Page 78 of Blood of the Sands

“You certainly have an eye for horseflesh,” I commented by way of greeting.

“I think Daiti chose me as much as I chose him.”

“Daiti?” I asked, realizing she must have renamed the stallion.

“He carried me swiftly across the sands and deserved a name that said as much.”

I finished loading my packs and turned to face them fully. “He’s never let anybody mount him besides Lord Alasdar. He was caught wild, and I would say that Lord Alasdar was the one who tamed him, but that would be an overstatement.”

Keera’s narrow eyes widened to an almost comical degree as she looked between me and the fearsome stallion currently nosing at her pockets as if they might contain treats. “Lord Alasdar? Well, that would explain why he nearly took off Kaius’s fingers.”

My spine stiffened as if shocked by lightning at the name of my—at the name of the royal horse master. I squeezed my hands into fists so hard the leather of my gloves creaked. “It’s a miracle he hasn’t taken a bite out of you yet.”

Keera shrugged, patting Daiti’s nose as if she hadn’t noticed my tension at the mention of Kaius. “I like wild things.”

Of course she would. The woman had been half feral when I first came upon her, and even now, clean and well-fed, she had the air of something untamed about her. I looked away.

“I take it you’re coming with me?”

“Yes.”

I nodded and swung up onto Alza’s back and Keera did the same. Without another word we set off across the moon drenched sands and into the unknown.

Keera was a better travel companion than I had hoped. I had anticipated being irked by having company, accustomed as I was to traveling with only Alza for companionship. Keera didn’t fill the air with chatter though, seeming to be as comfortable with the quiet as I was. Instead, we both surveyed the horizon, taking in the subtle but undeniable life of the landscape.

If one didn’t know better, our surroundings would seem devoid of life, isolated and leeched of color by the harsh sun. The magic around me betrayed the fennec fox in her den and the mice scurrying through the dry looking brush. Zephyr circled overhead, looking for his next meal.

I forced my eyes back between Alza’s midnight ears as I had found them drifting toward my quiet companion again. Keera tipped her head back to watch the falcon wheeling above us, the sun turning her deeply tanned skin golden. Alza’s muscles twitched beneath me, signaling that she could sense my tension.

I just wasn’t used to having company.

Seeing a formation of rocks ahead, I pointed. “We can stop there and wait out the hottest part of the day in the shade of that cliff.”

Keera nodded. “How far of a ride do you think it will be to Clan Otush?”

“The last time I visited, the desert showed me to my destination in four nights. If she is so angry though that lava wyrms have begun to roam, then I wouldn’t be surprised if it took longer.”

“I hope we can make it there in less than that,” Keera admitted. “I wouldn’t want to leave the encampment to face the wyrm alone for so long.”

“You seem awfully keen to defend the clans for an exile,” I pointed out.

“I’m a citizen of Kelvadan now,” she argued.

“And yet here you are, riding into the wilds with one who would see the Great City fall.”

A frown creased her dark brows, accentuating a full lower lip as she glared. I had the urge to make her frown more, the look in her eyes so reminiscent of the wild defiance she wore when we first met.

“Why were you exiled?” I asked, the words out of my mouth before I could ask myself why I cared.

“The same reason you left Kelvadan, I would guess.”

I stiffened in my seat. I had known she knew of my identity after she called me by name that night during the Trials. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Queen Ginevra or Aderyn had told her, but it wasn’t something we had openly acknowledged. Her mentioning my past now was like plucking at a loose string that would unravel the fabric of our tenuous peace.

“The magic of the desert isn’t an easy burden to bear,” I settled on as response. “Still, it must have been useful in keeping you alive when you were in exile.”

Keera’s frown deepened, taking on a puzzled cast. She shook her head. “It didn’t. All the years I spent alone it just… slept. I thought the desert had abandoned me as punishment for what I’d done, for losing control. It didn’t wake again until… Until you.”

She looked over at me, dark gaze boring into me as if it could penetrate the protective shield of metal on my face. I looked away.