Page 130 of The Shrouded Queen
And Rade needed his strongest warrior. With my qareen lurking somewhere out there, I did, too.
Even if that warrior would be plotting ways to kill me the whole time.
FIFTY-TWOSAMIRA
I stood at the top of the staircase, staring hard to the west, at that inexplicable metallic glimmer, while Keir tried to figure out how to carry water without a canteen, muttering curses to himself the whole while. But he’d made it very clear he didn’t want my help, and I was content to watch him struggle.
Rade’s power came from the Goddess of the Lost, so no matter where he’d been dropped in this place, he should be able to find his double. He might’ve thought I’d done the same and already returned to Frostguard. In which case, Rade might not even be in the Mirror Realm anymore. Or maybe he’d asked Eira to help him find me. Maybe he was headed this way right now.
When I’d voiced that possibility to Keir, he’d dismissed it. “We can’t just sit here and wait for him tomaybeturn up,” he’d said.
Though I loathed admitting it, he was right. Rade could be lying helpless in the sand somewhere, slowly roasting under the sun’s flames. Something had obviously gone wrong. Not waking up side by side with our qareens bound at our feet was the least of our concerns. There could be dangerous creatures out here, and with Rade all alone… We had to move fast.
There was sand and gravel in all directions. As far as I could tell, the abandoned temple was the only thing in this wasteland. Though that compulsion drew me to the west, I knew better than to insistwithout some proof to show Keir. Intuition certainly wouldn’t be enough. Which was why I’d trained my eyes westward, trying to decipher—
I straightened as it suddenly occurred to me. Miles and miles of sand, a large dirt-encrusted mountain, and that glinting. A reflection. Aroof. Right where it was supposed to be.
“Keir!”
He’d taken off his boot and dunked it in the water, the clear liquid streaming over the rim. A sorry excuse for a canteen. His frown suggested he thought the same. But he looked up when I called. I waved him over, and he climbed the steps to stand beside me.
“Look.” I gestured to where the sun winked off the metal roof.
Keir’s brows drew closer together. “Another temple?”
I shook my head. “Ashorah.”
He stilled as he took in our position, making quick calculations, before his eyes settled on the horizon again. “If you’re right,” he said slowly, “that means we’re—”
“In the Wastelands.” My heart gave a fearful kick.
His face tightened. “Humans can’t survive more than a couple of days in the Wastelands.”
“I know.” King Zaid had nearly died here four decades ago, saved only by his bargain with the jinn. “Keir, if Rade is out there…”
“Fuck.”Keir whirled around and smacked his palm into the nearest column. Theboomechoed out over the desolation. He kept his head lowered, powerful shoulders heaving up and down as he struggled to stay calm.
Then he drew a purposeful breath through his nose and schooled his features as he turned to me. “Rade is lost. So Eira will find him.” He stated it like it was a given, nodding several times, reassuring himself. “If he hasn’t killed his qareen yet, she’ll have guided him toward Ashorah, too. He might already be there. We’ll go that way. Either we’ll meet Rade on the way, meet him there, or we can stock up in the city before we conduct a more thorough search for him.Gather food, water, camels.” He crossed his arms as he did the math. “Under normal conditions, that would be a two-day journey, but with the heat and the sand, I’d say our travel time will be doubled.”
“We’d go faster if you shifted.”
His head snapped up, and I cringed. “Absolutely not.”
“Keir, if Rade—”
“No.” A hammer falling down, ending the argument.
Part of me wanted to shout at him that it didn’t matter. That we could be risking Rade’s life—not to mention our own—by spending more time in the Wastelands. That we didn’t know what sorts of creatures lived in the Wastelands or the Mirror Realm.
That whatever King Zaid had done to the Kaldfolk had absolutely nothing to do with me and that he didn’t have to be so remarkably horrible every chance he got—especially when I was spending the last few days I had trying to savehisking.
“Say it,” Keir dared. He stepped closer, that challenge shining in his yellow irises. “I can feel you censoring yourself. You’ve got something to say, say it.”
“Fine. I think it’s stupid to risk death—ours and Rade’s—instead of shifting.”
“He’s not going to die.”
“But if he does—”
