Page 45 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“That only makes it worse then,” I snapped. “How can you open doors with awhistle? How did you survive that fall? How did you get behind us when we were trailing you in Taigos?”

How the fuck could you do this to me?

He waited, his mouth tight, his hands still hovering, waiting for me to drink. I scowled and took a sip from the skin. I hadhalf a mind to spit that water at him, too, but my mouth was so parched and the cool liquid revived me. My body refused to waste a single drop and I gulped it down. When I pulled away, I leaned back against the cave wall.

Navin reached out and adjusted the shirt to better cover me.

“How chivalrous,” I said, and he pulled away. “Now tell me, how can you do all of those things?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing again to the stairs as if afraid we might be overheard. “Magic.”

My eyes flared. “Are you a sorcerer?”

“Gods no,” he said, one cheek dimpling. “I am just as I told you—a musician. It’s just that our magic is far more ancient than that of the sorcerers and monsters and even Wolves.”

My brows pinched together. “Wolves roamed this land long before the humans.”

He shook his head. “Your history has twisted the truth to suit your own beliefs.”

“And how do you know that yours hasn’t done the same?”

“I can take you to the library.” He anxiously smoothed his hands down his trouser legs. “Once Rasil and his men are gone. I can explain everything.”

“Will you untie me?” His eyes turned sad and I lifted my chin. “Ah. I see. You aren’t allowed to unchain me, are you? Did your husband order that, too?”

“I will convince him to let you go. Believe me,” he implored, inching closer to place his hands on my shoulders. Fury burned through my veins. How dare he try to comfort me! This lying piece of shit. How dare he act like my friend when he had justimprisonedme. “I will talk to Rasil. He will learn that you aren’t a threat.”

My lip curled and I flashed him a wicked smile. “That, Navin, is where you are very,verywrong,” I said.

Before he could recoil, I lashed out, smashing my forehead into his nose. He let out a pained grunt as he toppled backward, and I followed, bowling him over as I rose to a stand. I plantedone manacled foot on either side of his head, the chain crushing his windpipe. His eyes bugged as his hands scrambled for the chain at his neck. He scratched at my bare legs, trying to move me, his flailing growing weaker by the second.

I watched the panic and fear as his face turned bright red and his eyes rolled back, but I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t watch the life leave his eyes.

I ran through the still open door, leaving him gasping and sputtering in my wake. The chain between my feet was too short to get a good gait, but I stumbled and tripped my way up the stairs and into the open-air corridor. To my right, it led out into the heart of the heptagon to what appeared to be a tropical oasis, thin trails of waterfalls and lush greenery. To my left was the rolling desert and the road up to Sankai-ed. I bolted to the left, scrambling to keep my feet under me as I descended the steps and hit the burning sand.

Fuck it. I’d rather die being cooked on the hot sand than in the cell of this secret society. The second my feet hit the sand, however, two hands lurched up from below and grabbed my legs. I screamed as three more skinny bone-white hands appeared and pulled me downward. My shins disappeared into the hot earth as the hands pulled me under, grasping and groping their way up my body. I flailed and thrashed against the translucent fingers that clawed up my torso, the crushing sand rising to my hips.

“You see, my love?” Rasil’s voice sounded behind me, and I twisted, spying him casually leaning in the tiled archway of the building just as he’d done the night before. Beside him stood a panting and bleeding Navin. Blood trailed from his nose, a bright bruising red line around his throat. “She’s only a beast.”

“She’s a trapped animal—of course she ran! Besides, we need her alive, you fool,” Navin spat, not even looking in my direction. My pulse quickened even further. I’m just an animal to him, aren’t I? And what did that other part mean? Why did they need me alive? “Call off your samsavet.”

Rasil rolled his eyes and lazily picked up the long whistlehanging around his neck. He blew into it three short, shrill notes, and the hands released me. I wriggled out of the sand, falling face-first into the gritty ground, my hands still bound and unable to save me. I clambered to my feet and stood there, swaying, already dizzy from the heat as the two men stared at me from the shade.

“My samsavet patrols every corner of the guardianship border,” Rasil said. “A mouse couldn’t run across the sand without her knowing. There is no escaping here withoutmysay-so. Remember that, Wolf.” He said the word “Wolf” with such disgust, as ifIwere the abomination. I snarled back at him, and he only smiled and gave me a wink. “Now go back to your cage like a good little dog and we’ll bring you a treat.”

My eyes flared, and I was about to barrel headfirst into him, samsavet or no, when Navin cut him a sharp look and said, “Rasil, stop this. There’s no need to be this cruel.”

“Have you looked in the mirror, love?” Rasil smiled as he scanned Navin’s brutalized face. “She just tried to kill you and you callmecruel?” He looked up to the cloudless sky and let out a deep, bellowing laugh. “Fine. Have your puppy love if you are so desperate to be killed by it. The Songkeepers leave for Allesdale in the morning. You will have two weeks with your pet to bring her to heel before we return.”

He looked me over and inclined his head. “But the samsavet will have no master to recall her,” he warned me. “So make sure you have chosen death before you step on this sand again.”

Sadie

I remained in my cell for the rest of the day. I drifted in and out of consciousness, dreaming of monsters drowning me in burning sand and of the vengeance I would bring to my captors above, carving them open with the nearest sharp object, or maybe just my teeth—human or no.

I replayed every moment with Navin over and over in my mind, trying to relive every suspicion. How had I not seen this coming? How could he have lied so easily? Worst of all, how could he have used his twisted magic to ensnare my heart? That was the most egregious betrayal. He had magic. And he’d manipulated us all with it.

A stranger in traveling clothes and sun scarf came and untied me through the bars... bars too narrow to slip through even if I shifted. Smart. The relief of being able to move my arms again was huge, but I was still just as trapped. Even if I somehow breached my cell, I’d still have a sand monster to contend with. And if I somehow fought off the sand monster? In the night, there’d be a crishenem, and in the day, there’d be scorching sand between me and Sankai-ed. The stranger brought me a lump of stale bread and a skin of water, too. I sat there in Navin’s browning tunic, wishing I hadn’t been such a coward and hadfinished him when I had the chance. He deserved to die for everything he made me feel. Gods, why couldn’t that sandstorm just have claimed us both?

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