Page 48 of The Sun God's Prize
“Remi,” Atlas says, blue eyes spilling over his own tears, “we can’t abandon you.”
It’s clear he feels they already have, Zen’s growling agreement paired with weeping, too.
“Don’t ask that of us,” the rogue tells me.“Not now that we know where you are and how to reach you.”
“What you’ve endured,” Atlas says.“We’ve had each other,” they exchange a look that breaks my heart with its tenderness and love, “but you’ve been so alone.”
I gasp a breath and hug them both to me, the edges of the dream fading.I feel it pulling away, feel them going, but I cling to them one more moment.
“I love you,” I whisper to them as the spark blazes one more time, sizzling into a circle of binding, “and I will see you again.Don’t come for me.Please.”
My inhale is shaky, and when I open my eyes to the bedroom in the Sun God’s temple, my heart breaks all over again.Will they honor my request?I know better than to think I can order them to do so.But I have them with me again, at least through the kinspark.I feel now, distant but alive and well, and their connection renewed.
It is the best that I can do, the dragon tells me in a weary voice.Hark now, you’re not alone.She’s gone as I slowly sit up and face what’s to come, already planning to unman the Sun God if he decides to sully what I’ve just dreamed with some hope of physical assault.
Only to win a gasp from the young woman who sits on the edge of the bed, watching me.I know her, recognize her from the temple earlier today, from the seat next to Isthisahaloun.This is my first look up close, however, and I immediately note the familial resemblance.
“You’re his daughter,” I say.I’m not even trying to be friendly.
She recovers from her surprise, nodding, softening.I must have frightened her, expecting her father as I did, no doubt with murder in my eyes when I met her gaze.“I am Sheelan,” she says simply.“First Rae of the Sun God.”
Does that mean his oldest?His heir, perhaps?She’s taking a big risk, and so is he to allow this.Are they that deluded?How can she miss the risk that is this visit?Coming so close to me?Why would he allow me access to his daughter?Perhaps, she’s meant to endear me to him somehow.Though she was afraid in that moment of my waking, she doesn’t seem so anymore, far too curious for her own good with those dark eyes of hers fixed on my face.
She’s close to my age, I’m guessing, early twenties at the most, hair a black, silken waterfall woven with gold, a single gold ring sparkling in her nostril, bright in the light against her dark skin.And gorgeous, yes, soft and shapely in her gossamer, scented with flowers, full lips moist and parted in a breathless innocence.Sheelan reaches out with tentative fingers and hovers over the back of my hand, her wrist bangles tinkling when she does, gold-painted nails shining with glittering gems.But she doesn’t touch me.Is she asking permission?
I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, if only in this.
“I’m sorry for your terrible journey to us,” she says.“You’ve endured so much to reach us.”
They could have pulled me from the arena, and didn’t, so her apology falls short, even if at least she expresses guilt, while her father blames others.
“If you say so,” I reply.
Sheelan’s hand falls away without contact, accepting my rejection.She folds it into her lap with the other instead, the thin, transparent fabric of her skirt rustling, the embroidered hem heavy with jewels that make it swing as she turns toward me, crossing her legs beneath her as she settles further.Clearly, she’s planning to stay despite my lack of welcome.
Perhaps I should soften my own edges and take advantage of her presence.But I’m fighting to linger in the memory of the dream, and the kinspark’s return is a constant heartbeat now, one long to savor in private.
Duty, as always, takes precedence as much as I would prefer otherwise.
“You have a brother,” I say, blunt and without kindness, because the young man who sat on her father’s other side must be, of course.
“Theille,” she nods.“The next incarnation of the Sun, when the time comes.”
“Not you?”She’s older than him, I guessed that much when I first noted them.
“I am a woman,” she shrugs.“The Sun God only incarnates as a man.It is the way of the Rae.”
I grimace and shake my head.“If you say so.”Then sigh and toss my hands.“What do you want?”I’m out of patience at last, and I’ve engaged in what limited conversation I can manage for the time being.
She looks down at her hands, toying with one of the many rings on her fingers, the one that circles her index finger just before the first knuckle smooth and wide.“Is it true, what they say about your mother?What she did?”Sheelan’s eyes lift to mine again, wide with wonder.“I’ve heard the tales, but they seem so…” she spreads her hands and laughs breathlessly.
“I’ve never heard those stories before I came to your country,” I say, surprised at how deeply it hurts me to admit it.When did Mother fight the Sunnish army?Before I was born, no doubt, at her mother’s command.She never mentioned she’s a legend here.Did she even know it?I can’t believe she did, because modesty was not one of my mother’s virtues.“But I can tell you that she was formidable to the very end, and the idea that she stood against a whole army on her own is not outside plausibility.”In fact, I would wager the stories are not only true, but under speak the epic truth of Jhanette of Heald’s stand.
And now I want to hear them, the tales of her, before I leave this place.
“Was?”Sheelan’s hand rises to her chest, fingers curling into a small fist at the base of her throat.
“She was murdered,” I say, “by the same traitor of an Overking who’s made me your father’s slave.”
