Page 20 of A Game of Queens
Yet she still screamed.
Chilled and clammy, I lifted my head. My eyes had long ago adjusted to the darkness inside the shelter, but I had to blink several times to find the thin seam of the moveable rock door. My head swam, my stomach pitching queasily. Mama had been quiet for a long time, now.
Hours or even days had passed. I wasn’t sure. My senses insisted it was dark outside.
The sun had set.
I could leave. It was safe.
But leaving the shelter meant finding out exactly what had happened to Mama.
My stomach churned. Dread tasted like death on my tongue. I didn’t want to know. If I stayed here in the shelter, I could tell myself everything was okay. Mama was okay. She hadn’t…
A whimper rasped my throat. I was exhausted, thirsty, and starving. Stupid. I only just now remembered the flasks of water and dried fruit and nuts stashed away beside the bed. I’d been too worried about everyone outside to even consider feeding myself. Not while they were in danger and hurting.
What if Mama was out there, hurt and dying? If I could get to her…
I pushed up to my feet and fumbled to find the small depression that would start the gears to slide the heavy rock panel aside. It crept open with agonizing slowness.
Smoke wafted inside, choking me. Heat billowed through the small doorway, but I didn’t see flames. Just the soft glow of embers.
Our house was a pile of ash and blackened timber, fallen down around a rock-walled shelter in the middle of the charred and crumbled foundation. Everything was destroyed. Gone.
Sniffing, I swiped tears away and tried to think. Mama had told me what to do. Where to go. I just had to remember. I had to start now while it was dark. They’d be looking for me at dawn.
But all I could do was stand there in the smoldering ruins and cry.
“Ah, there’s our little sun princess.”
I whirled around so hard I almost fell. The same voice. The man who’d hurt Mama. I couldn’t help but glance at the skyfrantically to confirm the sun had indeed set. Stars twinkled in the sky, and over the hill, to the east, I could see the lights from the nearest town. But otherwise, it was completely dark.
The man wore strange clothing that looked like a long, white dress. His head was bald, and his eyes were outlined with thick, smoky black. A gold medallion hung around his neck. He didn’t have a weapon that I could see. He just stood there. Looking at me.
Had he made the smoldering footprint? I didn’t think so.
“Come, child. Your mother is quite distraught. I’m sure that seeing you will calm her nerves.”
My heart leaped with hope, though I knew it had to be a lie. A trick to trap me. He’d hurt her and I hadn’t heard her voice for hours.
I gulped back another choked cry. “She’s dead.”
Shaking his head, he frowned. “No, I assure you. Solveig Sunna is alive and well. Come, princess. I’ll take you to her.”
He bowed low, sweeping a hand toward me. A large ring caught my attention. It looked like an Egyptian eye.
The symbol associated with Ra, the supreme sun god.
Our worst enemy.
“You recognize the symbol, yes?” The man straightened slightly but didn’t withdraw his hand. “I’m High Lord Vizier Amun. I act as His Imperial Majesty’s holy right hand. You may honor the goddess of your line, but Sunna belongs to Helios. All solar houses belong to Ra, may he shine forever.”
When I still didn’t give him my hand, he nodded to himself and softened his voice.
“I know you’re afraid, child. I don’t blame you at all. But let me ask you this. Would you rather come to Heliopolis like an honored princess descended from His Imperial Majesty, or as a captive who must punished like your beloved mother?”
My bottom lip wobbled. “She isn’t dead?”
“Of course not. She’s much too important to His Imperial Majesty’s plans despite the trouble she caused us by hiding your miraculous birth for so long. In a day and age where heirs are few and far between, she managed to deliver a fine young queen for House Sunna and Helios.”
