Chapter Eight
Black Sands
MAGNOLIA
Ineeded water. I was used to surviving on little—used to the constant thirst, the dry mouth, the parched lips—but the burning was unbearable. Sand was stuck on my tongue and lodged down my throat, sending blistering pain of raw heat through me every time I swallowed.
I felt foolish for ever praying to the Suns for warmth. Back in Moriann, it was all I ever wanted. I’d been freezing for the past seven years, but now that I had it, my body couldn’t handle it.
Traveling across the Black Sands wasn’t supposed to take long—the trek was rumored to only take a few hours—but the scorching heat and chafing grains in my boots made it feel like an eternity had passed. The moment the suns reached their peak in the sky, everything became molten.
The wind was nonexistent. It stopped halfway up the Senith, adding to my overheating problem.
The air was stagnant, making it feel like I was baking in my own sweat.
My dress was sticking to my skin as I walked, and the only sound I could hear was my own labored panting, mixing with my feet shifting through the sand.
I thought about taking off my gown and abandoning it, but the rational part of my brain told me I couldn’t enter Viven naked. That, and the blistering heat of the suns would burn every inch of my skin within minutes.
I was happy for my boots. I would have had fourth-degree burns if I wasn’t wearing them.
At one point, I tried sitting on the sand, needing a second to catch my breath, but I instantly hissed as the scorching grains singed past my clothes.
I’d heard rumors about the heat—that the moment the suns touched the grains it became scalding—but I never imagined it’d be this intense.
For a moment, I swore I saw steam rising from the surface, but I wasn’t sure if my mind was playing tricks on me. My vision blurred, sweat dripping into my eyes that it burned every time I blinked.
I thought I’d be able to look up, that I’d bask in the suns beating down on me and admire what I’d been missing my entire life, but I couldn’t. It was too bright, too scalding.
The only thing that kept my feet moving was that I no longer felt Dahes inside my head. He told me he would be cut off, and it was better than I ever imagined—like a weight had lifted on my mind, like chains had wrapped around my skull and only just loosened.
It felt… freeing.
Not that I could stay here. No one would survive past a day on the Sands, but the thought was intoxicating.
Even though I felt like I was slowly dying from the outside in, I was alive for the first time in a long time.
I felt like myself again. My thoughts were rushing back to me as strong as the Adrian tides during a storm, and I didn’t have to push them down.
I didn’t have to make myself numb. I could feel—even if all I felt was exhaustion and pain—it was still liberating to own it, to not have to hide.
I kept staring at my boots, watching as the tips blended in with the dark sand and wondered how long I had before it would burn through to my feet.
I thought I would love the absence of fog, but it made me feel exposed and vulnerable, knowing that anyone could see me coming. In Moriann, I used it to my advantage. I hid in it. I became it.
But now it was all open, and my mind kept wondering how long it would take for someone to find me if I toppled over and died.
I knew my answer though. No one from Viven would find me because there was one monster who would first.
Dahes was waiting.
My skin was crawling by the time I made it into the Valdern Forest. I kept wondering if that was it.
I climbed the Senith, crossed the Sands, and was almost at the point of passing out because of it.
I knew Dahes said I’d be a damsel, but this didn’t feel like a rescue, it felt like I was being hunted.
Genuine fear was working its way through me as night fell. The woods were massive, and I had no idea which direction to go. I wasn’t even sure if I should keep walking. Criminal drop offs weren’t until high noon.
It meant I had to survive the night. The dense canopy darkened as the suns set, making it impossible to see anything.
I should stop—I should find a place to sleep and wait out the darkness.
By the time I found a fallen tree pressed against a boulder, I was full on panicking. I wedged myself in between the two, unsure if this was the most stupid thing I had ever done in my life.
At least I had coverage. I wasn’t out in the open, but if Dahes sent a monster in here after me, most of them didn’t need to see to hunt for their prey.
Shit. Stop thinking about it, Magnolia. You aren’t dying tonight.
Half the time, I was surprised I hadn’t already gotten myself killed. With all the hunts he sent me on, most put me in close calls. Especially in the beginning, before he trained me.
Now I was alone. Blood was rushing to my head and my heart was beating too fast as the darkness kept consuming more and more of my vision.
I thought Moriann was supposed to be the kingdom covered in shadows. But the trees were so dense that they blocked the view of the six colored moons.
I clutched the dagger in my hand, trying not to think about the fact that the tip was dull from constantly stabbing it into the cliffs.
With Dahes out of my head, everything felt empty. No one was around. No one was going to save me. And my brain couldn’t stop imagining all the monsters and beasts I’d seen in my seven years with Dahes, wondering which one would be hunting me.