Sadie

I awoke in the sand . . . naked.

The dune above me was so tall that it cast a shadow over me. Without that shadow, I’d probably have been cooked alive. I wiped the sand from my eyes and spit onto the ground. The saliva immediately vanished, sucked into the arid ground. I dusted my skin off and searched for my clothes, but I couldn’t find a single shred.

It hit me all at once: the sandstorm.

We’d fallen. I craned my neck up. Beyond the sand dune was a peak of Sankai-ed, the road directly above me caked in a thick layer of sand still. I swore the dune had grown up to meet the road, burying half of it in the ground during the storm.

I stood, brushing off my bare legs and searching for any signs of life. Galen den’ Mora was nowhere to be seen, nor were Maez and Navin. I prayed they both somehow made it through the storm. Maez was hopefully safe within the wagon . . . but the way Navin and I flew off, free-falling . . .

How did I survive? My Wolf form must have taken over to protect me. My clothes torn away in the storm. I didn’t have a scratch on me, my skin unblemished, my body healed of any fall apart from the stinging of my eyes, which still had bits of grit in them.

I stood and trudged downhill, my bare feet sinking deep into the hot sand. I cared not one whit that I was naked, not when no one was around for miles, not when the shock of the fall still coursed through me. Still, I longed for my knives. More, I longed for water as my body drained of all its moisture, so quickly zapped when I stepped beyond the shadow of the dune.

“Fuck,”

I snarled and backpedaled into the shade again. “I guess I’ll be walking that bridge into the sky butt naked . . . and at night.”

I plonked back down into the shade. I’d have to wait until sunset if I didn’t want to die in this heat. I lay back down, suddenly deliriously exhausted. Staring up at the now-blue sky, my vision twisted and blurred as fissures of heat rose up around me.

Somewhere in the endless desert, Navin would be buried under a mountain of sand. An Olmderian man with a Valtan complexion. A musician. A secret keeper. Someone who had struggled and lost and found a way to carry on despite the harsh twists life kept throwing at him. This. This shouldn’t be the way his life ended. He would probably be strumming his lute in some tavern right now were it not for me. Somewhere deep down I knew I’d be the death of him. I couldn’t help but feel I brought this fate to him.

I shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t mean anything to me at all. We never truly had anything, just a handful of “maybes”

and “one days” that we both knew would never come to pass. Still, as I lay in that baking sand, all I could think of was the way those bronze eyes seemed to always see straight through my every defense, the feel of his hand in mine, the taste of his lips . . .

My nose tingled and I sniffed as my eyes welled. A traitorous tear trailed down my cheek and I wiped it away. I should be preserving the water left in me. There’s only so much that shifting could heal, and if I didn’t get water in the next day, I’d probably die. But I was trapped here in this pool of shadow and so I conserved my energy as best I could.

Another puffy white cloud blew past, and I tried to think of any way that Navin could’ve survived. Maybe the wind whisked him around and back into Galen den’ Mora? Maybe his body got snagged in the netting on either side of the bridge? Maybe he found something to hang on to? Maybe the Gods could spare him somehow?

I sniffed. I had let his hand go. At some point we got torn apart, but I should’ve hung on, should’ve been stronger. Even when I lost consciousness, I should’ve done more. I ached. The weight of loss pressing me down like a two-ton boulder. Thinking of the complicated man, of the secrets he kept, of the ways he protected me, cared for me, cherished me at one point even . . . he’d been sweet and beautiful and surprisingly cunning when he wanted to be. If only we’d had a little more time.

I grieved him in my mind, remembering every detail as my eyelids grew heavy. My mind twisted and warped, blurring the lines into lucid dreaming as the heat consumed me.

Something leapt onto my chest, and I jolted awake, arms flailing to fight off whatever creature pounced on me. But when I looked to my belly it was only a white shirt. My brows pinched as I looked up and there, silhouetted in the late evening sky, stood Navin. Patches of his skin looked red and raw, but he was mostly unscathed, standing there only in his trousers slung low over his hips, his lean muscled torso on full display, and a curving smile on his lips.

“How in the Gods’ names . . .”

I gaped up at him with a shake of my head. I couldn’t believe it. “You’re alive.”

His eyes twinkled with mischief. “So are you.”

“Barely.”

I suddenly realized that twinkle of mischief was due in part to the fact I sat there naked, holding his shirt to my chest, but I didn’t care. I didn’t bother putting it on as I leapt to my feet and threw my arms around him.

He caught me, rocking back on one foot at the weight of my jump. One of his hands cupped my ass while the other came around to my back, and he buried his head into my neck and breathed me in.

“I’m sorry,”

I whispered against his skin, relishing in the feel of him pressed against me with nothing between us.

His hand trailed down my back as he slowly lowered me to the ground. “For what?”

“I don’t know,”

I said. “Everything? I’m sorry for hating you. I’m sorry for not trusting you. I’m . . .” I looked up into his storming eyes as the last peek of sun dipped below the horizon. “I’m sorry for letting go.”

“I’m sorry for letting go, too,”

he murmured, not tearing his gaze from mine as I stooped, grabbed his shirt, and pulled it over my head. The billowing garment landed mid-calf and I was reminded once again of how tall Navin was. He looked out to the darkening horizon. “We should start moving before more beasts come out. The crishenem aren’t the only creatures who roam the desert at night.” I turned in the direction of the road to Sankai-ed and his hand landed on my arm. “Not that way. It’s too far on foot and too dangerous at night. I know a closer place.”

I turned in a complete circle staring out at nothing but the rolling deserts of Lower Valta. “Closer?”

“Trust me,”

he said, tugging me a step before releasing me.

He set out at a quick gait downhill, which was now blissfully covered in shadow. The sand was still warm underfoot, but it didn’t burn into the pads of my feet like it had earlier in the day. Sweet Moon, I’d almost died . . . again.

