Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Keera

I couldn’t help but watch Erix as we rode, my head swirling. A rational voice in my mind told me not to trust him. Why should I believe the words of one who had tried to kill me on several occasions? It would be to his advantage to have me join his cause.

The memories of his saber point at my throat were overshadowed though by the image him throwing himself between me and the sichat just this morning. Stronger than the feeling of cold steel at my throat was the warmth of his arms around me as he pulled me back to myself when the current of my magic threatened to pull me under.

Erix’s mare, whom I had heard him call Alza when he murmured to her under his breath, led us as we walked single file along rocky cliff face. I stared so hard at the back of his head that I imagined I could crack it open, understand the thoughts that swirled within, and know if he was trying to mislead me. How could I trust one that killed so indiscriminately for his cause that he had earned the name the Viper?

His words from earlier echoed in my head.

It’s easier to pretend there is nobody underneath the mask.

Perhaps the Viper was also a mask, one he wore to hide the truth of his motives.

So engrossed was I in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the rising swirl of dust on the horizon until Erix pulled his mount to a stop before me. I started, pulling up short as he pointed out to our left, the opposite direction of the cliff-face.

“Sandstorm. We need to find cover.”

Indeed, a wall of tan, practically solid in its density, raced over the ground toward us, swallowing the landscape whole. In unison, we kicked our horses into a gallop, searching for an alcove or cave that could protect us from the desert’s wrath.

Wind howled, beginning to pick at my clothes as the storm barreled toward us. It was less than half a mile away now, and we were running out of time. We charged on, still exposed against the rock.

“Up ahead!”

The wind threatened to carry Erix’s voice away from me as we ran, but I saw him gesture to a gap in the rock. We hurtled toward it at breakneck speed. As we reached it, the horses skidded to a stop, their hooves kicking up loose pebbles. Erix jumped down from his mount, and I moved to follow him. We urged the horses forward, getting them into the gap of the rock. They disappeared inside, indicating a cave or open area beyond. The low rumbling of the storm grew to a deafening volume, but before I could look behind me at the wall of dust almost upon us, a blow between my shoulder blades drove me forward into the cave.

Sand blasted my back, rough against my skin even through my clothes. It sought out every gap in the fabric to get at my skin, scratching and burning. Still, I whirled around, pulling the loose fabric of my hood over my face.

“Erix!”

He wasn’t inside the cave yet, caught outside in the blinding swirl of sand. So thick was the flying debris that I couldn’t even see him through the gap in the rock, as close to it as he must still be.

I shoved my hand through the gap, groping into empty air even as the storm chafed my bare skin raw. A few seconds that felt like an eternity later, my hand met a solid form. I grabbed at the fabric and dragged Erix through the narrow opening into the shelter of the rocky alcove.

As the storm howled outside, we stood face to face in the protection of the cave, so close that our chests brushed as we panted. Erix’s formerly dark clothes were crusted with dust, the color underneath nearly imperceptible under the coating of sand.

“Thank you,” I said, voice quiet enough that it would be hard to hear over the howl of the wind if he wasn’t standing close enough that I could see my breath fog the metal of his mask. For the briefest moment I appreciated its existence, as it probably protected his face from the worst of the elements outside. Still, now that I had seen his eyes in the light of the sun, I itched to be rid of the barrier between us.

We stood like that for a long moment before the whicker of a horse behind us broke the stillness. Erix brushed past me to go check on our mounts. Luckily, they had been beyond the shelter of the ridge when the worst of the storm broke over us and only seemed mildly spooked.

We led them further into the shelter; it turned out to be not much larger than my room at Aderyn and Neven’s house, big enough for us all to fit comfortably but not enough for us to spread out.

Getting settled in to wait out the storm, Erix brushed fruitlessly at his clothes, as if that would be sufficient to clean them. Instead, he only left streaks through the tan crust on his dark robes.

“You’ll need to change and clean those at the next oasis.”

Erix hands hovered, unsure for a moment, before reaching for the length of fabric around his head and shoulders. He turned his back to me as he unwound it. I should have looked away, but I couldn’t bring myself to. After seeing his face again this morning, I found myself itching to see more of him, to touch more of him.

His mask fell to the ground, followed by those damned gloves. The belt unwound from his tapered waist, letting him shrug off his vest and tabards before reaching for the bottom of his tunic. As it passed his shoulders, the curiosity and growing warmth I felt at him disrobing turned to icy horror.

Row upon row of neat scars, each a raised red line, marched along his shoulders. The ones near the base of his neck were well healed, but the ones at the bottom were red and angry, the very last few still bubbled with blisters.

“What...” I spluttered, unable to articulate my question. Instead, the well of rage deep in my core bubbled ominously .

“Remember how I told you that pain is the best way to control your magic?”

“You did this to yourself?”

“Lord Alasdar did it, but yes.”

My vision went white, a rushing noise overwhelming my ears. I only returned to myself at the warm press of a hand over my sternum. My eyes cleared to find Erix standing before me, still unmasked and bare chested. Thankfully, I could no longer see the marks of pain along his back.

“Why would you serve a monster who would do such a thing to you?” I demanded, voice low and rough.

“Lord Alasdar saved me,” he insisted.

“Mutilating you is not saving you!”

“He found me in the desert when I was lost and alone!” Erix snapped, drawing his hand back from me suddenly. I was left cold and reeling, but he ranted on, as if the tether keeping him in check had been cut.

“My own parents refused to love me for what I was, making me shove down my powers until I thought they would explode—drugging me when that didn’t work. They wanted me to be the perfect heir to Kelvadan, Kelvar come again in both appearance and power, but I knew the second part of that birthright. I was expected to live up to the legacy while carrying the weight that someday it would drive me mad.

“So, I ran… away to the desert where at least my rage and the feelings that I pretended didn’t exist couldn’t hurt the citizens of the city I was supposed to protect. Lord Alasdar found me among the dunes, starving and delirious and waiting for death. He showed me that my power could be wielded. Even if I was destined to be destructive, my destruction could be managed.

“What’s more, he showed me the truth of Kelvar’s legacy and gave me a purpose. I would be his sword as he set this desert right once more. It is the burden of my bloodline, and he gave me a way to escape it.”

Erix’s eyes shone in the dim light of our shelter and tension ran through the tendons of his neck and the set of his shoulders. As he panted, as if the admission had taken great effort, I saw clearly what lay under the disguise of the Viper .

He was just a young man, saddled with the power to shake the foundations of the desert, and drowning under the weight of the sins of his family. Lord Alasdar must have seen it too.

“He’s using you,” I murmured, voice as soft as if I were trying to soothe a wild horse.

“I know,” Erix admitted. “But being a sword frees me from the weight of being its wielder. The blade is not responsible for the blood it spills, but the one who swings it.”

I swallowed thickly, heart wrenching in my chest. “You’re not a sword though. You’re a man.”

“I haven’t wanted to be. Not until—not until I met you.”

I stepped forward, unable to stop myself even if I wanted to. I reached up to cup Erix’s cheek as I had before. This time he leaned into the touch.

Chest to chest with him, I stood on my toes, using my hand on his face to pull him down to me. Ever so slowly I lifted my face until I could press my forehead to his. A full body shudder racked his frame, but he did not pull away. Time stretched and compressed as we stood there, breathing the same air. This close, I could sense the salt and sandalwood scent drifting off his bare skin.

Magic swirled between us, although I couldn’t tell who it belonged to. Still, as our heartbeats fell into synchrony, it settled to a pleasant pulse running from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. The ragged sound of our breaths filled the space, and I realized the world had gone quiet around us.

The storm that raged outside had calmed.