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We emerged sopping wet, eyelashes dripping, and stared at each other.
My mind took any opportunity to remember a night not so long before when we’d both stood soaked in a room together, the firm edges of Sai’s body warmed in firelight, the taste of his mouth on mine. I shivered and Sai blinked like he’d been caught in his own memories.
Releasing his hand, I walked across the circle towards an altar which flowed with more water though the top remained dry. A small box sat on its surface. Sai joined me, his eyes skimming over the flourished script across its top.
“Can you read it?” I asked.
His eyebrows pulled together. “Maybe, if you give me a minute to think.” He scraped his fingers back through his dripping hair. “I learned the elemental languages in school, but I always thought it was something I’d have no reason to use, and I’ve mostly forgotten them.” He brushed a finger over a line. “Atalla. That word is the same in both languages. And this is Map and Remembering. No, the opposite, not remembering.”
“Forgetting.”
He smiled. “Yes. The Map of Forgetting. But here…” He drifted his hand lower, grazing over other text and warmth pooled in my belly at the memory of those same fingers brushing over me, following my curves. “Something and the Atalla of them.”
“The word must be ‘the Elementals’ don’t you think?”
He licked his lips and bowed closer. “That would make sense. The Elementals and their Atallas will have need of the others for it to open.”
We both released a sigh. “We need both elementals and their Atallas to open it?”
Sai frowned. “That’s the best translation I can gather. Scholars at the palace will understand it better.” He slid the box towards him and lifted it.
“Wait. Didn’t someone say that anyone who removes something from the temple will be cursed?”
Sai laughed as he tucked the box into his bag. “If you want to be technical, the old stories say the temple will kill anyone who removes something from them.”
I gaped at him. “You’re laughing?”
“Well, this temple has already attempted to kill me a few times.”
“You’re willing to risk it again?” He shrugged but a chill ran down my body. “Hand me the bag.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m the elemental. The box shouldn’t curse me.”
He gave me a wry look as the water rushed behind him. “If I’m you’re Atalla, the same should be true for me.”
“I’m confirmed as an elemental and part of the prophecy. We’re just guessing you’re my Atalla.”
His expression washed away. “You don’t believe I’m your Atalla?”
There was that note in his voice again, a sharp edge that—if I didn’t know better—sounded like desperation. “I don’t want to take chances with you.” I gestured for the bag. He sighed but offered it to me and I pulled it onto my shoulders, wincing as a strap slid over a bruise. That reminded me of my face and made me flinch again.
Sai turned towards the door. “It’s probably pointless now, anyway.”
“Why do you say that?”
He ducked through the flow of the water, and I followed him. He swiped a hand over his eyes. Then he reached out and pushed my hair back as well, his thumb whispering over my bruised cheek and bringing warmth to my face. “The curse goes to whoever removed the item,” he said. “I was the first to lift it.”
“Why did you do that?”
He stepped in closer so that the water dripping off his chin landed against my arm and his nose nearly touched mine. His fingers grazed down the edges of the tender part of my face like he’d wipe the pain away. “Because the other option was to let you be the one to risk it, and I cannot do that, Lira.”
“But…” I huffed a breath. “You could… Why would you…”
“Let’s go.” He nodded down the dusty corridor. “I’d like to see us both get out of this damned temple.”
“Right,” I whispered, but he’d already slipped into the hall. I followed behind him and listened to the sound of his breath, the sure clip of his steps. Sai would take a curse for my sake. He’d end his life for me as I would for him. Perhaps that was a side effect of us being Atallas. The sharp edge of a stone grazed my arm, and I narrowed my eyes at it. The temple suddenly seemed like a sinister being.
