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Sixteen

CIANA

“ K eep the skirt you’re wearing.” Kurai said, packing a few things from his room into his satchel bag. “Pretending you’re a Joy Guardian might not be the best, considering the circumstances, but it’s much better than letting people know you’re a Joy Vessel.”

“If anyone asks, I’ll pretend I’m your kid apprentice.” I smiled, pointing at our significant height difference.

I was pretty tall for a human. However, the fae dwarfed me, even their women.

“If anyone asks, you’ll keep quiet. And have this up at all times.

” He arranged the second layer of my skirt over my head and shoulders, pinning it to my hair in a way that concealed most of my face.

“Let’s hope no one will come close enough to see your face or hear your voice until we’re safe again. ”

We couldn’t return to Kalmena, and we couldn’t stay at the temple. Since we decided to stay together, the only solution was to try our luck elsewhere.

“Are you certain that Himerum is where we’ll be safe?” I asked .

“For now, it’s the best place I can think of. Himerum is a small hamlet with too few people and not enough wealth for other desert dwellers to attack it. People there mind their own business and don’t ask questions. As long as you stay out of sight, you’ll be safe.”

“And how about you?”

“What about me?”

“Kurai, the worst thing that can happen to me is that the guards catch me and bring me back to the sarai . But if they catch you, they’ll execute you.

Oria said they’ll cook you alive.” I bit my bottom lip to prevent it from trembling.

The thought of something so horrible happening to him gutted me.

He pressed his lips into a firm line, shaking his head. “Oria is overly dramatic at times.”

“But did she lie? Is that not how they execute shadow fae in this world? By exposing them to the sun?”

He shrugged. “That’s one of the ways. But it takes a long time to kill by exposure. Several days at least.”

“Well, thanks, Kurai, that’s very reassuring. How is that supposed to make me feel any better?” I huffed sarcastically, making him smile.

He wrapped his arms around me, drawing me into a tight hug.

“We’ll be fine. I’ll rent a small hut or a cave for us.

I’ll grow my hair out, like everyone else, and tell people that I’m a scholar who fell out of favor with a city and was exiled into the desert.

I’ll trade spells and knowledge for food. ”

“I can work too,” I chimed in, my spirits lifting. “I’m a pretty good cook, which…doesn’t mean much to the shadow fae, does it?” I sighed, realizing how useless my cooking skills were to people who didn’t care about the taste of a dish. “Well, I can also make things to sell.”

“We’ll be fine,” he repeated, sneaking a kiss on my lips.

He replenished his satchel with two water bags instead of one, then added a couple of spare skirts, and whatever valuables he wanted to take with him. He also found a new pair of boots for himself and a smaller pair for me.

With one of his curved daggers, he cut short slits in our garments to allow for his tendrils to remain connected to me.

“Can I have one of those?” I pointed at the dagger.

He opened his mouth to say something but then handed a dagger to me without protest. The weapon was heavier than it looked. I turned it in my hand, admiring the charcoal-gray swirls on the shiny black blade. Red sparks ran along the swirls.

“My blades are made from iron,” Kurai explained. “Iron is the only metal in this world that can kill a fae. A wound from any other weapon won’t be fatal for us.”

“You are a resilient bunch, aren't you? Strong, healthy, and healing fast.” I stole a glance at his chest and abs showing between the parted ends of his garment, then slid my gaze up to his face with his strong jaw, high cheekbones, and those brilliant green eyes.

“Incredibly handsome too,” I muttered under my breath.

Even if he didn’t hear the last words, he must’ve sensed how I felt when I said them. Giving me a long look, he smirked with a new glint in his eyes.

“If only we didn’t need to leave here.” His voice held a promise that made me blush, but his words brought me back to reality—we had to go.

I tucked the dagger behind the belt of my skirt.

“Do you know how to use it?” Kurai asked.

“Either stab or slash with it, whichever is more appropriate for the situation, right?”

He smiled. “That about sums it up.”

When we snuck up the stairs, thankfully, we saw no royal guards in the temple. Instead, the huge main hall was packed with worshipers. Men, women, and children had crossed the desert in hopes of feeling a drop or two of the highly coveted Joy.

Those who managed to get close kneeled around the enclave, praying with their eyes closed. Inserted through the openings in the fence, the ends of their tendrils were dipped into the hexagonal vials.

Others laid out food and other offerings on the golden altar in front of the enclave.

Dressed in a golden robe, Oria organized the items, making sure there was space for everything.

I guessed the offerings would be out there until at least the worshipers had left the temple.

It’d be rude to start stuffing them into the coffers and the ice box right in front of them.

With Kurai’s fae energy currently keeping me alive and well, I didn’t feel too bad even with my stomach absolutely empty. I could certainly make it to Himerum where we would get something to eat.

The worshipers paid us little attention, staring in awe at the glowing column of the Source instead. Oria seemed busy too. No one stopped us as we snuck along the wall, then slipped out through the front door.

