Chapter Fifty-One Samira
FIFTY-ONE SAMIRA
A clear blue sky stretched above me, broken only by the sphere of the blazing sun. My skin was instantly slicked with sweat, the humidity a physical weight on my body.
But the stones beneath me were cool.
With a frown, I sat up.
The floor was made of solid limestone cubes—a single tile as large as my whole body. Twin marble columns stretched far above me, bordering a doorway with doors that were no longer there, reaching for a ceiling that didn’t exist.
I spun around and saw a crumbling statue of a beautiful woman with long braided hair, her left eye sure and strong, her right eye covered with a patch.
Ketet.
Beside her, limestone stairs led up to nowhere, the second floor having fallen apart a long time ago. A small pool sat at the bottom of the steps, at Ketet’s feet. Serene and still enough for the sun to be reflected perfectly off it, like a mirror.
This was a temple. One that hadn’t been used in centuries, by the looks of it.
“Rade?” I called. But the temple was utterly deserted. No qareen. No Rade.
I got to my feet—and glanced down in surprise. My injured leg no longer hurt; the other one did. I pulled up the hem of my dress to reveal the wounds on my ankle and knee, but they had all switched to the opposite leg.
My hand immediately dropped to my chest.
The scarred X was still there, but it wasn’t over my heart; it had moved to the right side of my chest. A quick inventory told me the claw wounds on my shoulders and lash scars on my back had also shifted.
The Mirror Realm. Everything was reversed.
A cough sounded behind me.
I whipped to the front of the temple.
A figure stood in the entrance, a mere shadow with the sun at their back, leaning heavily against the doorjamb, breathing hard.
My qareen. Though not shackled, like Rade had promised, it didn’t appear to be in the best condition. If I surprised it, maybe I could—
The figure stumbled forward, face coming into view, and my brows knit together. “Keir?”
Rade’s First didn’t respond as he brushed past me and dropped to his knees in front of the pool, plunging his hands into the water and gulping down handful after handful.
His tunic gaped open, sweat stains soaking through nearly every inch of the fabric. His sword was sheathed down his back, but the makeup that usually painted a mask around his eyes was faded and smudged, revealing sunburns all over his cheeks and forehead.
“Keir, how are you here? Rade said he…”
“Locked me up?” he gasped between swallows. “He did. One minute I’m in a cell, the next I’m waking up in the sand. Thanks to your blood, I assume.”
“My blood?” He’d tasted it just hours before the ceremony. My eyes widened.
“It tied us together somehow,” he said as he continued to drink.
“Did you know that would happen? Is that why you tasted it?”
“Nope. Just lucky.”
I recalled that image of the bride and groom bleeding out on the altar. Blood did seem to be the key to this last leg of the ritual. My blood in Keir’s system must have dragged him into the Mirror Realm with me. A man who, not twelve hours ago, had tried to take my head off with an axe.
Great.
But that wasn’t my most immediate concern. I glanced back to the entrance of the temple. “Is Rade with you?”
He paused, water dripping down his chin, and looked around as if just now realizing. “He’s not with you?”
I shook my head, stomach tightening.
Water splashed into the pool as Keir dropped his hands. He looked around. But there was nowhere to hide in this crumbling temple. “Shit.”
My boots thumped quickly against the limestones as I crossed to the dilapidated doorway and peered out.
Rocky mountains and dunes. And nothing else all the way to the horizon. “Keir,” I ventured, “how long were you out there?”
“A day.”
Which meant I’d been asleep for a full twenty-four hours—at least as this realm counted time. My heart plummeted.
“Rade!” Keir shouted as he climbed the stairs to nowhere and called at the top of his lungs, “Rade!” His voice echoed over the desolate landscape. There was no response. He swore again and jogged down the steps. “Stay here,” he ordered.
“Wait, where are you going?”
He didn’t respond as he staggered back out into the desert.
“Keir!” I ran after him. “Keir! Wait!” He ignored me, hand over his eyes as he strode forward. But my steps slowed as I looked around. These dunes, this sand. I’d seen them before. “I know this place,” I murmured.
Keir did stop at that, squinting in the brightness. “What?”
“The fortune Zarqa gave me. She brought me here.” I spun in a circle as I took it all in. Everything was the same, down to the sun’s heat beating on the top of my head, the rough grains scratching against my shins.
“Here?” Keir repeated. “She showed you the Mirror Realm?”
Out of fire were you born, out of water were you found. I didn’t see fire or water, besides the pool at the base of the stairs—
The amulet. There had been an amulet, too. Maybe if I found it, it would get us out of here. Or show us where to go.
I crouched to the sand and started digging.
“What are you doing?” Keir asked.
“Looking for the amulet.”
“Right. Of course. The amulet.” Keir shook his head and trudged away.
In the vision, I’d emerged from the sand with an amulet. But finding such a small object in tons of sand would be impossible.
Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I turned to look over my shoulder.
Nothing. Just more desert.
And yet… something called to me. I shielded my eyes against the glare and squinted. Heat waves distorted the horizon, but I thought I saw something glint. It couldn’t be the amulet, of course, not at that distance. Still…
“Keir.” I scrambled up to my feet, going after him. “Keir, you’re going the wrong way.”
“Zarqa give you a map for this place, too?”
“Keir.” I grabbed his arm and yanked.
He turned around impatiently. “Rade—”
“Rade isn’t in that direction.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I—I don’t know.” I glanced over my shoulder again. The horizon was undisturbed, but I felt that same compulsion to head that way. “You just have to trust me.”
“Trust you?” His eyes blazed hotter than the sun.
In a flash, he’d drawn a dagger and pressed its serrated edge to my throat.
When I tried to jerk away, his hand grabbed the back of my head and held me in place.
“You are the reason he’s out there,” he snarled.
“You lied. To all of us. I should kill you right here.” Keir’s eyes shone with undiluted rage, and the dagger was sharp against my skin.
Any more pressure and he would draw blood.
I was right, then. My blood had proven I was not the queen.
But I wasn’t scared. “You won’t kill me,” I said. Perhaps foolishly, but I couldn’t help thinking this was the second time he’d threatened to kill me in as many days, and if he’d really wanted to, I would already be dead.
His eyes bored into mine, trying to make me burst into flames with just a look. I held my ground, not even blinking.
Then his lips quirked up in a menacing grin. “You’re right. I’ll let Phadar do it instead.” Just as quickly as he’d seized me, he dropped his hands. I drew in a shuddering breath.
“I’m going to say something to you that no one has ever said to you before, Majesty.” He leaned in, getting right in my face. “You’re on your own.” He waited a beat, letting that sink in, before he turned and kept walking.
I stared at his back, heart thundering. I’d always been on my own.
But that was going to change when I died.
Whether I ended up in the Paradise Fields or the Trench, I wouldn’t be alone.
But if I died out here and my qareen managed to get free, there was no way I’d make it to the Paradise Fields.
Shaya wouldn’t hear a word of my pleading.
I’d be responsible for whatever horrors my qareen carried out, and there would be no chance for my redemption.
Not to mention if Rade died out here because of me—
My spiraling thoughts froze as my mind caught on one word Keir had said. One very important, very specific word.
Majesty.
He still thought I was Amunet.
“You don’t know,” I yelled. Keir was already several feet away. He didn’t stop. I called louder, “Whatever you tasted in my blood, you don’t know all of it. There’s more!”
He froze without facing me.
I licked my dry lips and dared to approach. “I’ll tell you.”
Keir turned, body wound tight. His yellow eyes narrowed, tracking my every step.
I stopped a foot away from him. “I want to find Rade, too. But who knows how long he’s been out there on his own?
He’ll need water, food—if we just charge out there, we won’t do him any good.
We need a plan. So I will tell you the truth.
” I fixed him with a stare. “If you continue to uphold the order you were given.”
“And what order was that?”
“To protect me.”
His brows lowered.
“Rade ordered you to guard me that first day. Swear that you will until we kill my qareen.”
“Let me get this straight. Your bargain is to tell me what I’ve already figured out in exchange for helping you continue to deceive my king.”
“You haven’t figured anything out.”
“I know you don’t have any magic.” Keir’s eyes glittered triumphantly. “You’re mortal, Majesty. Chosen by no god. You’ve put all of my people in danger—”
“Like I said”—I crossed my arms over my chest—“you haven’t figured anything out.”
He scanned me from head to toe, and I could see the calculations in his eyes. Trying to figure out what other lies I had told, what else he needed to know to keep his king safe. “New deal,” he countered. “Tell me now, and if I believe you, then I’ll help you.”
“No.”
“Have it your way.” He turned to leave again.
“Kill me,” I blurted, and he stopped. “When it’s all over, execute me in whatever way you like. Gut me with your dagger, behead me, hang me. I won’t fight you or even speak a word in my defense.” Because I’ll already be bleeding out of my wrists by then. “But help me now. For Rade.”
Keir studied me a moment longer, a muscle in his jaw flexing furiously under his runes. But I saw the decision in his eyes before he snapped, “Fine.” He brushed past me as he returned to the temple.
I gazed after him, breathing hard with relief and anger, eyes drifting to the horizon again.
There was nothing within those heat waves. No indication that it was the right way to go. But that strange feeling stirred in my chest, drawing my attention beyond the crumbling temple.
Stuck in a deserted wasteland with Keir was about as bad as it could get. I’d spent the last month doing everything for the Gods-Chosen, but if these were my last moments, hours, days in this world, I would use them to do what I could for Kaldfold, for Rade.
And Rade needed his strongest warrior. With my qareen lurking somewhere out there, I did, too.
Even if that warrior would be plotting ways to kill me the whole time.