Page 128 of Crown of the Dunes

“What promise?” she asked.

“Two things. First, leave this place, and come back with an army,” he said. “The clans were loyal to Prince Erix before, and they can take it back. Your riders are surrendered and weaponless, and Calix already murdered the archons. You will need more support to retake this city.”

“And the second?” Erix asked, his voice a low rumble.

“Take that Heart far away from here,” Warrick demanded. “Don’t let it fall into Viltov’s hands.”

I tried to listen to the rest of the conversation, but my mind drifted, as if it were trying to float away from my body. My consciousness spread out to cover the entire desert, and I was connected to every grain of sand from the city to the ocean. I was the desert.

The rattling ache of my breath in my lungs and the burning of my skin slipped away, only to be replaced by a voice. It was distant and powerful and spoke in words I couldn’t understand. I reached out for it desperate to understand. It sounded like my mother, but not, and I wanted to tumble headfirst into its hold.

A cool object pressed to my lips and a sharp taste filled my mouth. The pain in my body called to me and for a moment, I fought against it. I had to know of what the voice spoke. But the ache in my bones was too much, and understanding slipped from my grasp.

“Keera, come back.”

I sputtered and swallowed, and my eyes flew open to stare up into Erix’s piercing silver gaze.

“It’s working,” he breathed in relief.

“We have to leave. Now.” Aderyn’s voice was hard.

I screwed my eyes shut again as the world spun around me, familiar, strong arms hoisting me into the air. My stomach lurched, but the nausea seemed to be abating. Fluttering my eyelids open, I found that Erix carried me through the courtyard. Calix’s men, still armed and standing over kneeling riders of Kelvadan, watched us warily as we weaved through their ranks.

A scraping sound came from my left, and I looked over to find Aderyn dragging Calix’s limp form along with a blade held to his throat, while Neven leaned on one of her shoulders for support. Having Prince Calix at our mercy was all that kept his men from attacking us or the Kelvadan riders, and we were unlikely to make it far in this sorry state.

The clop of hooves broke me from my reverie.

“Kaius,” Erix breathed, and for once, he seemed grateful to see his father.

He appeared with four familiar horses in tow: Daiti, Alza, Cail, and Aderyn’s roan mare. They stood near the gate, across the courtyard from the stairs.

“I heard the commotion and thought horses might be in order,” he said, his face grim.

“I’ll take Keera,” Erix started.

I cut him off, patting his chest. “You can put me down. I can ride.”

Already, my breaths came much easier, and my vision no longer swam with each movement, although the copper tang of blood still lingered on my tongue. But I feared the fight wasn’t over yet, and I wanted Erix to have use of both his hands.

Carefully, he set my feet on the ground, keeping his hands on me as if afraid I would collapse. My knees only trembled slightly, and I quickly hid it by resting a hand on Daiti. He handed me my saber, which I hadn’t noticed him pick up from where Calix had dropped it and shove in his sash.

Aderyn grunted under the weight of two men. “Neven will have to ride with me.”

Where he had been alert enough to attack Calix minutes ago, now Neven’s eyes glazed in pain and he wobbled precariously. The look of numbness on his face and the limp way he held his shattered hand before him told me his mind was fleeing the pain of his body.

“I’ll help him up,” Erix offered, moving to Neven to help hoist him onto the horse’s back where he could sit in front of Aderyn as we rode. As he did, Neven’s injured hand bumped into its flank.

A guttural cry of pain escaped him, and Aderyn jerked, her face a mask of distress. Her grasp on Calix faltered, and he wrenched from her grasp, his unconsciousness feigned. He stumbled out of her arms and toward the assembled men.

“Stop them!” he cried, narrowly avoiding Aderyn’s lunge.

The closest of his men leaped toward us. I flung my saber between him and Erix, who was unguarded as he helped Neven. My muscles, still weak, collapsed under the blow and I fell to one knee. A yelp of pain escaped me.

“Mount up. Hurry!” Erix’s shouts were clipped and cold—every inch the commanding warlord. Another of Calix’s men advanced, and my arms trembled as I tried to lift my sword to counter him.

A blast of heat warmed the top of my head as a gout of fire caught the man full in the chest. I looked up to find Erix, holding his outstretched palm out. As Calix’s men hesitated in the face of his inferno, the air around us still shimmering with heat, he wasted no time hauling me to my feet. With an arm around my waist, he hoisted me up onto Daiti’s back, and I helped the best I could. Then he turned and threw himself onto Alza.

A shout of warning split the air, and I turned in time to see an arrow whizzing through the air straight toward Erix. Alza lurched beneath him, trying to get out of the way, but it was too late.