Page 67 of Heart of the Desert

Haltingly, I told her of the vision and Kelvar’s warning of a reckoning. “It could all be another lie,” I finished, but even as I said it, I wasn’t sure I believed it.

“But you don’t think it is,” Keera observed.

I swallowed. “No. The voices I’ve always heard, I always felt they were trying to tell me something. I used to stay up all night getting more and more frustrated as I tried to decipher their message. So eventually, I decided to drive them away. But maybe it was Kelvar, reaching out to me my whole life.”

“I believe him too,” Keera admitted.

I looked at her, somewhat surprised. I had worried I had been persuaded by my own desperation for answers, but Keera pushed on. “Alyx barely seemed dead in those chambers, and if Kelvar is telling the truth, she’s not.”

“Did we come all this way… did I pull you away from Kelvadan and Aderyn—carrying her child—away from her husband for nothing then?” My shoulders drew up toward my ears.

“Aderyn and Elion were already trying to find the other clans,” Keera said. “And find them they did. This must be why the desert forced our paths together. Our destination was the same. And maybe there is still something to be learned from the temple and story of the first couple to cross the desert.”

I breathed in deeply through my nose, bracing myself. “Izumi thinks there is. She thinks maybe the people of the desert could be united again if all the lords and the monarchs of Kelvadan were to follow another pair of riders. Just like how the man and woman who crossed the desert and found her Heart led the riders.”

Keera glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. Her expression was tight. “Izumi and the other lords would agree to this?”

“It seems Badha changed her mind after all.”

Keera’s mouth quirked, even though her brows stayed knit together. “I knew I liked her.”

“The question is, would you agree to it? It’s not something I thought I would have wanted for myself, but with you by my side…” I trailed off, waiting for Keera’s reaction.

She stopped, turning to face me instead of continuing to walk by my side. I mirrored her.

“I don’t deserve to be left alone. I’m not sure I have earned the right to be a queen again… but maybe I deserve the chance to try again.” She lifted her chin, so fierce and stubborn even as she carried so many doubts. The fresh bond between us quivered as if content.

“You wouldn’t have to be a queen, like you were before. You could lead from horseback with a sword in hand, like the lords of old,” I said.

“Daiti suits me better than a throne.” She smiled slyly. “But your face might be my preferred seat.”

I exhaled heavily through my nose in amusement. “All viable options. We can lead the people side by side in open war, not hiding behind politics trapped in stone walls.”

Keera resumed walking and I fell into step with her. “It sounds like the legend of the Champion more than anything.”

“Nobody can seem to agree which of us was really meant to be named Champion,” I observed.

“Maybe because we were both supposed to be Champion,” she suggested.

“Or neither of us.”

“Either way, we can’t realistically use the term. So, what would we be called?”

“Izumi and I thought… high lords?”

Keera’s eyes widened. “And the others would accept that?”

“Lord Alasdar, and then I, subjugated all the clans under the rule of Clan Katal. Having leaders outside all of them to unite us in our war with Doran might be more agreeable—not loyal to one clan but answerable to them all. And we won’t know until we try,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. In reality, it felt like a brood of vipers had nested in my belly, but I clamped down.

“Try first, face the consequences later. It sounds like our usual plan,” Keera mused.

“Then let’s go unite the clans, retake the city, and solve the mystery of Alyx’s death.”

Elion grunted in greeting as I sat next to him, but his gaze didn’t waver from where he stared. He sat on a flat rock, his arms and legs folded as he stared at the neighboring camp. It was close enough to the clans’ encampment that they might have been one, but they didn’t quite run together. Instead, a small but sharp divide ran between where the clansmen had erected their tents and General Warrick’s men had made their base.

It was late, and most people were asleep, but a few in each camp stayed awake, keeping a wary eye on each other.

“These people are strange,” Elion observed. The bite in his tone gave me pause. He had always seemed more flexible than many other lords, but now he appeared on edge.