Chapter 25
Nahlah
We fell into silence, my thoughts drifting to Ummi, and how much she’d love experimenting with these strange vegetables. With a twinge of sadness, I absentmindedly rubbed my palm where I could feel the imprint of the sandsilk lily.
“You don’t have to worry,” Rami murmured. “He won’t harm them.”
I shook my head angrily. “I’ve heard similar promises before. Beings of power who claim to have noble intentions always have their own agendas. Especially for minorities like us and those that the Mirage shelters.”
“I know more than anyone that Sultan Ghazi has his faults,” he admitted. “But I’ve never known him to break an oath, and I’ve known him for... quite some time.”
I shrugged, drawing my cloak tighter around me. “Excuse me for not trusting the word of someone known to manipulate others for their own purposes.”
His jaw clenched. “Was that directed at me or the Sultan?”
I’d meant the Sultan, but the realization that it could apply to Rami as well underscored the complexity of our entanglement.“Both,” I answered honestly. “You did, after all, put on a facade to lure me in.”
He frowned. ”I didn’t put on any facade.”
”Oh, really? Do you often dance with others only to blackmail, threaten, and arrest them? Captain.”
“Don”t fault me for doing my job. You werethe one who pretended to be Sahrandian royalty, and you were the one who got caught.” His eyes blazed with indignation. “I had no choice.”
His words ignited a fury, causing my laughter to burst forth sharp and furious. “Yet you still sought me out and danced with me!” Pushing my bowl aside, I crawled toward him, each movement deliberate, watching him tense at my approach. “You not only danced with me, but you touched me, and held me close, using pretty words to lower my defenses.”
“It did nothing of the sort,” he ground out, his entire body taut.
Leaning closer, I couldn’t ignore the thrill that came from his subtle retreat. “Tell me, Captain,” I whispered. “Why didn’t you kiss me this morning?” His grasp tightened around the bowl in his lap. “Why didn’t you touch me? Devour me?”
“Nahlah,” he growled warningly.
“Your body couldn’t hide its craving for mine.” I tilted my head, pressing my palm against his chest. “How much did you wish to know”—my hand trailed lower, daringly—“what I tasted like? How much did you want to hear my sounds of pleasure, knowing they were just for you? Were because of you?”
“Don’t start this,” he managed through gritted teeth. I laughed again, closing the distance between us until our faces were an inch apart.
“Why not Rami?” My voice was softer now, a whisper meant only for him. “Didn’t you know how much I wanted you, too? How I thought I’d lose my mind if another second passed without having you inside me?”
At last, his self-control fractured, the clay bowl breaking with a loud crack, betraying how rattled he was. A moment later, I was left grasping the air where he’d just been. Turning, I found him standing on the other side of the fire, facing away from me.
Leaning back on my hands, I hummed thoughtfully. “Was it your self-control that stopped you? Or was it your mindless obedience to the Sultan that kept you from taking what we both wanted?”
”You don”t know what you”re talking about.”
“I know you’re pretending to be less powerful than you really are. While I don’t understand why, don’t think for a minute that my desire for your body changes anything.”
“Nahlah,” my name sounded both like a curse and a plea, prompting me to cross my arms over my chest defensively. Before he could utter another lie, however, Huriyah’s terrified whinny drew our attention, a sudden shift in the atmosphere sending a ripple of anxiety down my spine.
The temperature plummeted as the surrounding air picked up speed, drawing closer and closer, tighter and tighter.A voice reverberated around us, melodic and commanding, as if woven from the air itself. “Who disturbs my slumber?”
My heart skipped as I quickly got to my feet, searching the barren landscape. But there was nothing—no one—in sight. The wind, now a howling force, whipped the black sand into a wild dance, obscuring everything with its fury. As the voice repeated the question, each echo felt more imposing than the last.
When Rami”s arm encircled my waist, relief flooded me despite our unresolved argument. His touch was a beacon of stability as the realm descended into madness. “What’s happening?!” My voice was barely audible over the element’s vicious roar.
With a flick of his wrist, he somehow cleared a path through the maelstrom, guiding us toward Huriyah. “It’s the Zephyr Wraith,” he shouted back.
“But I thought she slumbered until the darkest of night?”
He grimaced, anchoring us against the wind’s assault. “Our arguing must have woken her.”
“Who disturbs my slumber?” the voice challenged again as we reached Huriyah’s side. As Rami lifted me into the saddle and mounted behind me, the landscape blurred before vanishing entirely, absolute darkness engulfing us. We experienced a moment of suspension in nothingness, where time and space lost all meaning, and then the oppressive gloom lifted.
