Page 62 of Ulune's Daughter

I elbow his ribs. “As I remember it, you asked me out to dinner.”

“Tch-tch.” He shakes his head in mock disdain. “Associating with men of low character.”

“And loose morals,” I say with a mock huff. “Speaking of which, I was going to hold a thing for the faculty. Kind of a ‘hey, I’m back’ thing. Sunday night at eight, I was thinking.”

“Athing?”

“Desserts, coffee, booze, really boring conversation about tenure and who’s sneaking around with who. Would you be my plus one?”

“Do you invite a plus one to your own party?”

“It’s not a party,per se.”

He squeezes my shoulder. “I would love to be your plus one at your incredibly dull-sounding not-party, but I’m judging an away meet. I won’t be back until Tuesday.”

“Oh.” Disappointment ripples through me. “I guess we’re coming up on competition season, aren’t we?”

He nods. “However, to compensate for sucking in the boyfriend department before I can even claim the title, can I see you Tuesday night? Dinner and dancing?”

He’s going to claim the title? A thrill that belongs back in junior high-school runs through me and I swallow the entirely too girly “wee!” that tries to break free.

“You did have some pretty fine moves to ‘Dancing Queen’,” I admit. “I think I could endure that.”

He grins and presses a kiss to my temple through my scarf.

* * *

I’ve beenin a lot of ancient cities, many of them older than Imirza, the jackalwere’s settlement. But most of them have been dead cities. Unoccupied. Ruined by war or the elements. Seeing people—mostly older men and adult women—moving around the time-bleached stone buildings feels incongruous. As I adjust to seeing them go about their daily lives in a settlement that’s been standing since before the pyramids at Giza were built, another incongruity hits me.

It's too quiet.

There aren’t any children shouting. No mothers calling to their kids. It’s almost silent except for the rush of wind. I thought this was a living city, but it’s not.

The SUVs bump to a stop in front of a round building with a weathered blue, domed roof. Two men, their heads wrapped in scarves, dressed in black, with guns slung at their sides, step out of the building’s covered porch.

Rhodes glances at me but I shrug. Guns stopped bothering me a while ago. Probably around the time I learned how to create an Air-shield that will stop even automatic weapon fire. Or maybe around the time a shark god tried to eat me. Either way, I’m not overly worried about the heat Maher’s thugs are packing. I’m much more concerned about a strange vibration that’s just starting to set my teeth on edge.

“How far are we from where you held us?” I ask Maher as we climb out of the car.

He glowers at me. “Why?”

“Because I’m sensing something but I’m not sure what it is or where it’s coming from. I’m just sure this is not the epicenter of it. You’re convinced Cami cursed your village. If that’s true, it makes sense that the curse rooted where we were held.”

“This is a holy place,” the driver says, still chewing one of Jane’s gummies, as he tips his head at the domed building. “Is that what you’re sensing?”

I shake my head. This is definitely a dissonance.

“Follow me,” the driver says.

“Zeki,” Maher grumbles.

“What’s the point of bringing her here if we ignore her magic?—”

“The cup!” Maher hisses.

The driver, whose face is obscured by the checked cloth wrapped around his head, but the unlined skin around his brown eyes suggests he’s young, shrugs. “You’re not even sure it will work. What harm is there in showing her the caves?”

Maher continues grumbling but when he doesn’t grab me, or my backpack, I follow the driver. Zeki leads me around the side of the building and down a short alley. The alley ends in a crumbling stone wall. When the driver ducks and turns abruptly into what I thought was an alleyway, I realize the buildings have been carved out of the hillside and the dark notch I thought was an overhang is an entrance to a cave system.

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