Page 59 of Of Nightmares & Fire
“How?” He asks, and I shake my head.
“The manticore that fought in the dune alongside us didn’t leave anyone to ask…” I say, clenching my jaw.
“Manticore?” He asks incredulously, only just now realizing it was not a joke I said earlier. “So you found the relic.” He says it simply, and heat floods my veins. Adrenaline courses through me with my raging blood. Many looks cross his face before he finally settles on excitement.
“It's not what you think.” I finally say, and his brow twitches with confusion.
“What else could it be?” He asks.
“I don’t know for certain, but I don’t think that the relic is an object, Rowan. But a person. A woman, and she has no fucking clue.” Rowan stares at me for a long moment, and when his face slowly changes into something wicked, the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Women can be used just the same, can they not?” His teeth glint in the low light, and a growl builds in my chest.
“No.” The single word is menacing, and he quirks a brow.
“Well, well, Kyros. Does this woman…mean something to you?” He asks, with a smile on his lips and a laugh in his tone. I level him with my eyes before standing abruptly.
“What did you read from the sand?” I ask. My back is ramrod straight, and my sword hand fisted around the butt of the one thathangs at my hip. Rowan's eyes narrow at the gesture, and his smile fades before he too stands. He may be an old friend, but I will not risk anything with this.
“Nothing.” He says, and the eerie one word whispered in my face makes it feel as though all the blood is draining from my face. Cold sweat prickles my forehead, and I blink slowly. The fact that he can sense the magick but read nothing makes what I think I saw—what I felt coming from Astraea’s nightmare—a very real possibility. A possibility that I need to know for certain before I bring her to Queen Phaedra.
Chapter forty-one
Astraea
Myheartispoundingin my chest with both anger and adrenaline, deprivation and elation. It’s a war of emotion stirring through my blood and making me feel sick. My feet falter, threatening to send me to my knees, but Mavros holds my arm in his firmly.
“Hey, you ok?” He says, concern bracketing his mouth.
“It's been a long journey.” I say in response; not sure what I should say or not. The city we enter is similar to the Eathian capital. Smaller in size with no looming palace in the distance. Instead, trees line the horizon. The scent of their wood wafting through the night air like a fresh drink of water on the hottestof days. The dirt on the ground is less sandy here even if dunes lay just beyond the other side of the small village. My feet actually cool walking on the soil, rather than the heat from the sand that holds onto the sun's viscous fire.
An ear-piercing screech pulls my attention away from the new world around me and questions in Mavros’ stare, and in the blink of an eye, I am being tackled to the ground by a blaze of fiery red hair and long squeezing arms. The air is knocked from my lungs as we go plummeting to the hard-packed ground, and I hear curses and laughs from all around. Then, all sounds around me are muted by the sobs jolting my body as Cole and I cry.Finallytogether again.
Our cries turn to laughter when she lifts off of me and we see each other’s faces. Even in the low firelight of a nearby post, I can see the blotchy red spots all over her face. Her hair is a wild mess and I’m sure I look the same. Pressing up, she gives me her hands and pulls me to my feet but I refuse to let go of her.
My eyebrows hike, eyes widening when I take in what she is wearing. The dark-colored pants do nothing to cover her form; they are skin tight. Her arms are bare, the top nearly as snug as the bottoms. She smiles when she sees the shock on my face.
“Things are different away from the palace. Women don’t have to constantly be covered with the same drapes we dress the windows with.” She laughs. “And, they are teaching me to fight! I never thought it would be something I loved so much.”
“Yea, and I never thought that she would be any good…” The guard I recognize as Viltarin comes up behind her, holding his nose with a bloody rag. Mavros slaps Viltarin on the back, laughing and holding his stomach.
“Andyouare the guard Ky put on princess duty?” He says with a wide smile, pulling a questioning look over at me. Even Mavros, who has always seemed to have a lively personality, seems different here. Happiness radiates from all of them, and I find my own lips trying to pull up at the corners.
“Speaking of princesses. I think she needs a bit of rest. Maybe you can take her and help her get cleaned up? Bring her to the tavern when you’re all done, and we will get her some good food. None of that shit we had to have before.” Mavros says to Colette and nudges me with his elbow when he speaks of the tavern food.
“Come on, you are staying with me.” Cole says, and something seems to flicker in my chest. I look back the way we came, toward the area where we left Kyros and Zinya. I can’t see past the darkness. If they are still in the same spot, I have no way of knowing. As much as I want to talk to Kyros, to demand answers… I also don’t want to see him right now. I can’t be around him knowing that he is keeping things from me. He asked me to trust him. Told me that he doesn’t go back on his promises, but how can I believe anything he says?He brought you back to Cole.
Colette hooks her arm in mine and steers me away from the two men as Mavros makes more fun of Viltarin. She rubs my arm, and when I look at her, I feel better just being in her presence, like everything might just be ok. As though I didn’t just stare down a manticore and watch as Kyros used terrifying and beautiful magick to wreak havoc on a clan of Scylia pirates.Is this what my lifeis going to be like away from the castle? Battles and blood? Magick and malice?
“Where is the suitor?” Cole wiggles her brows, and I blink confused at her.
“Who?” I ask. The grin she had on her face falls, and she looks at me like she is seeing me for the first time.
“Are you ok?” Cole asks, and I nod. She doesn’t ask again, and she doesn’t say anything else. Instead, she looks over her shoulder, in the direction of the desert we just walked in from. Toward the shadows that hold Kyros and his secrets. She stays silent even when I still don’t answer, just points to a narrow set of stairs on the side of a two-story wood cottage. The stairs creak as we climb. I can’t help but look up, toward the blackened sky and the sparkling stars that litter the sky like diamonds. When we reach the top, Cole fumbles with the door, and I close my eyes with my face skyward. Is this who I am meant to be? Am I running from one problem to the next? An endless cycle of pain? An endless cycle of wondering if I am making the right choice?
“Thank you, Cole. I know this is a huge change for you, and you did it for me.” I say, tears welling in my eyes as I look at the worn wooden door.
“Hey, you know I’m doing it for me too. Palace living isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…doting on a princess all the time…” She makes a groaning ugh noise and then smiles when I look at her. She bumps her shoulder into mine. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m just glad that Kyros got you here safely. I could tell the others were getting worried. Divine knows I was.”
