“Maybe because you try to eradicate them,” I told him. “And you have an heir now—it seems the prophecy is far more complicated than you believe. I just … I want you to consider it.”
He paced in the room, shaking his head as he went, and I felt fear gather within me. Then he stopped abruptly. “You don’t believe in the God,” he told me, staring at me. “That’s the real problem here. You’ve never believed in the God, so you will never see me as his vessel, his voice, his arm. You put all your faith in the desert, in their way of thinking. But tomorrow you’ll see—you aren’t one of them anymore, wife. You’re mine. This is where you belong. This is the only loyalty.”
Stunned silent, I stared at him, my mouth open but still.
“Rest,” he snapped. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
We left the next morning, and I was dressed in my new, more modest clothing. Even Calix decided against the carriage and opted for a horse instead, and we rode proudly. Much of the army had gone on ahead, and as we neared the land bridge preceding the pass, we saw them lining the road.
I frowned. “Why aren’t they in Jitra?” I asked Calix.
He glanced at them. “The same reason as always. Clans don’t allow soldiers in Jitra. They can go into the pass and to the southern edge of the city, but not inside. Your family is very proud, very strong. And the desert is difficult to breach when they are fortressed inside. Which is, of course, why peace between us was so necessary.” His eyes flicked to me. “But I don’t want to spoil the day.”
“You needn’t lie about wanting peace. I know all you wanted was the elixir.”
Turning my head to look at him, his gaze was sharp and assessing. “Yes,” he said. “But you are hardly one to criticize me for being calculating.”
“Calculating?” I repeated. “How so?”
There was something raw in his eyes. “I gave you a chance last night, to explain. I know you’ve been communicating with your family. Asking them to hide you from me—to steal you from me.”
I shook my head. Had he discovered Kairos’s plans? “Calix, I never asked them—”
But he continued. “And then you even admit that you don’t believe in my greatest cause. You don’t want to find the elixir. You want me to welcome those sorcerers into my kingdom.”
“Calix, stop,” I said. “Please. I’m not leaving you, and I didn’t say those things last night to upset you. It was just an idea. Please, I don’t want to fight about this today.”
He drew a breath, looking forward, and slowly let it out. “Finding that elixir—eradicating the sorcerers—is the most important thing, wife. More important than anything else.”
We were nearing the land bridge, and I could see the mouth of the pass ahead. “I know, Calix. I—” I started, but I stopped. Just within the pass, I saw my mother and father, my father standing tall with a torch in his hand, waiting for us. My mother pressed against his side, and even from here, it looked like she was crying happily at the sight of me. My tall brothers beamed, and Catryn was struggling to hold Gavan from running forward.
My breath caught. “How did they …?” I asked.
Calix looked at me. “I had my soldiers tell them we were arriving, if they wanted to greet you here.”
Filled with joy and gratitude, I smiled at him. “Thank you, Calix. Truly,” I told him, and I dismounted.
I saw soldiers, maybe ten or so, walking out, walking away from my family.
I noticed a yellow powder on a man’s boots as he jogged past me.
Gavan distracted me, though, breaking free from Catryn to run ahead.
Galen came from behind us, hard faced and riding forward to the entrance to the pass.
A moment before Galen got there, I saw Calix smile, a dark, evil expression.
And then the world exploded.
He Knows
I was on the ground. My head was ringing, but I didn’t feel any pain. I struggled to my feet, and someone touched me. Kairos. His mouth was moving.
Shalia. Shalia. I saw him mouth my name. “Shalia!” he yelled.
Shaking my head, I nodded. “I’m fine. I’m fine,” I said, turning sharply. We couldn’t see anything but a thick reddish cloud of dust and ash.
I couldn’t think of anything else. We ran forward, and my feet were strong and sure, even as my head was foggy and thick.
My feet will never fail me.
I saw Galen first. His horse was writhing on the ground, and he had been thrown. Galen was groaning and starting to move, and I didn’t wait to see if he was all right. I didn’t care.
The boy’s arm was the next thing I saw. It was at a strange angle, a layer of dirt on it, and stretched out like he was reaching for me still. Like all he wanted was to get to me.
Before I knew what I was doing, I slid to my knees and pushed the rock off his small body with my power, and it rushed away from him. “Gav?” I whispered. I pulled his body to me, and it was leaden and still. His back was covered with blood, misshapen where the big rock had hit him. I turned him over and pulled him against me. “Gavan!” I yelled. “Gavan!”
He didn’t move. His face was scraped and bloody, his nose broken. His eyes were open, but they couldn’t see me.
“I’ll find the others,” Galen said.
I hadn’t known he was near me, and just as soon, he disappeared into the dust.
The others.
I wiped desperately at the dirt on Gavan’s face, trying to pull it off. There was too much of it, and my hands were trembling. Why wasn’t he moving? Why couldn’t he just move?
“Gavan!” I cried, shaking him.
“Shalia!” Kairos yelled. “Someone could still be alive!”
Alive. Gavan was dead. I knew that, but—but—
I stood, feeling sick and dizzy, pushing forward into the cloud that shrouded my family.
I saw Kairos, crouched and throwing rocks off a small body. I saw her hair. “Catryn!” I screamed.
Kairos looked up at me. “Find the others!” he said, his eyes wild, his chest heaving.
Nodding, I ran into the smoke.
Galen was pushing a large boulder that was near the start of the pass. All around me, I felt the threads, angry and pulsing, curling around my fingertips and squeezing. I pushed the boulder off with my power like it was a pebble, sending it flying into the crevasse under the land bridge, and Galen turned and looked at me for a moment before dashing in. As soon as I could see the rocks, I moved them out of my way, and in moments, we had uncovered a tangled mass of bodies: my father, my brothers, my whole family.
I dove forward, but Galen shook his head at me, going to each one and carefully checking them.
When he reached the last one, he closed his eyes for a moment, and picked up my mother’s body.
“What are you doing!” Kairos roared, trying to climb over rocks to get to him. “Don’t touch her! Don’t you touch her!”
Galen stood tall with her broken body in his arms. “She’s dead, Kairos. Let me get your family out of here.”
She’s dead.
Galen took a step, and the movement suddenly seemed sideways to me, twisted wrong.
I am a daughter of the desert.
The world took a vicious spin, and then Kairos’s arms were around me. “Shalia!” he yelled. “Shalia!”