“I did what I was ordered to do,” he said, his voice made of stone.
She let out a scornful sound. “The mighty Prophet’s orders, I suppose.”
“The Prophet sees much and guides my every step.”
She turned away, too angry to speak.
“If you slice at him,” Zahra said quietly, “I won’t try to stop you. I’ll make sure to hide the noise from the others.”
“I don’t want to hurt him,” Eliana said. “Not yet.”
Simon’s voice was tight with frustration. “Who are you talking to?”
Zahra rounded on him, an eight-foot tall echo of the woman she had once been. “If you continue to upset my queen,” she boomed, vibrating with anger, “I will strike you down where you stand.”
“Who is this?” Simon spat. “Show yourself.”
“Your eyes are not worthy of me, Wolf.”
Simon stilled, his expression clearing. “Zahra. The wraith who’s been spying for us.”
Zahra let out a sharp laugh. “I spy not for you but for my queen.”
“She keeps calling me that,” Eliana whispered. “She says…” She let out a shaky burst of laughter.
Behind her, Simon sheathed his sword. She heard him approach her, slowly.
“She says you are the Sun Queen,” he said, his voice very low.
She looked back at him. The shadows drew new scars across his face, but his eyes were clear and sharp, even in the dim light, and in them, she saw a spark of something—pity, she thought, and a burning conviction.
“She says you are the One Who Rises,” he continued, “the Furyborn Child. She says you are the daughter of the Lightbringer and that she will do anything to protect you.” He hesitated, the muscles in his jaw working. “She isn’t the only one.”
“Tell me the truth, then, if you care so much about me.” Eliana’s voice came out a hard whisper. “Tell me no more lies.”
“A few months ago,” he said, moving through the trees, “I heard of a bounty hunter called the Dread of Orline. A girl, the rumors said, who had racked up an impressive number of kills. One of the highest in the Empire, in fact.” He stopped, turned back to Eliana. “A girl who was invincible.”
Eliana watched him, waiting. Her body felt so tense she feared it might snap.
“A silly enough rumor to dismiss, at first,” he continued, “but I kept hearing it, again and again, and when I told the Prophet, I was ordered to investigate. I would go to Orline, find this Dread, and observe her. And if it was nothing, I would bring Princess Navana north, as was my original mission. But the rumors were indeed true. I knew you, Eliana, as soon as I saw your face.”
His voice took on a rough quality that filled Eliana with a slow-creeping fear. What he was saying…whether it was madness or not, he believed it.
“How could you have possibly known me for anyone?” she asked. “We’d never met before that night in Orline, and—”
“I knew your parents,” Simon interrupted quietly. “I see them on your face as clearly as I see the sun rise at dawn.”
She stepped away from him, the truth settling slowly in her mind. “It was never about me helping you bring Navi to Astavar. You didn’t need me for that.”
“No. When I found you, my mission to bring Navi home became secondary to keeping you safe. Everything,” he said, moving urgently toward her, “is secondary to keeping you safe. Navi’s life. My life. Red Crown.”
She stared at him in horror. Zahra murmured close to her ear, “He isn’t wrong in this, Eliana. We may not trust him altogether, but this, at least, is the real truth.”
Simon shot an irritated glance Zahra’s way.
“It’s not my fault your human eyes aren’t strong enough to see me,” Zahra said archly. “There’s no need to scowl.”
“I don’t understand,” Eliana whispered. “This is ludicrous.”
Simon stopped just short of touching her. “Why do you think your body can do what it does? You’ve been lying to yourself about it for years, and I understand why, but it’s time to face the truth.”
She lifted her chin, fumbling for speech. “I’ve just been lucky is all.”
“You don’t believe that.” He did reach for her then, his touch on her cheek so gentle it was a mere whisper of warmth. “It’s your power, Eliana. The power you inherited from your mother. It’s fighting to awaken at last. And when it does—”