Page 27 of The Moon's Fury
Her mother barked a cold laugh, ire blazing behind her eyes. “What happened tome? My husband was murdered! Now I have to shoulder the burden of safeguarding his legacy, his children, hiskingdom! Instead of defending Alzahra from its enemies, I am forced to protect it from itsQueen!”
Layna gaped at her mother, the words cutting deep. Her fingertips began to tingle, and she took deep breaths, filling her lungs.
“Hadiyah—” Ebrahim started, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She angrily shrugged it off. “No, Ebrahim! It’s time she hears this.” Hadiyah turned back to her. “How can you be so selfish, Layna? What happened to my steadfast daughter—the one who loved her kingdom, the one who embraced her duty? You’re willing to cast it all aside forhim? That—that mercenary!”
“Don’t call him that,” Layna bit out. Seething flames licked up her spine until a hazy smoke clouded her senses.
Hadiyah laughed mockingly. “That’s exactly what he is. Do you think me a fool? I saw the Medjai elders and their exhaustive trials. Theyfearedyou, Layna. And his insistence on keeping your powers a secret only confirmed my suspicions. How can you care for him knowing he came here to kill you?”
Angry white spots began to blot out Layna’s vision.
“Stop it,” she whispered.
Her heart thundered in her chest, threatening to escape. She gripped the armrests with sweaty hands until her knuckles turned white. Vaguely, she heard the door open, but her senses were muffled through the fog of her rising anger. She looked at Ebrahim, hoping for his intervention, but his concerned gaze was fixed on something behind her.
“It’s true,” Hadiyah pressed. “And I had hoped with him gone, you’d come around and see reason. But I was wrong.”
A shrill ringing began to blare in Layna’s ears.
“You … you sent him away?” she breathed, her blurry gaze fixing on her mother.
“Of course I did. Do you think that stubborn man would have left on his own? He’s a viper that slithered into my home and coiled around my daughter. He’s poisoned your mind.”
Layna’s breath left her in rapid pants.
“You sent him away.”
She shakily rose to her feet.
“Yousent him away.”
For the first time since the conversation started, Ebrahim met her gaze. His eyes immediately widened.
“Layna—Layna, sit back down. Your eyes are glowing.”
Hadiyah and Ebrahim quickly rounded the table, approaching her with outstretched arms, as if trying to calm a frightened animal.
She recoiled from them, clutching her head in her hands. The shrill ringing had increased in volume, pulsing loudly in her ears until she wanted to bury her head in sand to escape it.
“Deep breaths, Layna,” Ebrahim reminded, his calm voice clashing with the storm raging in her head. He angled himself between her and Hadiyah. “Take deep breaths,please. Your eyes are completely white. You must calm down.”
“YOU SENT HIM AWAY!”
Layna didn’t hear what came out of his mouth next because a powerful tendril of energy coiled in her belly and raced through her limbs, a burning, crackling,furiousbeam.
Instinctively, she stretched out her arms.
A bright streak of light shot from her palms—
—straight into Ebrahim’s chest.
He flew backwards into Hadiyah, and both of them tumbled to the ground. Hadiyah screamed, along with someone else behind her. A red blur darted to the ground and clutched Ebrahim’s arm, trying to help him sit.
Layna blinked rapidly, her eyes slowly focusing.
It was Burhani, kneeling on the floor. She must have entered when the door opened. Burhani pulled Ebrahim’s head into her lap.
