Page 133 of Thief of Souls
Freeze. I breathe power into the world.
Everything comes to a standpoint.
The leaves hover in the air.
The wind stops.
Soraya stands mute, frozen in motion.
Time is a held breath, pressure building and building, like a set of lungs forced to endure. I have minutes at best before the structure of the world starts to strain at its bindings. Once I walked through time with the ease of a master, but now, all I have left is this…. Stolen minutes.
I sense half a dozen others turning toward me from wherever they stand, curious to know who has wrought such a working of power. Even the fae will sense it when I restart time. They will sense it, and they will wonder.
“I am done hiding,” I whisper into the world, and my power carries those words across courts and kingdoms. “I have found my true mate. Don’t interfere.”
Their minds brush against me, curious and distant, and then, one by one, all six of them turn away.
They will not interfere.
But Asmeroth leaves me one last parting note.“You risk us all with this decision. They will sense the truth.”
I risk nothing I’m not willing to pay.
I am Enkeirammon.
King of kings.
Heir to a throne that no longer exists.
And I have finally found the treasure I’ve spent my entire lifetime searching for.
Nothing is going to stop me from having it.
Tearing apart time and space, I step Between, and then I’m standing in front of a brass horn wrapped in shadows. I can sense it whispering to the world here in the Between, the song of the cauldron hissing through it.
Zemira thinks she’s secured the horn.
And maybe she did, because I can still hear it singing her sweet tune.
But now I’m going to take it.
I’m going to take it all.
But first, I have to let her go.
28
Zemira
The court is in uproar.
We barely managed to slip our way inside, for Belladonna—the new ruler of the court—has guards stationed at every door.
Particularly mine and Keir’s.
“This could be a problem,” I whisper, as Falion and I watch from the shadows. “I made a deal with Belladonna. Right now, I’m the only one who knows she wanted your lord and master dead.”
And if Belladonna is cleaning up the court, then she’ll most likely be interested in tidying up any other sort of loose ends she can find.