The view that greeted us was nothing short of mesmerizing—a manifestation of the wind”s essence. Above, wisps of clouds drifted lazily across the sky in shades of cerulean and turquoise, their soft forms painting ever-changing patterns against the backdrop of twilight. Beneath our feet, the ground shimmered with soft purples and glittering black, its surface undulating gently, as if mimicking the billow of a breeze.
Stretching far into the distance were doors, portals, arches, and entryways of every conceivable design. There were ancient stone entryways covered in moss and ivy, golden archways embedded with jewels, entrances hollowed into massive trees, and even portals shifting with shimmering colors. Rami quickly dismounted, immediately turning around with a silent offer of help. Not wanting to put us in danger again, I slid into his awaiting arms, keeping one hand fisted in his jellaba, the other placed gently against Huriyah’s trembling flank.
“I believe I asked a question,” the voice whispered, carrying on a breeze that seemed to originate from everywhere and nowhere.
In a heartbeat, the air shimmered, and a throne composed of swirling mists and rolling shadows appeared. Though beautiful, its presence wasn”t nearly as majestic and foreboding as the Zephyr Wraith seated upon it. Her skin shone with a translucent turquoise glow, sparkling waves of blue hair cascading down to her ankles and moving with a mesmerizing fluidity. It appeared sentient, billowing behind her one moment before swiftly curling upward the next.
”I will not repeat myself,” she warned, her eyes narrowing.
Rami gripped my arm, pulling me protectively behind him. “It is I, Rami,” he declared. “Please accept my apologies for disturbing your slumber.”
Her opaque onyx gaze was deeply unnerving as she studied us, as if glimpsing the tangle of thoughts and emotions that roiled within me.“What is it you want from me?” she asked at last, her hair unraveling from its newly braided fashion and coiling around her arm in a display of curiosity, as if it, too, was passing judgment on us.
“We seek a direct route to the Heart of Eternity,” Rami requested.
“It is impossible to access that door,” she dismissed, crossing her legs. “Perhaps you’d like to visit the Emerald City instead?” At her words, a grand gate materialized before us. Its emerald spires and gold-trimmed arches, adorned with sparkling gems, rose to meet a pointed peak where a symbol formed: an ‘O’ gracefully intertwining with a ‘Z.’
“Is it impossible with a Heartseeker present?” Rami asked. Her eyes widened as she leaned forward, scrutinizing me. With a sweep of her hand, a harsh wind enveloped me in its dizzying embrace. The room spun, and when she released me a moment later, I plummeted, landing squarely in Rami’s arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes searching mine as he set me on my feet. Before I could respond, the Zephyr Wraith’s delighted laughter rang out.
“A Heartseeker!” she squealed. “In all my years, I have yet to even see this door!” With a snap of her fingers, the myriad of entrances began to shift and move, stirring around us at an incomprehensible speed. When a lone door made of red sandstone halted before us, my heart hammered against my ribs, recognizing it instantly from my vision of the Heart’s sanctuary. She clapped her hands excitedly, and the surrounding air warmed, as if caressed by the gentle breeze of a summer night. “This is it! The Heart of Eternity’s door!” Her excitement was infectious, drawing a reluctant smile even from Rami.
He placed a fist over his heart, a motion I hastened to mimic, while Huriyah dipped his head respectfully. “Thank you,” Rami voiced our collective gratitude as he gathered Huriyah’s reins, glancing down at me. “Let’s go.”
As we moved toward the door, a powerful gust forced us back, and the Zephyr Wraith tutted. “Though I am pleased to see the Heart’s door at last, you of all beings,” she addressed Rami directly, “should know there’s always a price to be paid.”
He tensed. “What’re your demands?”
“A memory or a dream,” she stated casually, as if such a payment were of little consequence.
Rami’s refusal was immediate. “No.”
The Wraith shrugged, arm extended, her hair writhing around it with a serpent-like grace. “Those are my terms.”
“It’s too high,” he insisted.
“Rami, we have to go through,” I whispered urgently.
“It’s too risky,” he said, meeting my gaze. “We cannot choose what she takes, and losing something significant could change the very essence of ourselves. We’ll find another way,” he stated firmly, turning to address her. “Please return us.”
“Very well,” she agreed, glancing at the Heart’s door in disappointment, waving her hand.
A visceral fear that leaving now would mean forfeiting the Heart forever seized me as her lair began fading. It was more than intuition; I sensed the Heart’s call through the door, a persistent tether drawing me toward it. As my hand brushed against my satchel and I felt the tome hidden inside, a passage came to me with clarity and urgency: Her price is a treasure from within your own mind. A memory, a dream, a tale entwined.