With the new day, heat was already rising from the black sand of the desert. I braced against the wind of the approaching storm.

“I’m sorry, Kurai. As beautiful as people are in your world, your weather is shit. Are there any days at all that have no storms?”

He looked more amused than offended by my choice of words.

“Rarely,” he said. “And if there happens to be a calm day once in a while, most people are asleep during the day anyway.”

Blown by the wind, the sand pricked my skin, forcing me to shrink deeper into the shelter of my garment. Walking seemed easier this time, however. The boots certainly helped. But my spirits were also higher.

This time, I wasn’t heading into the unknown out of fear and desperation. This time, Kurai and I had a plan. And we were together.

Wind blew steadily, blasting us with sand. The sun had climbed high in the sky by now, it must be close to noon, but the storm had been slow to develop today. Only now, the wind had picked up in earnest.

“We’ll stop for a break soon,” Kurai assured me over the wind.

I’d had enough water and rest back at the temple, but after hours of walking, exhaustion had been creeping up again.

The clouds of sand in the wind made it as impenetrable as thick smoke. I couldn’t see farther than three steps ahead of me, fully relying on Kurai to lead me in the right direction. He held the navigation crystal in his hand, consulting it from time to time to stay on course.

Suddenly, a sand cloud straight ahead appeared to solidify, shaping into a figure. A tall man emerged from the storm, leading a horse by the reins. I stopped in my tracks, startled by his sudden appearance.

“Good day, stranger,” Kurai greeted in a strained voice, which alarmed me even more. “We mean no harm, let us pass in peace.”

Calmly, he dropped the navigation crystal into the satchel on his side, then slipped the hand inside his garment to the belt with the dagger. Remembering I had a weapon, too, I mimicked his gesture.

The stranger’s face was covered by the top layer of his worn, dusty skirt pinned to his hair and by a wide, ratty scarf wound around his neck. Only his pale-yellow eyes remained visible in a slit between the two cloths. He peered at us, not saying a word and not moving away from our path.

Squeezing my hand in his, Kurai narrowed his eyes at the stranger and took a step to the side to walk past the man.

A gust of wind tore at our clothing. The stranger’s eyes focused on me, I ducked my head, hiding my face. But two of my braids flew out from under my head covering, blown by the wind.

The man lifted a hand. It looked like a signal. But for whom?

Alarm zapped through me. Blood rushed from my limbs. My hands turned cold despite the heat. Another dark shape, larger than the stranger, appeared behind him, moving fast. It was a man on a horse, taking a course straight at me.

Kurai yanked his dagger out. In one quick movement, he slashed through the neck of the man who stood in front of us. Blood splattered out, splashing the man’s clothes and a cluster of odd yellow flowers he had tucked into two belts crisscrossing his chest.

With my shaky fingers, I pulled out my dagger too, but the horseman was right beside me already.

Leaning from the saddle, he grabbed me around my middle.

My feet left the ground as he swept me away, then threw me across his saddle.

I hit it hard. With the air knocked out of my lungs, I couldn’t even scream.

The horseman spurred his mount, taking me away with the speed of the wind. My arms jerked back, with Kurai’s tendrils still connected to me. He didn’t remove them, keeping this tangible connection between us.

“Kurai!” I screamed.

The wind tore his name out of my mouth and tossed it into the dark abyss filled with black sand.

More shapes appeared in front of us, tall and menacing. At least a dozen horsemen rushed to us out of the growing storm.

The awareness of my fingers still clutching the handle of the dagger filtered to me through the terror.

My abductor glanced back where Kurai was dragged behind us through sand and storm. Yet he wouldn’t retract his tendrils. He wouldn’t free himself. He wouldn’t let me go. Tossed across the saddle, I couldn’t reach all the tendrils to pull them out from my leilathas to free him, either.

The thug who stole me gestured with his arm in Kurai’s direction.

“Spear him!” he yelled to the riders who were heading toward us.

One of them raised a long spear in the air and paused, clearly unable to see anything in the wake of sand rising behind us. Getting closer and closer, he would eventually see his target. He would find Kurai. And he’d kill him.

The dagger trembled in my sweaty hand. I had one chance at it and had to choose my target wisely.

But regardless of if I stabbed the horse or the horseman, even if I plunged the dagger into my own heart, nothing would keep Kurai alive now.

As long as he remained connected to me, they would find and kill him.

“Sorry,” I whispered for no one to hear.

Tears pricked my eyes, closing my throat.

“Stab or slash,” I’d said to him when accepting the dagger.

And this time, I slashed.

I slashed across all six of his tendrils, severing our connection for the first time in so many days. Their severed ends flared, dissolving into smoky filaments, and disappeared in puffs of black soot over my leilathas .

Kurai’s presence left me, followed by an excruciating sorrow of loss that hollowed my chest. The storm swallowed him, hiding him from harm.

And my mind went blank, swallowed by darkness.