Page 146 of The Shrouded Queen
It was greed that brought you here. It is greed that will seek you out. Greed destroys, greed burns.
The Seer was right. I could have ended this all before stepping into the Mirror Realm, before I dragged Keir in with me. It was greed. My own damned greed, wanting to know what it was like to be Amunet—more importantly, tonotbe Samira—if just for a little while. At every turn, I’d been selfish and horrible and—gods, I’d made all of Kaldfold think I was their salvation.
But out of fire were you born, out of water were you found. To both must you return before all is razed to the ground.
The sun’sfirewas over my head.
I held the water-filled boots in my hands and turned them upside down, cackling at the splat of water against the hot sand.There you go, another prophecy fulfilled. I snorted.
“What are you doing?” Keir stared at the boots with horror. “Amunet, have you totally lost your mind?”
I wiped tears from my cheeks and gasped through the laughter, “I’m not Amunet.”
“What?”
“My name is Samira.” Another grin split my face. “I’m not the queen. I’m herslave.” And then I was lost to a fit of giggles that racked my whole frame.
Keir stared at me, lips parted, and the image was so comical, I keeled over, forehead to the ground as laughter rocked me.
His feet slammed into the sand with enough fury to shake the earth. He grabbed me by the arms, hauled me to my feet, seethed, “What do you mean? Where is the real Gods-Chosen?”
But I didn’t care about his fury or his righteousness or what he’d say to Rade—because we were never going to find Rade. We were never going to get out of the Wastelands. My time was done. Served. Lies or truth, none of it mattered anymore. This was the end.
So I finally confessed, “When you invaded, Amunet asked me to take her place so she could escape. She thought you would kill her, and we couldn’t let you kill the Gods-Chosen.”
Keir’s brows bunched together over his wide eyes. “She escap—”
Sand shot up like a geyser around us. It knocked us both off our feet and sent us sprawling in the sand. I grunted at the impact. But when I glanced back, my heart stopped beating in my chest.
The sand rose up and packed together to form the shape of two male bodies and one female. Faces emerged around eyes of fire. Pointed ears solidified on the sides of their heads. Fire blazed inthe impression of hair, flickering in an unseen wind. The one in the middle grinned, the sand gaping into a black void in his face.
Jinn.
“Lost, little humans?” The grinning jinni’s voice was rough, like a wheel over gravel.
Keir scrambled up to his feet and drew his sword and dagger. I stood, too, and stared with wide eyes.
The female jinni to the right chuckled at the weapons and sidled closer. She reached out a sandy arm and slammed her hand down directly on Keir’s sword. The blade went right through the sand. The jinni pulled her hand back easily, not a scratch to be seen. “Put your blade away, Shifter.”
Keir didn’t. Choosing the illusion of safety. “What do you want?”
“You need help,” said the jinni on the left.
“We’re fine.”
“You will die out here.”
Keir didn’t respond to that, a muscle in his jaw popping. We both knew it was true. We’d already lasted longer than King Zaid. We had a couple of days left at the most.
The grinning jinni drifted to the side to peer at me over Keir’s shoulder. “We can save you, child. Would you like us to save you?”
My instinct was to immediately reject the offer, like Keir had done. Jinn were dangerous. I knew that. But they also had power. And I did not. I wasn’t a Gods-Chosen; I couldn’t save Ashorah. But maybe I could at least save Keir and Rade. They didn’t deserve to die. And if I could do something about that, I had to.
“Can you save all of us?” I asked. Keir whipped around. I avoided his look.
The jinni’s grin spread wider. “Of course.”
“What is your price?”
