Page 145 of The Shrouded Queen
See why you were chosen.
An incredulous laugh huffed out of me. Of course!
My enemies had always speculated that Shaya hadn’t borne a child to save Ashorah but rather as a tool to achieve his freedom. Sara had said as much in Reeda. I’d always told myself that I didn’t care one way or the other what Shaya wanted to do with the world. Didn’t care if he wanted me to save it or throw wide his prison doors. And I’d meant it.
This amulet was the key to opening the Gate, to letting Shaya walk free once more. He’d be beside me. No more faint wisps of abreeze. No more candles or sacrifices at temples. I’d be able to reach out and touch him. See his proud smiles. Feel my father’s love.
And the creatures he’d been forced to abandon would be under his command once more. The Shifters who’d dared invade my home, who’d tried to kill me in Dead Man’s Forest. The jinn-descended princes who’d made me grovel for sanctuary, who’d thrown me into that horrible room, imprisoned me just like Shaya.
My father would bring them all to their knees.
I grinned. “Yes,” I told my qareen. “This is exactly what I was looking for.”
FIFTY-EIGHTSAMIRA
The sun had only just started to paint the sky in shades of violet. Dry heat hadn’t settled its weight on my skin yet. I drew a deep breath, taking a moment to enjoy the fresh air, and let my lids flutter open.
Keir’s face was tipped down, nose nearly brushing mine, his soft breaths dancing across my lips with each exhale. He looked at peace while he slept. The skin beneath the faded kohl on his forehead was smooth, his eyelashes curving gently against his strong cheekbones.
My head was pillowed by his bicep while his other arm had wrapped entirely around me, holding me tightly against him so that I could feel every dip and curve of his strong body. But none of that was the reason for the ribbon of surprise that twined around me.
It was the fact that my arm was wrapped around him, too. My hand had found its way under his tunic, palm on the bare skin between his shoulder blades. My fingers pressed into his smooth, warm flesh, muscles shifting with each breath he took, and I had the distinct impression I’d been clinging to him.
People moved in their sleep—and it had been a cold night. It was innocent, meaningless. All I had to do was sit up, then Keir would wake, and we could return to this nightmare.
But I didn’t sit up. I didn’t move at all. I continued to lie there inthe sand with my hand on Keir’s back and my head on his arm. Instead of lurching away, I studied him. His slightly crooked nose that suggested it had been broken at one point, his full lips underlined by his blue runes, the scruff of facial hair that had grown alongside those blue lines.
I wondered what Keir’s runes meant. They were clearly symbols, and they never crossed over each other, as if they were spelling something out. I followed the column of his throat with my eyes to where the runes disappeared within the V of his tunic, feeling the absurd urge to trace them.
And then Keir’s eyes opened, instantly finding mine, and I stopped breathing.
It was like the sun emerging from behind a cloud. Bright, sudden. A zing ripped through my blood. I waited for him to say something cruel or to shove me away.
But he simply stared at me, gaze heavy-lidded with sleep. I could see his thoughts stringing themselves together, taking inventory of our position, ofmyposition, wondering how long I’d been awake. And still he didn’t move, glittering eyes locked on mine. With each silent moment that passed, my skin grew warmer, my pulse grew faster.
Keir’s eyes dipped to my lips, and my heart stopped.
For a moment, I thought of a different morning, waking up in a different man’s arms. The moment of indecision, of panic. I felt none of that now. My tongue darted out to wet my lips, and Keir tracked the movement. I held my breath.
All at once, the heat in his gaze cooled and he sat up. My arm fell out of his tunic with a dull thud. “We should get back to searching for Rade,” he said without looking at me.
Fire burst in my cheeks as embarrassment speared through me. “Right.” I hardly had time to get the word out before Keir was on his feet.
As we drew closer to that mountain, that strange pull in my chest became stronger. But I bit my chapped lip and forced myself to keep moving at the same pace. It was a physical effort not to break into a run.
And then, there it was, the source of the glint. Still far, but finally visible: a golden roof on top of a crumbling temple, nearly identical to the one I’d woken up in. We both walked faster.
It loomed over us just as the last one had. An ancient ruin made of columns broken halfway to a ceiling that had long ago collapsed to the floor. The winding staircase was fully intact, wrapping like a snake around fierce statues of Shaya. The Underworld god stood proudly, slitted eyes gazing out at the horizon. The Temple of Shaya.
Empty. Abandoned, just like Ketet’s. No city, no Rade, no one at all to help us.
“Fuck,” Keir mumbled.
A sad laugh bubbled out of me. We’d crossed the Wastelands. We’d actually done it. And now we were going to die. I’d led us days in the wrong direction, probably sealing Rade’s death in the process, because… I’d seen something shiny. Saying it to myself now sounded so idiotic, humiliation burned my cheeks and ripped another hysterical laugh out of me.
“What about this is funny?” Keir demanded.
I pointed at the ancient structure, stomach cramping as I laughed harder. I fell to my knees, tears spilling over my cheeks.
