Page 72 of Crown of the Dunes

The woman looked between the archon and me for a moment. “Adette.”

“You can be my attendant in my chambers,” I said.

I had resisted having somebody help me with dressing or bathing or even tidying my rooms to this point. I always felt on the wrong foot when somebody tried to aid me with things I could do for myself—and I feared it might make Erix’s nightly presence more difficult to hide. But if giving Adette the position would keep Malachi quiet, then I would cope.

Adette nodded thankfully and shuffled aside.

I was just about to lean back in relief when a commotion sounded just outside the door. My brows knit together, and the magic in my belly bubbled forebodingly at the sound of raised voices and a subdued scuffling. I was almost on my feet when the double doors banged open, revealing a group of a dozen or so people.

As they marched down the long hall toward me, the glint of silver steel and flashes of colorful sashes drew my eyes to their waists.

These were clansmen.

My heart leaped into my throat, and my fingers spasmed, as if they wished to grasp a sword.

Aderyn stepped from her station on my right to stand between me and the group, sword already drawn.

“Riders, seize them,” she demanded.

I was on my feet before anybody else could move. I was supposed to lead Kelvadan to peace, not more war with the clans. “Wait!” I shouted.

The riders stationed along the walls hesitated, clearly weighing whose orders they should obey.

“These clansmen come before you fully armed at a time when there is no love lost between the clans and Kelvadan,” Aderyn warned.

“We refused to relinquish our weapons because we feared we would not be welcomed here in Kelvadan,” one of the men in the group of clansmen spoke, projecting his voice so it echoed against the unforgiving stone walls. “It seems we were right to do so.”

“Why have you come here?” I asked, taking a few steps forward to stand beside Aderyn. I glanced out of the corner of my eye in time to see a muscle in her jaw tick. I was sure she would lecture me about making it difficult for her to keep me safe later, but for now I was more concerned with the scene before me.

“We come in peace,” the lead clansmen said, holding up his hands, palms forward and open. “And we have ridden to Kelvadan for the same reasons all do. To find sanctuary.”

Familiar words rang in my head, and I echoed them out loud. “All are welcome in Kelvadan.”

They were the words that had kept me clinging to life during the decade I spent alone at my oasis. Even an exile like me might have a home if I could just make it to the Great City.

“Your riders seem to disagree, as they tried to apprehend us and our families as soon as we approached the gate.”

Heat began to spread under my skin at the accusation. Just as Kelvadan had never before had a gate, I had never known it to have such practices, but it appeared things were different in dire times. “Is this true?” I demanded of one of the riders that had accompanied the men into the hall.

“We were afraid they were here to launch another attack. It barely been a month since the clans marched on the city,” she responded, and I didn’t miss the way her hand clenched and unclenched on the pommel of her saber as she said it.

“A dozen riders and their families are not an army,” I said through gritted teeth.

“They could be here as spies from the clans,” Aderyn pointed out. “They did not seem ready to give up their fight when they last retreated.”

I took a deep breath in through my nose, willing the rising flow of magic in my blood to abate so I could think. “What are you seeking sanctuary from?” I directed my question to the clansmen.

“What all seek protection from in the Ballan Desert these days. Terrors of legends are rising, and infighting between the clans has made it difficult for us to keep our families safe among the sands. We had hoped for the protection of the city walls,” he said, his voice steady, though his eyes darted to the riders around him, all still waiting with hands resting on their weapons.

My hands tightened into fists as I considered how dire the situation must be growing amongst the clans for them to chance this journey. The desert shredded farther with each passing day, and despite Erix spending his nights searching for the secret to break the blood glass, we were no closer to getting the heart and restoring our home. I was failing the desert, and I could not bring myself to fail these people too, even if the cost was further dissention in Kelvadan.

“My Queen,” Torin shuffled up beside me, his hands clasped within the billowing sleeves of his dark green robes. “I would advise against offering them sanctuary. Our stores of grain are dwindling rapidly, and more mouths to feed will only deplete them faster. The people of Kelvadan will not take kindly to your attempts to accommodate others when you can barely care for them.”

The heat that had been smoldering under my skin burst into full-fledged flames of fury as I whirled toward him.

“Was this city not carved from the mountainside with the purpose of being a haven for any in the Ballan Desert who wished to call it home?” I spat, the heat of fire burning in my throat so intensely that the words tasted of ash. “Do not forget that I once came to this city, clinging to life and asking for the same shelter. And I rose to be your Champion, did I not?”

My hands trembled, and the sound began to be sucked out of the room. I fought against the current of magic rising in my blood.