Page 42 of Every Spiral of Fate (This Woven Kingdom #4)

Forty-One

“ALIZEH? ALIZEH, CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

She blinked at the sound of Cyrus’s voice, then lifted her head slowly, realizing only then that she was braced against his chest, his arm bound around her waist.

“Cyrus?”

Her heart was racing dangerously fast. Her senses were both dimmed and overwhelmed; she felt she couldn’t sort herself out quickly enough.

It didn’t help that she’d never been pressed like this against Cyrus’s body, or that he was studying her with an intensity so poorly veiled it was almost impossible to misunderstand.

“What are you—” she tried to say. “What did I—”

“Your actions appear to be constrained by time limits,” said Hazan, who was standing just to the other side of her. He looked stricken. “Forgive me,” he added softly. “I should’ve realized there might be a ticking clock.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said, searching the room as the fog cleared from her eyes. The icicle, she noticed, had stopped dripping. “You couldn’t have known. Even I didn’t realize—”

“Alizeh,” said Cyrus, his voice tight. “Are you feeling strong enough to manage on your own?”

She looked up at him, stunned all over again by his closeness. Her head clearing, she studied his face even as she grew acutely aware of the hard press of his torso, the firm heat of his chest, the weight of his arm around her waist. She almost thought he smelled of apricots.

“Yes,” she said faintly, forcing her eyes away from his mouth, his throat. “Thank you, I—”

Cyrus released her so swiftly it was almost a shock.

Her heart still pounding, Alizeh reeled as she steadied herself; she watched Cyrus cross the room as if he were fleeing disaster. The others soon came into focus, each one directing stunned eyes in her direction.

Alizeh lifted her hand to inspect her injury—but the gash was now fully healed. The steady patter of dripping water had ceased, too; though the sound was displaced then by a ringing in her ears, a high-pitched frequency that pushed the room, once more, out of focus.

Alizeh was seized by a cold shock of fear.

A violent smoke took hold of her bones, gripping her with a force so unexpected that, at first, she felt paralyzed.

She tried to scream but the sound was thick, caught in her throat, and she knew, even as she did not know how he might haunt her here —even as horror pinned her painfully into her own skin—that this was the too-familiar, sinister whisper of the devil.

There once was a queen

forged from fire and ice

“No,” she cried, gasping. “No— no —”

“Your Majesty?” Hazan rushed toward her. “Your Majesty—”

“ Alizeh —” Cyrus shouted.

There once was a queen, forged from fire and ice.

In her body were the bones of a great sacrifice—

“Stop,” she breathed, panicking. “Please— Leave me alone—”

“What’s happening to her?” Kamran demanded. “What’s going on?”

“Is this another strangeness of the cave?” asked Deen, his eyes wild. “Is this normal?”

Huda pushed forward. “Alizeh, dear, can you tell us what’s happening?”

The devil knew then

looking into her cradle

that she’d make a fine queen

though her heart would be fatal

“Miss, are you there?” Omid was shouting. “Miss, please—”

“He’s come back,” Alizeh choked out, struggling for air. “He’s in my head—”

“Who’s come back?” Kamran demanded. “Who is she talking about?”

“It can’t be,” said Cyrus, looking suddenly terrified.

“What is it?” asked Hazan. “Do you know what’s happening?”

The devil has plotted

and planned for this day

for the resurrection of Jinn

for the destruction of Clay

“I can’t get him out,” Alizeh screamed. She’d begun to claw at her head. “Why can I never get him out? Why does he not leave me—”

“What the bloody hell is happening?” shouted Kamran. “Who is she talking about?”

“She’s being visited by the devil,” said Cyrus, his voice hardly a whisper. “She told me once that he’s been haunting her since she was a child, but I didn’t understand then what she meant—”

“What?” said Huda sharply. “What do you mean?”

“Good God,” Deen breathed.

“Your Majesty,” said Hazan, horrified.

We come to you now

on this joyous event

not to deliver you harm

but to express our content

“Why would the devil come to her?” said Kamran, agitated. “I thought she did not share in his darkness—”

“She doesn’t,” said Hazan and Cyrus at once.

“Then what on earth is happening?”

We come to you now

in a gesture of peace

to offer best wishes

to the bride of Iblees

“Release me,” she cried desperately. “I wish to be released—”

Alizeh was unshackled at last with a final sob, and she might’ve fallen to the floor in relief except that the ground beneath her feet had begun, once more, to shift.

Alizeh looked up.

An unearthly sound overtook the room, a low rumble building to a shocking crescendo as the cave slowly disintegrated.

Alizeh watched in horror as the walls collapsed like dropped curtains, blinding light slashing across her eyes as everything crumbled.

Rock eviscerated itself to gravel, then dust, then mote, then speck, then nothing.

Then light .