Page 31 of A Shard of Ice

“I should be fine by then,” he finally pushes out, like he’s doing me a favor.

“You can ride one of the camels,” Kyrie tells him. “We’ll take plenty of breaks.” She touches the side of his arm.

Cyrano smiles at her. “You’re so sweet, Kyrie. You’ve taken such good care of me.”

I clear my throat. “We’ll set up camp in the rocks next to the pool so that the wurms can’t get to us.”

Kyrie’s eyes are wide, and her face pales in an instant. “That was one of the worst experiences of my life. You’re lucky you slept through it,” she tells Cyrano.

“What exactly happened?” he asks.

Kyrie starts to tell him the story. “I was fast asleep when it attacked,” she says. “You won’t believe the size of them. They’re bigger and quicker than you ever thought possible. Their mouths are huge. Anyway, one minute I was sleeping and then…”

Cyrano listens intently, making all the right noises and asking all the right questions.

“There was a big, white flash. The wurm dove back into the sand. Thankfully, Damon was able to use his magic. If not for him, we would be dead right now.”

“So, your name is Damon and not Taylor. Why did you lie to us? Why pretend to be a human in the first place?” Cyrano asks.

“I wasn’t pretending. I was human. A spell had been cast on me. I believed I was human just as much as you did.”

“And the spell broke during that snowstorm.” He lifts his eyes. “How come there was a snowstorm in the desert? Are the two things related?” He looks at me head-on.

It’s a good question and one I’ve asked myself over and over.

“The storm was very strange,” Kyrie remarks. “It was freakish and could not have just happened. That smacked of magic.”

“Why would someone want to cast a spell over you in the first place?” the male asks, narrowing his eyes. “What purpose would it serve?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him. “It isn’t important.” I shrug.

“That’s what someone with something to hide would say. Maybe you did it to yourself. You cast a spell over yourself so that—”

“That’s ridiculous,” I cut him off. “Why would I choose to work in a salt mine for years? What could I possibly gain from that? I was as much in the dark as all of you. I thought I was a human. That my name was Taylor. That I was from Babel and that my family had been captured by the fae, just like all of you. I didn’t know any different.”

“Who are you, then, Damon? What’s your story?” He folds his arms.

I smile. “I’m nobody, and there is no story.”

He snorts. “Why is it that I don’t believe you?”

“Perhaps because you’re not the trusting kind. Especially when it comes to us fae.” I lift my brows.

“You should get some rest, Cyrano,” Kyrie says as the tension ramps up. “You must be exhausted.”

“I am, Ky. I used up a whole lot of energy fighting off that lizard bird. It may have gotten a few swipes in, but I killed it in the end. It put up a huge fight. The thing was ferocious.”

“You’re lucky that rock was right there,” I interject.

“I wrestled the creature for a long time before finding that rock. It was already half dead by then.”

I choke out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. You did well.”

“I’m sure it was,” Kyrie says. “You’re very brave.”

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