Chapter Five Samira
FIVE SAMIRA
Tabia ran a damp rag over my arms, doing her best to get rid of the grime that had become a second skin. “It’ll be all right, Samira,” she told me. “All you have to do is stand there. Then, before you know it, you’ll be with Ketet in the Paradise Fields.”
I nodded, though I was trembling with terror.
She tossed the rag aside and looked at me for a moment.
I’d known Tabia the entire time I’d worked in Khada Palace.
Though we hadn’t been permitted to speak much, she was one of the only kind faces I ever saw.
A staple of the last sixteen years. When I looked into her brown eyes now, I saw fear.
For me. “It’ll be all right,” she repeated, giving my hand a squeeze.
I clung to her for as long as I could, until Tabia and the others had no choice but to run.
Leaving me in my queen’s rooms with exactly five guards. They faced the door with determination, but they were as trapped as I was.
I ought to feel honored to stand in place of my queen. Like Tabia said, I’d get to see Ketet before anyone else. And I’d do so while saving the Gods-Chosen’s life. That was no small thing.
But all I felt was fear. So much fear.
With each blink, I saw that Kald tear out the guard’s throat, and nausea burned in my gut.
It was going to hurt, dying. I was accustomed to all sorts of pain.
It should be easy. But I could hear the screams through the open window.
There was something so chilling about hearing men scream.
It made my knees clack together, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest.
I’d woken Nadia up as soon as I spotted the figures in the river, and she’d run off to tell the guards while I rushed to the Gods-Chosen. I wondered if she was safe, if she’d managed to escape yet, if Tabia had, or if their screams were mixed in with the cacophony of others’.
The screams that were getting louder. Closer.
The guards shifted on their feet, strangling their scimitars.
I stood behind them and tried to calm my breaths, clasping my hands in front of me and then unclasping them.
I hoped the Kaldfolk would kill me quickly.
Then it wouldn’t matter what sort of defilement they put my corpse through.
The Mother would offer me treasures in the Paradise Fields, riches I would never have been able to experience in this life.
I’d certainly have all the bread and water I could want.
The screaming and footfalls were directly outside the door, and I could no longer hear my own thoughts over my thundering heart.
The door was flung open so hard, it slammed into the adjacent wall with a world-shattering boom.
Bears burst in and were on the guards in a single blink, tearing them apart. I gasped in horror and backed up toward the bed as the smell of copper filled the room. Enormous teeth flashed; spittle flew. The guards’ screams died as their throats were ripped out, blood spurting.
Then there was silence.
It had only taken seconds.
No candles had been left burning when my queen fled, allowing the creatures to stick to the shadows as they stalked the perimeter of the room. Each step measured, heads low. A pack on the hunt. Their bright yellow eyes seemed to hover in the darkness.
A bear walked directly into a moonbeam, the blue fur of its maw drenched in the guards’ blood, and then it reared up on its hind legs. Its limbs retreated and molded into the body of a man, and I got my first real glimpse of one of the northern monsters.
It became impossible to hide my trembling.
The Kald from the throne room. I was too terrified to remember the name he’d given.
He was massive. From the balcony, he’d seemed big, but up close, he was nothing but height and bulk.
At least a foot taller than me, if not more, and nearly as wide as the wardrobe behind him.
Both sides of his head were entirely shaved, his thick brown braid so long he had to wrap it around the back of his head and pin it, though its tail still hung to the small of his back.
And his face. Gods, his face was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
Where Ashoran men all wore beards as soon as they were old enough to grow them, this man’s face was clean-shaven and decorated with ocean-blue tattoos.
Those foreign symbols slashed across his strong jawline and all the way down his throat, disappearing under the neckline of his tunic.
Kohl encircled his yellow eyes and then bled to his forehead, making his eyes stand out even more frighteningly than they already were, hiding his face in a sea of darkness.
He grabbed my arm and jerked me forward roughly. I clamped my lips shut against my scream. The Kald put his nose to my throat and inhaled. His lips pulled back, revealing white teeth as he grinned.
I couldn’t help it. Fear sapped all my strength, and a warm river flowed down my leg.
His grin widened, no doubt scenting that I’d wet myself. “Princess Amunet Khada,” he greeted me, voice somewhere between a growl and a purr, man and beast. “Or I guess we’ve made you queen now.”
For Ashorah, I reminded myself. For the Gods-Chosen.
The Kald’s eyes swept over me, making a vile shudder slither down my spine.
“P-please,” I stammered, “whatever you’re g-going to do, make it quick.”
He blinked those luminous eyes at me. “What is it you think we’ve come to do?” His Kald accent was heavy, the ends of each word too harsh and the vowels too long.
“K-kill me.”
“Oh gods, no. No wonder you’re shaking like a leaf.” The Kald clicked his tongue in mock regret.
I looked from him to the other Kaldfolk, still bears. Their eyes glimmered with laughter. My dread mixed with humiliation, and I squeezed my thighs together to stop from embarrassing myself further.
“We’re not going to kill you, Majesty.” The Kald moved behind me, and I fought every instinct that screamed at me to turn around, to never give my back to a predator. He put his lips to my ear and said, “We’re taking you captive.”
“Wha—” My air cut out as his enormous arm wrapped around my throat, forearm pressing down. My hands came up to yank it away, but my fingers couldn’t even fully grasp his massive arm. I bucked wildly, eyes bulging.
The Kald hung on easily, batting my hands away like they were nothing more than a nuisance, and pressed down harder.
My pulse echoed in my ears, face too hot, chest on fire. My mouth opened and closed like a beached fish, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t manage even a small sip of air. Stars popped across my vision as my arms fell limply at my sides. The world went blurry and then—
Dark.