Page 6 of Wynter and the Stone Dragon

Resentment burned deep inside. His uncle’s influence had grown over the last few months as the Queen grew sicker and the King became more distracted. Inarus seemed almosthappyabout it. It was there in tiny upticks at the corners of his mouth or the way his tone was just slightly insincere. Khalid hated him.

Stewing in rage and sorrow, he slowly walked over to the bed. His throat closed as grief choked him from the inside out.

Faiza opened her eyes. She looked tired, drained of life. Her beautiful spark was missing, the twinkle of love and laughter extinguished.

“Khalid,” his mother whispered.

Her lips curved at the corners, but even that small gesture seemed to exhaust her. She moved her hand a fraction of an inch. He stepped closer and gently cupped her thin, frail fingers in his. Her hands were like ice. Her skin was like tissue paper.

“I brought you some flowers… from your garden,” he replied.

He held the flowers up so she could see them. She tried to lift her hand, but didn’t have the strength. He helped her touch one of the velvety petals.

When the bed jostled, she managed her turn her head just enough to see the little girl crawling across it to kneel next to her. She looked back at Khalid with a confused expression.

“I found her… in your garden. She… She is an ‘amirat khurafiat alsahra,” he said.

“Oh, Khalid. I… love you,” Faiza said, her eyes filled with tears.

“Don’t cry, mama. She—”

Faiza’s hand went slack in his and she closed her eyes, the tears spilling onto her cheeks. Khalid looked at the heart monitor. Her heartbeat was slowing down. He dropped the flowers onto the bed to grasp his mother’s cold hand between his, willing her to get better.

The little girl said a short reassuring statement that had her word for mother in it, and she placed her hands on his mother’s cheeks. The little girl’s hair glowed with an inner light. Khalid tightened his grip around his mother’s hand. There were bright blue strands in the‘amirat khurafiat alsahra'shair.

White light began to flow through his mother’s veins. He noticed it first in her face before it moved downward. The little girl spoke softly in her alien tongue.

Faiza’s hair became more vibrant, healthier. The color of her cheeks turned richer and the planes of her face less shrunken. Khalid stared at the hand he was holding. It was no longer icy cold. His mother gripped his hand with a surprising strength. The beeping of the heart monitor grew stronger and steadier and the numbers rose before leveling out.

His mother gasped and opened her eyes. Her spark was back and she was more beautiful than ever.

ChapterThree

Faiza touched the platinum curls of the little girl snuggled up against her side. She had woken after months of feeling ill with a startling new awareness. Shifting until she could sit up, she stared with disbelief at her son before she turned and studied the little girl who was yawning.

“Khalid?” Faiza asked, her voice filled with confusion, fear, and wonder.

“I’m here, mama. It’s ok. Everything is ok now. You’ll be ok.”

He hugged her, managing it without jostling the sleeping child or letting go of his mother’s hand. As she reached around the child to clasp her son’s shoulder and stroke his cheek, Khalid’s words came back to her.

I found her in your garden.She is an 'amirat khurafiat alsahra.

If she hadn’t experienced the miracle herself, she would have dismissed her son’s words as a flight of fancy. Instead, she began planning how she would protect the child.

“If she is found out, Khalid, she will not be ok. You must take her to Dhat-Badan. She must be taken away from here and hidden well. No one can know about her. If they find out what she can do, they will destroy her. You must protect her and keep her secret. No one, not even your father, must ever find out about her.”

Khalid nodded, his eyes wide. “I’ll take her away.”

“Tell Dhat-Badan that this is a child of the desert and by the Queen’s orders she must be protected at all costs. Do not tell her anything more,” she instructed.

“I will, mama,” he said. “I will protect her, too, I swear.”

Faiza gently shook the girl’s shoulder. “You must wake, child. Go with Khalid.”

The little girl sat up and rubbed her eyes, then the'amirat khurafiat alsahrasmiled joyfully and held her hand. Faiza’s heart tightened with warmth and fear.

The child looked around the room with a frown, then slid off the bed and walked over to a tray that had been left on a small table. It was the soup she had been too weak to eat earlier.

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