AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Khan looked at the golden collar beside Fen's bed. "I know, and she's not one anymore."
"I hope your grandfather sees it that way. Not that you ever really treated her as a slave. Gods, you haven't even slept with her."
But he would have if his world hadn't been set on fire.
Khan had been too worried about Fen surviving the arrows to think too much about the position they had been in when Kemes had charged into his chamber.
Don't think of it now either. It was something that they would have to work out when she woke up.
"I can't lose her, Kemes," he admitted, his voice breaking.
Kemes clicked her tongue. "You have barely known her a few weeks."
"You say that like it matters when it comes to the heart. It doesn't. I know you don't really believe in the gods, Kem, but I do, and she was brought to me for a reason." Khan swallowed the thick lump in his throat and repeated, "I can't lose her."
"You won't. I'm going to go and find a priestess and get her to come and check on Fen, okay?" Kemes kissed his head and got back to her feet.
Khan went into the bathing chamber and washed up. The afternoon sun was coming through the window, turning the world golden. He had been sleeping on and off, but none of it had been restful. He had black circles under his eyes, and his lips were cracked from biting them.
With wet fingers, he braided his hair back in an Atrahasi weave. He had been forced to cut his hair by the Pharaoh when he returned to Ankhara, just one more piece of himself that the city had taken.
It might be a good thing that Hasina is Pharaoh now.
Khan didn't want to go back. Ankhara had survived a long time without him, and it would endure long after he had died. He washed his face and the tears off his cheeks as he tried to convince himself it was the truth.
"Khan? Are you in here?" a soft female voice called.
The high priestess was crouched beside Fen, her wrinkled hand on her bandages. Shala had more gray in her hair than when he had last seen her. She had been a friend and mentor of his mother's, and something in Khan's soul settled just seeing her.
"You've returned, auntie," he said, hurrying across the room to hug her.
"I could say the same thing to you. I was half a day away at one of the villages. I woke this morning and knew I had to come back." Shala held him at arm's length. "Look at you, my sweet boy. Heart sore, but not defeated yet. Who's the girl?"
"Her name is Fen."
An acolyte arrived with tea and food, and Khan soon found himself spilling all as Shala poured him cup after cup of the mint blend.
"A god-touched girl from Geb. Oh, my boy, you never could do things the easy way," she said when he was done. She smiled softly at him. "You did the right thing to buy her, Khan. There is something bigger at work here than just us."
Khan looked across the room to where Fen lay. "I know. That's why I can't lose her like this, auntie. There is a mystery here, and I need to solve it. To do that, she needs to wake up."
Shala let out a sigh. "Let me look at her properly, and I'll see what can be done."
"She said that Inanna touched her and gave her the peace to sleep the first night she was under my care," Khan admitted, watching nervously as Shala ran a hand over Fen's body. She didn't touch her, merely hovered her palm to feel her energy.
"Inanna touches those she favors. Interesting that she would look to a foreigner with that kind of acknowledgment."
"Fen follows a goddess called Freya. She has a lot in common with Inanna. Maybe she recognizes a follower?" Khan suggested.
"Perhaps." Shala hummed and finally lay her hand on Fen's brow. "The poison remaining in her blood keeps her locked in her nightmares. I sense a touch of malicious magic in it, not just toxins."
Khan bit his tongue to stop himself from swearing. "Magic. What can we do for her? There must be a way to help her."
Shala looked him over with a critical eye. "How long has it been since you dream walked?"
Twenty-Six
The next time the servant came, it was with a very different kind of tea. Khan smelled it and could detect poppy, blue lotus, and apricot. Everything else was a mystery, known only to the priestesses.
