Page 126 of The Shrouded Queen
Yet my power continued to writhe, slamming against its confines, begging me—no, ordering me—to go with him. So desperate that I actually staggered a step forward. Then another. Yanked so viciously, I thought it might rip me in two.
“There’s a good girl,” Athar said.
My power came from Shaya. It wouldn’t lead me into danger. At least, that was what I told myself as I obeyed it and followed my brother.
The God of Mischief led me to a clearing bordered by palm trees—healthy, with lush green leaves. Within their circle was a large expanse of black sand as dark as the obsidian candle I used to pray with.
Athar sauntered into its center and then turned to face me impatiently, hands on his hips. For the first time, I noticed he had talons instead of nails, sharp points that clicked against the metal of his armor. “You coming or not?”
Panting with barely restrained nausea and exertion, I gritted my teeth and crossed the sand, the grains sliding beneath my feet like water.
Athar gazed down at me, eyes like two sparking embers. Anticipation seeped out of him, which only filled me with more trepidation. “What is it?” I asked. “What message does Shaya have for me?”
He intoned, “See why you were chosen.”
I waited. Brows high, sun beating into my bare scalp. But Athar said nothing more. “That’s it?”
“Rudeandentitled. No wonder.”
“No wonder what?”
Athar merely grinned and waved at me. “Have fun, Sister.”
“What are you—” But then I realized Athar was growing taller. Looming over me.
No, wait, he wasn’t growing.
I was shrinking.
I looked down as the sand swallowed my ankles. “What—” I yanked, but it was like my feet had been glued in place. No matter how hard I pulled, I couldn’t get my feet to budge even a fraction of an inch.
And the sand was climbing higher, almost to my knees now.
“Help me!” I demanded.
“I am.”
“Athar!”
“See why you were chosen.”
“I don’t know what that means! Get me out of here or I’ll—”
“Don’t you trust our father?”
I paused in my struggle, the sand at my waist.
Of course I trusted Shaya. I’d spoken to him almost every day of my life. I knew him. He hadn’t abandoned me. Not when Anwar held me captive. Not when the nasnas had been after me. He’d brought me to this place. Not for the jinni but forthis.
I fought the instinctive panic that rose with the climbing sand and said, “Yes.”
Athar’s teeth flashed as the sand moved up my chest to my neck, the weight of it crushing. So similar to my nightmare, that suffocating darkness, the way it stole my breath. But I wasn’t alone this time. My brother was with me. My father had sent him. I’d be okay.
I repeated that to myself again and again as the sand closed over my head.
FIFTY-ONESAMIRA
A clear blue sky stretched above me, broken only by the sphere of the blazing sun. My skin was instantly slicked with sweat, the humidity a physical weight on my body.
