Page 157 of The Shrouded Queen
Jasim’s chest stuttered, that breath he fought so hard for trapped behind the arrow. And then his face went slack, and the light went out of his eyes.
My chest caved in. Tears branded my cheeks. An unholy shriek sliced up my throat.
Blood loss and shock threatened to rob me of my consciousness, but I hung on stubbornly. As if I could reverse the past few moments as long as I stayed awake.
Men surged into the clearing, tongues wagging with their battle cries, red-and-yellow sashes across their chests, many of them brandishing bows and arrows, like the one sticking out of Jasim’s throat.
The man leading the charge came straight for me, gold-flecked brown eyes sparkling, lips pulled wide in a smile, his pointed ears poking through a mop of curly brown hair.
The khopesh in his hand swung wide, and then a tribesman blocking his path was choking. A line sliced clean through his throat, pouring out in a waterfall of red, coating his chest. Within seconds, his skin lost all color, and he fell, dead.
The man with pointed ears swung off his horse as the sound of a battle echoed around us. Feet tromped over Jasim’s corpse. Hyenas howled and snapped their teeth, meeting blades. Spears locked with khopeshes. But it was as if he hadn’t noticed any of it.
Prince Sen Almassi of the Dry Lands crouched in front of me, those gold-flecked eyes half mad. His bloodthirsty grin was the last thing I saw before I finally lost consciousness.
SIXTY-FOURAMUNET
I was in a cage. It rocked and jostled hard, creaking loudly, and with each lurch, my forehead smacked into the bars. But I was too weak to stop it.
A dull ache throbbed at the side of my neck. I reached up to feel it—
My hands pulled short. Wrists shackled. A glance down proved my ankles were, too.
Torches flared beside me, and I squinted to make out red-and-yellow sashes. I knew those colors.
The Dry Lands.
Immediately following that wasJasim.
He was dead. He’d come back for me. He hadn’t abandoned me, even after all I’d said, all I’d done. He’d lovedme. And now he was dead.
The sorrow was crippling. Heart shredding like paper. King Zaid had been right; Jasim was all I had. And Sen Almassi had taken him from me.
I turned my head to see through the bars at the rear of my cage.
The granite Lotus River dam stood out starkly against the tan, barren landscape. Behind me by a mile or two. Which meant I was already deep in the Dry Lands. To the left of the dam, on the horizon, the sun was setting, painting the sky in a deep bloodred.
The month was over. My birthday was ending.
A ripple flowed over me, stirring my clothes, brushing the top of my shaved head. I recognized it. It was out there, like a beacon in the distance.
My power.
Seeping away like a receding tide. Growing smaller and smaller.
Pulled away by that gods-damn servant. I could still feel it, but barely, like a single hair tickling the skin of my arm. When it should have been an explosion, an overwhelming surge.
Rage filled me, burning like venom in my veins. That bitch had stolen it from me. Power that Shaya needed, that was my birthright, that I had waited twenty fucking years for, that Jasim haddiedfor.
Though my limbs felt heavy, I lifted my arm and banged on one of the bars with my manacle. It gave a resounding clang. “Hey,” I croaked through dry lips. “Hey!”
A woman pulled up alongside me on a camel. She was dressed in a deep red breast wrap and skirt that didn’t even reach her knees. A thin chain of silver was wrapped around her head, and a teardrop pendant rested against her forehead. She lifted an eyebrow.
“Release me,” I ordered.
The woman’s lips twitched in amusement, but she didn’t respond.
My rage flared hotter. I wrapped my fingers around the bars, pressing my sweaty face to them, and bared my teeth. “Release me now. Or I will bring the might of Shaya down on you and your people.”
