Chapter 42
Iyana
They stayed in the oasis for two days to rest the horses before venturing back out into the desert heat.
Although it was still winter, the days were hot—just not as hot as in the summer.
Emmeric had stolen her away behind the waterfall a few more times, heaping pleasure upon her body.
Their nights were spent entwined in each other’s arms.
It was always awkward to return from the waterfall, as she could feel Altair’s intense gaze on them.
Iyana would try to avoid him as much as possible, but in a small group confined to a limited space, it became difficult.
Especially because she’d struck a tentative friendship with Okab.
The star was so different from Altair—quick to smile or laugh, and generally chatty.
It also helped that Okab had no qualms about telling Altair off.
Iyana noticed that any time it seemed like Altair was going to confront her, his twin would stop him and murmur something.
She appreciated it more than he realized.
He told them that he’d worked for the human resistance before the stars had been banished, and he and Scuti were trying to find allies again.
They knew most of the stars would never change their ways, and they believed the only way to save humanity was to return the stars to the sky.
However, that didn’t automatically mean Iyana trusted him.
Altair had told her pretty lies as well, and now they were all in this mess.
Still, she couldn’t help her buoyant mood as they left the oasis and began riding again.
They would make it to Imothia by nightfall.
Iyana would be home. And although she had slept on some of the softest beds in existence, she was beyond excited to curl up onto her cot again.
It was also the perfect place to replenish her medical bag, as Imo had stores of plants and herbs that even the royal healers of Istoria didn’t have.
Although she was nervous to bring two stars back into her home.
Last time, Iyana had willingly left with Altair, and she wasn’t looking forward to explaining—again—how everything had taken a turn.
Except this time it would be to people she’d known her entire life.
But her worries didn’t stop her from wondering how big baby Ian had gotten while she was gone.
Maybe Idris had finally moved on and married someone else.
Iyana sent a brief prayer to Aaris that this was the case.
Hopefully, her village was still happy and healthy without a healer around.
They had been so used to having Imo over the past several decades that it was easy to forget that a scrape or break could become fatal if left untreated in a rural environment.
Iyana was practically buzzing with excitement after they had stopped for lunch and she began to recognize certain landmarks.
They’d mean nothing to anyone else, but that large cactus was one of the first she had drawn when she started sketching.
That rock with the flat top was where she’d run off with her first boy at the age of sixteen for some time alone outside of the village.
Soon, if she squinted really hard, Iyana felt like she could see the outline of Imothia on the horizon. But then she noticed the smoke.
“What is that?” she asked. Excitement quickly turned to terror.
“Smoke,” Emmeric answered, his own fear merging with hers. “Too much for a regular fire.”
“Maybe somebody died, and it’s a pyre?” Kaz offered hopefully. But Iyana’s heart squeezed at the thought of her tribespeople dying.
It didn’t take long before the smoke had become a large plume of black obstructing the horizon. Small red embers floated through the darkness, set further alight by the setting sun.
“Emmeric…”
Iyana didn’t need to say more before Em was kicking Pryn’s sides and urging the horse into a gallop.
The others kept pace with them as they raced towards a sight that had Iyana’s heart in her throat.
Dark smoke enveloped the world around them; the desert heat intensified by the blanket draped over it.
Please please please, she thought.
But as they neared her home, it was apparent. Imothia was gone.
Before Emmeric could slow the horse, Iyana was already sliding down its flanks and rushing towards the blackened ruins of her village.
She heard her name shouted by multiple voices behind her, but she wasn’t concerned for her own safety.
There had to be survivors—there had to be—and she needed to find them and help.
They’d need a healer. If not for burns, then for smoke inhalation.
The ugliest star Iyana had ever seen stepped through the haze, the smoke parting around him.
He was shorter than the others, with large muscles, long white hair tied on top of his head, and a crooked nose that appeared to have been broken a time or two.
Altair was at her side in the next blink, thanks to his speed.
“Hadar,” he growled.
Iyana narrowed her eyes. This was the Beta Centauri then.
“Good to see you too, traitor,” Hadar said with a sneer. His gaze flicked towards the side where Okab was arriving and he crinkled his nose. Emmeric and Kaz soon stood by her side as well.
“What are you doing here?” Okab asked.
The squat star spread his arms wide, a broad smile on his face, gesturing to the destruction that surrounded them. “Rigil sends his regards.”
Oh, she was going to murder him. Iyana went to take a small step forward, but Altair threw out his arm to block her. She was torn between keeping her vision trained on Hadar and glowering at Altair. The Beta narrowed his eyes.
“I didn’t appreciate you slitting my throat. You know it took me three days before I healed and woke up in that cesspool of a human city?”
Altair smirked darkly. “I just wish I had finished the job.”
Hadar hummed. “Is your sister hiding around here somewhere, too?”
“Tarazed knows nothing of our choices,” Okab said. “She has nothing to do with this.”
A cruel sneer spread across Hadar’s expression. “She does now.”
Okab shouted and rushed towards the Beta, drawing his sword.
Altair was right behind, again wielding his sword made of fire.
Silver magic pooled in Iyana’s hands as she pulled from Emmeric, and when she felt an influx of magic, she knew he was siphoning from one of the magical beings surrounding them.
Hadar’s steps faltered—that’s where the magic was coming from, then.
The squat star threw out a blast of magic as the twins approached him to stall their attack, then he was gone. Disappeared into thin air.
“Where did he go?” Altair growled, rounding on Okab. His fire sword winked out of existence.
“Nowhere we should follow,” his brother responded.
Iyana couldn’t worry about Hadar once he had left.
Not when her village was a blackened husk of what it used to be.
She ran into the wreckage, calling out the names of her friends, her family.
There was no answer. Nobody was calling back to her, asking for help.
There were no buildings that hadn’t been touched by fire.
She fell to her knees in the middle of where Imelda’s hut should have been, a puff of black ash rising up and coating her skin. Iyana pulled a singed baby blanket out from underneath the rubble.
Cradling it to her chest, she screamed.