Page 159 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
“Menes, no,” the Pharaoh Queen said from Ramses’s side. “We can find you another bride. We cannot create another Aur!”
Namir’s fist holding the necklace quivered. Tears pricked his eyes, and he smiled sadly as he dropped Zahra’s hand and fumbled with the chain around his hand. “I do not want another.”
No.
Iset flinched at the voice in her mind.
Namir’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Zahra?”
Iset turned to Nubia. “Quickly, now!”
“No.” Zahra’s voice came through, and she pushed her hand against Namir’s chest. “Don’t do it. Don’t give up.”
Nubia rushed forward, but Katerina flew in through the window, striking Nubia in the face. Nubia dropped her dagger, screaming as Katerina clawed at her skin.
“No,” Iset cried, pulling her hand back and stepping away from Namir. “How are you doing this? I repressed your soul!”
Zahra did not know, but she did know this:
For a thousand days, she had fought the darkness. For a thousand nights, she had battled for even an ounce of light. She had not suffered all of these nights for nothing. The endless night would end, and dawnwouldcome.
Zahra’s amber eyes glowed, burning as bright as the blood moon itself. Iset screamed as the darkness was chased from Zahra’s mind. Smoke fell from her mouth, vanishing once it touched the moonlight. Iset screamed again as she was thrown from the mortal plane. The glow disappeared from Zahra’s eyes, and she crumpled.
Namir caught her, pulling her trembling frame to him.
“Go,” the Pharaoh Queen ordered. “Go!”
37
Chaos’s Price
Zahra shivered in Namir’s arms, the words of the prophecy playing in her mind. The obelisk tolled six times in the distance. When they finally stopped running, she muttered the words as Namir leaned her against a wall. She couldn’t tell where they were—somewhere outside of thepr-aa—but she knew they were safe. For now, at least.
Namir dabbed at the blood trickling down Zahra’s face, pressing hard against her wound. Her eyelids fluttered from the pain, and she gasped, moving underneath his grasp. He took her hand in his other hand. “Breathe. I am right here.”
“You refused her power,” the Pharaoh Queen said once she had sat Ramses down. She looked at Zahra in wonder. “That should have been impossible. No mortal has ever done that before.”
“She is asibylof Nebthet,” Namir said, looking at his mother in anger. “I tried to tell you, Mwt. She is strong.”
The Pharaoh Queen moved closer, looking Zahra over. “The cracks are spreading.”
Zahra and Namir glanced at her.
“You can see them?” Namir asked.
The Pharaoh Queen nodded. “The same thing happened to your father before he died.”
Zahra’s brow furrowed. She should have made the connection sooner. The Pharaoh King died fromapollos. Zosar and Iset must have been behind his death as well.
Zahra wheezed, scrunching her eyes as pressure built in her head. She mouthed the words of the prophecy. What was to come next?
“What is she saying?” the Pharaoh Queen asked.
“I—I was wrong,” Zahra rasped. Her gaze landed on Namir. “It is coming.”
Namir’s eyes narrowed. “What is?”
“I thought we prevented the prophecy from being fulfilled, but I was wrong. It has begun.”
