Page 3 of Sins of His Wrath

Naya tried to follow, but it took a long while before she could steady her breath. Breathing deeply and slowly, the strange silent echoes softened until they were no stronger than the thud of her heartbeat.

Finally, she opened her eyes and was shocked to see that the wall in front of her had changed. It looked old and crumbly, as though it could collapse at any moment. In a flash, she remembered the building, the brand-new building in Akoro’s land that had looked so old and been about to collapse. And then she remembered everything.

Akoro.

Horror gripped her, and she abruptly shifted forward, but a sharp, excruciating pain exploded on her face. Crying out, she pressing her hand to the side of her face, but that made it worse. Blood spurted through her fingers and she pulled her hand away. It was slick with blood.

“Naya,” Mama said sharply, grabbing her shoulder and pushing her back down. “You have to stay still. The twins are stanching the bleeding and relieving the pain, but we haven’t found a way to heal it. You have to stay completely still.”

Naya looked at the twins. Their eyes were open now and they watched her. As she shifted back into place, she could feel their magic directed at her face.

“We need to get out of this room,” she mumbled. “That wall could collapse at any minute.”

Mama whipped her head back and shouted, “Get Drocco.”

Naya couldn’t turn to look, but she heard someone leave the room.

“What happened, Naya?” Mama asked firmly. “Where have you been? Who is coming?”

Her mind jumped to Akoro, to everything that happened; how she’d been taken, the torture, the threat to the empire, the realization Akoro was her mate, her heat, the way she’d escaped… Akoro was most definitely coming after her. “How long has it been?”

“Just over an hour,” Mama said. “You appeared in your father’s office through a powerful portal. The whole wing of the palace looks like this now.” She gestured to the crumbling wall in front of them. “You warned him that someone was coming and then you fell unconscious. That’s when we realized that the white fire had attached itself to you and was slowly ripping you apart. We don’t know how it happened, or how you got such an extensive face injury. You need to explain to us so we can try to heal you.”

“Nothing can heal that.” The old woman’s voice came from behind Mama, but this time she was farther back in the corner of the room and Naya couldn’t see her. “It is a complicated spell I haven’t seen before.”

Naya nodded, but then froze as pain surged and a gush of blood spurted onto her upper arm. “It’s true. It’s a magical wound.” She had to speak slowly, and even then tinges of pain clawed up her face. “He used a magical knife and carved my face, but the way they use magic is different… It’s part of their culture and based on proximity. I fully don’t understand it.”

“Who did it?” Mama asked.

Before Naya could answer, the door burst open and Papa’s heavy footsteps crossed the room.

The Talent-Crafter twin on Naya’s left side moved down to make way for him at her bedside, his face contorted in rage and his body tense. It struck Naya again how much older he seemed. More gray had spouted along the hair at his temples and his beard had grown bigger than she’d ever seen before. He must have been more worried than she’d imagined.

“Tell me everything.” His deep voice was tight and controlled, and there was a fire in his eyes that suddenly reassured her. “Who is coming? Where is he from and how the fuck did he take you?”

“He took me from my forest,” Naya muttered, the shame and annoyance still stinging her at the memory. “His land is very far from us—not part of the Known Lands. It’s a completely different place. Dry. Lots of desert land. The days there are nights here.”

“The Northern Lands,” Mama breathed.

Naya glanced up at her, confused. She’d never heard of such lands. “What? Do you know it?”

“We need to talk to Kardos,” Mama said to Papa.

“We need to gatherallthe rulers of the Known Lands,” Papa corrected. “We all have a vested interest in this, but not before we prepare for their arrival.”

“So you know about them?” Naya asked in disbelief, rotating her eyes between Mama and Papa. “You knew they would try to conquer our empire, and you didn’t tell me?”

Her words snapped both of their attention back to her. “What did you say?” Mama whispered.

Impossibly, Papa’s whole body hardened even more. “Is that what they are intending to do?” he asked quietly. “Conquer our empire?”

Naya nodded and then froze again at the pain from the slightest of movements.

Papa growled. “What the fuck makes them think they can do that?”

A raspy, croaking laugh came from the corner of the room.

“What the fuck is she doing in here?” Papa thundered, turning toward the old woman.

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