Page 123 of Crown of the Dunes

“You are just one man,” I hissed. “One manipulative man. And I have practice killing those. Even if I die, you will lose.”

“But I’m not one man,” he said, leaning down toward me. “In fact, there are dozens of men, arrived for the wedding, all at my command. And I have one more bargaining chip… the antidote.”

I tried to argue—I would rather die here and now than let this city fall into the hands of somebody like him. Instead, I could only make a gurgle of protest as blood bubbled up in my throat.

“Very dramatic,” Calix said approvingly. “That should make it even easier to get your riders to stand down.”

Removing his foot from my arm, Calix bent down. I tried to use the moment to lunge for my weapon, but my limbs moved too sluggishly. Calix caught me by the hair and hauled me toward the door.

I tried to scream, but it only game out as a choked rattle. Instead, I kicked my legs frantically, trying to alleviate the pressure in my scalp as he pulled me from the room by my hair.

“Let’s go visit your friends,” he said cheerfully, as tears streamed down my face.

Chapter thirty-two

Erix

Voices swirled around me, but I heard none of them. All that existed in the world was the screaming of the desert in my mind and the image of Keera coughing up blood burned into the back of my eyelids. Even as her tanned skin grew waxy and pale, her chin had squared in defiance and fire burned in her golden eyes.

I could not let that fire be extinguished—would not.

My boots pounded against the floor as I strode down the corridor where I knew visiting dignitaries stayed. As I reached for Warrick’s door, it burst open before I could even touch it, the magic of the desert within me slipping its leash. I couldn’t bring myself to care.

General Warrick stood with his back to me, only his long copper hair visible, trailing over the plush white fur draped around his shoulders. He looked up from the chest he stood over, glancing over his shoulder. His blue eyes widened in curiosity for just a moment before I was on him.

I caught him by the front of his gray tunic, hauling him nearly clean off the ground and slamming him into the far wall. He hit it with enough force that the glass bottles on the table next to him rattled as his toes scrabbled for the ground. Perhaps one of them held the antidote that would save Keera.

“What have you done to her?” I snarled. I barely recognized my own voice.

General Warrick didn’t respond, just twisting and trying to get free of my grasp. When he didn’t speak, I raised my fist, ready to break his nose. Before I could, a sharp pain blossomed in my forearm. I looked down to find a serrated knife sticking from my flesh—the same one I suspected Warrick had used to slit Dravis’s throat.

My grasp on Warrick’s tunic shuddered, but I did not drop him despite the pain. In fact, the sensation gave me a mental foothold, and I grasped onto it as I pushed back against the red tide of fury threatening to overtake me.

I needed him to tell me the antidote. Then, I could break every bone in his body, one by one.

“I’m on your side,” Warrick wheezed out.

I pushed in close to him, baring my teeth and pressing him up against the wall.

“Nobody who hurts Keera is on my side,” I snarled.

“I didn’t hurt her. I just wanted you on the throne.” His voice was a gasp as I pushed my knuckles into his throat. His words niggled something at the edge of my brain—not enough to dispel the haze of rage, but enough to try to make me blink it away. As I did, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.

As I turned to look, Warrick heaved against me, his knee coming to hit me in the gut. My fingers slackened, and he twisted from my hold as I stumbled back. Even as I struggled to recover from his blow, I furrowed my brows in frustration.

I could have sworn I had seen a dark-haired man enter the room in my peripheral vision, but we were alone. Warrick held out his hands palm forward.

“I can help you,” he insisted, “but you have to listen to me.”

“I don’t have time for your posturing. I need the antidote.”

“Somebody was poisoned?” he asked.

“Don’t play dumb,” I spat, even though the voices in my head screamed so loudly I could barely think. They seemed to want something, but I shook myself. I had to focus on getting Keera help. “You just admitted you wanted me on the throne. Getting Keera out of the way would give you your chance.”

“If you weren’t too weak to take power, you would see it was for the best for her to be removed from the throne too,” Warrick argued.

A roar escaped my lips, and I reached over my shoulder for my saber. I yanked it from its scabbard, finding it lighter than my muscles expected as only the broken hilt tore free, but I did not care. I leapt forward, swinging the jagged edge at him. It would still be enough to spill his blood.