“How did you survive?”

I shook my head as I stalked up beside Navin, aiming in the direction of the next dune over. “How are you not more injured? What did you do as you were falling?”

He shrugged. “I sang.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re going to have to explain that to me further at some point.”

He let out a long sigh and scratched at the stubble across his jaw. “I’m afraid I’ll have to now.”

We walked for another few minutes before he abruptly stopped and turned to me. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, too.”

I cocked my head. “What didn’t you trust me with?”

“You’ll see,”

he said, still not moving. His sad eyes dipped to my lips. I saw it all there: regret, relief, longing. The way his gaze lingered on my mouth . . . I suddenly felt more hungry for him than a cooked dinner. He let out a soft little breath and smiled.

“What?”

“I like it when I turn you on,”

he murmured.

“What?”

I gaped at him. “What makes you think I’m turned on?”

He slowly lifted a hand and skimmed a thumb over my peaked nipple, only his thin shirt separating the two of us. I pressed my lips together as his thumb swirled over it again, coaxing it even harder. When he dropped his hand again, every part of me felt heavy and rushing with blood. My heartbeat drummed in my ears. “You’re not turned on?”

he asked in that soft bedroom voice that made me press my bare thighs together.

I cleared my throat and tried to put on my best scowl. “My nipples are just naturally pointy.”

His lips curved up wickedly. “Mm-hmm.”

“It’s a Wolf thing,”

I said, turning and walking again.

He chuckled. “Liar.”

I turned to offer him another biting retort when I spotted a shadow on the distant dunes. All the blood drained from my face as I lifted a finger and pointed. “Shit.”

A crishenem.

“Run!”

Navin grabbed my arm and dragged me as his long legs raced across the sand. The creature let out a whining hiss and the wind whipped with the sound of its slashing tails.

“Run?”

I shouted. “Run where?”

I heard the chittering clicks as the monster skittered down the sand dune to chase after us.

“There!”

Navin pointed. “Up ahead, the bend in the air, do you see it?”

It took me a second of panicked wide-eyed searching before I spotted it. But the sand dune in front of us had a dark gray lightning bolt seemingly cutting through it. At first it seemed like just another warped wave of heat rising up off the desert . . . but it was nighttime and there were no heat waves. I realized then that I’d seen a similar seam of warped air before when we went to collect Calla and Briar from that faery. Shit. It was a magical glamour.

We dashed toward that seam, the sound of the monster behind us growing louder with every step. It felt so close I thought at any second it would pierce me with its stinger, just as we leapt over the threshold.

When we crossed through the bent air, we whirled, watching as the monster screeched and hissed, stabbing at the wall of air like an impenetrable wall of steel.

Navin’s chest rose and fell in heavy gasps. “It won’t be able to cross the glamour. We’re safe here.”

I turned and looked to a giant sandstone building shaped like a heptagon. It had fortified walls with archways and parapets dotting every corner. Beautiful intricately painted clay tiles covered the seven archways.

“What is this place?”

I whispered, awed by the monumental size of the building.

“This was Yasva’s dying wish,”

Navin said.

Dying wishes were powerful magic. It was Calla’s dying wish that had saved her kingdom, and in doing so, her life. Galen den’ Mora itself was a dying wish. So many of the greatest monuments and magics of all time were created through the power of a dying wish.

I glanced at Navin. “I’ve never heard of Yasva.”

“Nor should you,”

a voice called from the archway.

There, leaning against the wall, was a tall, broad man with a thick Olmderian accent. His dark coils were cropped short to his head and his large eyes were a bright hazel. The white and gold of his tunic caught the sparkle of moonlight along with his golden buttons and the capped epaulets on his shoulders. His attire was part military, part regal, and more Gods-like than any painting I’d ever seen. He stood stock-still, his chin lifted, a confidence that bordered on arrogance crossing his face as he looked me over, wearing only the shirt of the man next to me.

His eyes slid to Navin. “You’re looking well, Navin Mourad.”

“Rasil,”

Navin said carefully. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I . . . I had to bring her here.”

Rasil’s eyes narrowed as he toyed with a thin metal tube hanging from his neck. “Did you now?”

“Please,”

Navin implored. “Just let me explain.”

“You dare to bring a Wolf to our doorstep.”

Rasil’s voice remained steady, pleasant even, but his eyes were tinged with menace.

“Please just let me explain—”

“What is your name?”

Rasil cut in, turning his gaze to me as I shifted under his scrutiny.

I straightened my shoulders, trying to not be cowed by the power of this person before me. “ Rauxtide,”

I gritted out.

Rasil clasped his hands behind his back as he slowly descended the marble steps. The sand around his feet seemed to ripple as he pursed his lips and considered me. “Rauxtide.”

He tossed the word around in his mouth. “A Silver Wolf then? The worst sort you could bring here.”

I blinked at him and then looked at Navin. “What is this? What is happening?”

“Oh!”

Rasil let out a delighted laugh and looked to the stars blinking to life above us. “You haven’t told her?”

“There was no time. Rasil, please, just let me talk to her,”

Navin said, but stood transfixed as Rasil wandered across the sand to us and offered out his hand to me.

Before I could yank my hand away, he lifted the thin metal tube to his lips and blew. A piercing shrill note rang out and my mind snapped in two, my knees buckling like cutting a puppet’s strings. I heard Navin shout my name before I hit the ground.

The stranger towered over me as my eyes rolled back. “I am Rasil Anweaver.”

His hand remained holding mine as he stared down at me. My vision spotted as I desperately tried to remain conscious. That ringing sound now pounded in my head and pulled me under. “Head Guardian of the Songkeepers.” His grip tightened even further until the point of pain.

“And Navin’s husband.”