Page 16 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin

She took his hand and squeezed it.

They sat quietly for a long minute, both stewing in their thoughts.

“I don’t like this,” she said. “I hate being separated from you.”

He reached over to cup the side of her face. “I’ll just be across the hall. I swear nothing can hurt you here.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Yeah. I’m just a little shaken. That felt… awful.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” He pressed his lips to hers and then shuffled off the bed. “Good night,” he said, leaning down to plant another kiss on her temple, his lips lingering as though he couldn’t bear to leave, before he stood and turned around, giving her one last look before he closed the door.

Once he was gone, she stared around the dark room for a long while. The curtains hung open to reveal a gentle fall of snowflakes drifting from the sky. She rubbed her stomach again.

It felt like everything was going wrong lately.

Finally, she lay back down, tucking the blanket up to her chin.

It was then she recalled the vision of that stone tower with the woman huddling in the corner. She’d been covered in scars, starved, left for dead, or worse.

Someone had hurt her.

Zarya remembered the moment the woman looked up. She knew those dark eyes with that groove between her brows. That face that resembled hers so much.

It sounded impossible.

Ludicrous.

But she was almost certain the woman had been… her mother.

FIVE

Zarya awoke to the sound of frantic pounding on her door. She’d slept surprisingly well, given all of her worries and reservations. She’d fallen asleep to the image of her mother’s haunted eyes and the sound of the wind howling off the mountaintops, lulling her into a deep, dreamless sleep.

“Zee!” came Yasen’s voice. “Zee!”

“What!” she shouted. “I was sleeping!”

The door swung open, revealing Miraan and Yasen. Her half-brother clutched a piece of paper.

“I didn’t say come in,” Zarya grumbled as she tucked the blankets around her to ward off the morning chill. When she’d fallen asleep, the fire had been roaring with the crackle of logs, and now, it sat smoldering with glowing embers.

“We received a letter from Ishaan,” Miraan said. He scanned the page while pacing back and forth, running a hand through his dark hair. He’d been so stoic and composed the first time she’d seen him, but she was learning that was all a front. He wore his emotions as strongly as she did.

“And?” Zarya asked. “What’s wrong? Has something happened?”

“The city is in chaos. They’re tearing down buildings. My family fears for their lives.” The distress in his voice was evident as he continued pacing, still reading the note as if he could find answers hidden between the lines. “I did this. I caused this mess.”

Resigned to the end of her slumber, Zarya pushed off her blanket and stood from the bed, reaching for her robe. “You didn’t. This is all a result of their actions, not yours. We were only reacting to the situation they created.”

“But I was a part of building that,” he mourned. “I allowed this cruelty to flourish unchecked for years before I tried to do a damn thing about it. I am complicit, too, and when things couldn’t possibly be any worse, I upped and left.”

“I’m no expert, but I probably wouldn’t say stuff like ‘couldn’t possibly be any worse,’” Yasen said as he dropped into a chair by the fire.

That earned him a glare from Miraan while Zarya blew out a breath, conceding that some of what Miraan was saying was technically true. But he was already beating himself up enough.

“So, what do you want to do?” Yasen asked, sitting forward in his seat.

“We must return,” Miraan said, running a hand down his face. “I understand our initial reasons for fleeing, but I can’t abandon my home to this chaos. None of this would have started if I hadn’t been funding the Phoenix.”