I reached for the edge of the cliff, missing by inches. One more swing, one more pull. A light touch at my wrist startled me from my destination. Essiya materialized in front of me, and we clung to the same rope. Kitmer-black eyes bored into mine. “All your choices require sacrifice. The question is, what are you willing to lose?”
Essiya released the rope, falling into the gloom. My magic slowed with her disappearance, and a cry tumbled from my lips at the renewed sensation in my palms. With a guttural shout, I hauled myself up the last foot, hooking my arm over the cliff’s edge. I plunged the dagger into the dirt and dragged myself onto solid land. As soon as my knees were on the earth, I crawled away from the sheer drop and discarded the dagger. My blood left smears on the hilt.
A beat. I exhaled, tearing the cloth from behind my head. My magic receded more, exposing me to a riot of agony.
Countless lanterns seared into my eyes. Thousands of faces moved in my periphery, but none the one I wanted. The gathered masses gaped at me.
“The Nizahl Champion joins the Orban and Omal Champions in the second trial!” the announcer boomed.
The crowd exploded.
The cheering was muted, the spectators’ colors reduced to moving dots on a rapidly darkening landscape. A tall figure appeared from the frenzied dots. “Sylvia?” Arin called. His low voice was the best sound I had ever heard. The Commander swore. “Get the canvas!”
I stitched together the words I needed and held up my palm. “Sap,” I croaked. “For twenty minutes.”
The last of my magic dissipated, and I sagged into Arin’s chest. The Nizahl Heir’s arms went around me, and I distantly registered that he was shouting, but I had ceased to care. He was warm and strong, and he smelled like the rain that never fell in Ayume.
I breathed Arin in, my head slumping over the crook of his arm as Ayume’s air finally put me to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I would very much appreciate it if you could stop trying to kill me,” Sefa said when I woke up. The physician jerked in the chair, then rushed to my side. My palms were wrapped tightly, but the worst sensation was the foul taste in my mouth. I was still in my quarters in the pavilion, so I couldn’t have slept long. A day at most. I curled my toes and stretched, relieved when my muscles complied. I must have bled out the poison faster than my body absorbed it.
“You know, I expressed the same sentiment to Ayume,” I said, slapping aside the physician’s hands and sitting upright. Affronted, the medic stomped to his bag and bustled from the room. “Where’s Marek?”
“He went patrolling with some of the soldiers,” Sefa replied. “For someone who hates the Nizahl army as vigorously as Marek does, he certainly is capable of endearing himself to soldiers.”
I grinned at Sefa until distress crawled across the other girl’s expression. She probably thought I had suffered some mental affliction.
“You and Marek will not enter Nizahl. I made certain of it,” I said. “Vaida will be displeased, but I have an idea to make sure she doesn’t retaliate.”
“Made certain of it how?” On cue, her brows pinched, forming Sefa’s six columns of stress in her forehead.
“I did not slaughter any squalling babes, Sefa,” I said. Timur was a fully grown adult when I drowned him. “What matters now is you and Marek can stay in Omal after the second trial without needing to accompany us to Nizahl.”
Sefa, piecing together the Lukub Champion’s death and her newfound freedom from Nizahl, did not share in my excitement. “And how exactly do you plan to keep Vaida from following through on her threat? Forgiveness is not a virtue shared among many royals.”
“Her seal,” I said. Seeing Vaida’s ring open the doors to her disturbing underground room had planted the seed. My deal with Arin was well and good, but no plan was complete without a contingency. “I will need your and Marek’s help to steal the Sultana’s seal at the Omal palace. We can use it to negotiate our safety.”
A knock at the door interrupted Sefa’s response. She straightened, her petrified gaze colliding with mine.
“Enter!” I shouted. “Sefa, what is it?”
The door swung open, and my neck pricked. Eerie foreboding arrived seconds before I heard his voice.
“Our Champion wakes at last,” Supreme Rawain said.
The axis of my world ground to a scraping halt. A quiet shatter echoed in my head.
A man with a raven-headed stick sits near a woman drowning in her Nizahlan garb. An older lady with soft brown eyes keeps glancing at me and then away. Teta Palia said she was the Queen of Omal, and I wasn’t to speak to her. At the other end of the oak table, Gedo Niyar hands me a sesame-seed candy. Teta puts her hand onto my knee to stop my restless legs from kicking. I want to go home. Dawoud said he would take me to Har Adiween so I can climb the dancing trees. I glance around the table. Something important is being discussed, probably. I go back to staring at the raven-headed stick. I wonder if I would be allowed to hold it.