall again, furious and afraid and denying every word he’d said about Varidian, Mak, and the Legion of Fyrevein. They were alive. They couldn’t have perished. They’d survived aerial battles that history books would be written about. They’d flown across the wall, flown into hell itself, and survived. They couldn’t be dead.
But I was cold, right down to my bones, and now Bakshi was gone, the shaking took over my whole body. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t. But if he was…
The king had taken my wedding ring as a symbol, yet he’d left me with other trinkets. The pendant I’d bought myself for my eighteenth birthday, and the bracelet Mihrunnisa gifted me. With all its spikes hidden, he must have assumed it harmless.
And if Varidian had truly left this world, I’d use it to kill his father and every last member of his dark army.
CHAPTER 20
AMEIRAH
Raheema was gone. The spooked handler confirmed what I already knew when I was escorted, numb, to the landing yard by six different guards in rich purple uniforms stitched with the Saber wolf. She disappeared overnight and no one had seen her since.
Instead of flying to the journal Bakshi ordered me to retrieve with Raheema, an intimidating silver wyvern stood over me.
Kamaal scowled as he stalked across the yard, dressed in heavy violet leathers adorned with scales of armour at the shoulder, thighs, and wrist.
“This is the only wyvern we have available,” the handler said apologetically—and nervously because a scowling Kamaal was a terrifying sight.
“She will do,” Kamaal sighed, and seemed to read the atmosphere in the yard. “Jalal Lazrak,” he said, raising his eyebrow at the guard who stood so close his breath ruffled the hairs on the back of my neck. “I fought alongside your father forten years. Hatim, you were trained by Aisha Daoudi, were you not?”
Another guard shifted on his feet, and said, “I was.”
Kamaal nodded, striding closer. “I was her commander for the years before she formed the Legion of Embernight.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest when he reached us, looking each of the guards in the eye. “I also led the charge at the Fall of Ashams, marched in the frontlines at Warda, and fought alongsideyou,Khaldoun, at the Almas Pass.” His smile was tight, laced with warning. “My point is, I can handle a singlegirlwithout assistance. And I know you have better things to be doing than babysitting.”
“But…” the one he’d called Jalal said with an uneasy glance my way. “She’s the lightning soul.”
“And I’m the Scorpion of Warda.”
“We have orders from the king,” Hatim argued.
Kamaal shrugged and sighed heavily, stalking around them to the handler getting the silver wyvern ready for flight. “If you’d rather lurk around until we take off, you’re welcome to waste your own time.” Humour entered his eyes when he added, “But there’s not enough room for everyone on the wyvern unless someone wants to hang from her tail.”
Now, most of the guards shifted on their feet. I watched, my mouth glued shut by rage and curiosity. I’d expected seething hatred when Kamaal looked at me, but there was only his usual hardass demeanour. I would have assumed he didn’t hear the rumours about me being the lightning soul, but the guards just told him. Which presented a mystery that held me there, at the foot of his wyvern.
“Up,” Kamaal barked, throwing a quick glance my way. “You have no baggage, I presume.”
