We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya 2)

“Do you mean that?” he asked quietly, too tired to quell his curiosity.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Kifah tilted her bald head at him. “Oi, relax. I wasn’t going to braid you a bracelet. There’s no binding contract. We don’t have to—”

“No, no. I—Never mind,” Nasir said quickly, and she lifted an eyebrow as he tried to make sense of the thrumming in his chest. Rimaal. First a brother, then a mother, now a friend.

What was next?

Aya swung her staff in a swift arc.

“I’ll drill if he goes above and waits for her,” Nasir said, jerking his chin at Seif. Zafira could handle herself, he knew. She wasn’t a child or a frail old man. She was the girl who stood unafraid on Sharr before the Lion of the Night himself. That didn’t mean they should abandon her. Fool. Next you’ll be singing songs in her name.

Seif made no move to leave, but Lana, who had been toying with a slender mace on the wall, turned to them. “I’ll go. Can I keep this?”

“No,” everyone but Seif said at once.

She pouted and dropped it back against the wall. When the door closed behind her, Seif made himself comfortable on a trio of cushions with a bundle of missives, and Nasir felt the desire to decapitate him return at full force.

“It is good to see you in your natural habitat, Aya,” the safi said.

Aya laughed at Nasir’s fleeting surprise. With her lilac abaya and gentle grip, she didn’t particularly look at home here. “I have honed thousands of affinities over the years across the kingdom, young prince. I am a healer first, and a teacher of magic second. No match for Anadil, but I like to think myself commendable.” She took a stance. “Now, let us see what you can do.”

Coils of shadow split from his palms when they all focused on him. Nasir wasn’t in the mood for showing anyone what he could do.

“You have no trouble summoning your power, at least. You must refine it. Sharpen the black into a blade. Make it a sword to be wielded.”

Nasir closed his eyes, reaching for the source of that dark flame, trying to find the vein in his blood that ran black, but it felt like tugging on air. Kifah snorted, and Nasir’s eyes flew open. The shadows had disappeared.

“You remind me of this one invention my father had that started off all dark and showy and collapsed in a plume of smoke,” she remarked. He vaguely remembered that her father was a high inventor. He also remembered the little glass instrument she had stolen from him. It works best when I imagine I’m lighting him on fire.

“Did your father have you to cheer him on?” Nasir asked tiredly.

For the first time since he’d met the bold warrior, her fierce expression gave way to vulnerability. He’d spoken too quickly, without thought. She wasn’t a certain loud, golden-haired general used to carefree raillery. They’d been ready to rip each other to shreds, yet Altair had left a yawning emptiness behind, one Nasir was all too aware of.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but she beat him to it with a shrug.

“He should have. His loss.”

Aya tapped him with her staff, and it became the Lion’s stave. Benyamin leaping in front of him. Altair shackled to the Lion—his daama father.

It was only an instant. A mere moment in which his concentration broke, but it was enough. The shadows rippled free, billowing like smoke from a fire. The room darkened.

Breathe.

He thought of the fine dark lines running through ice-blue eyes. The weave of a braid crowned at her head. Aya voiced a warning. He felt her staff at his shoulder again, and he had to dig his heels against the sudden urge to lash out. To kill. The shadows sharpened.

No. No killing.

Breathe.

He was uncontrollable. A monster. What was the point of a life he couldn’t control? Seif was on his feet, drawing Aya away. A sight he had seen time and time again when the Prince of Death walked the streets.

Wrong are the ones who believe power is king. Control, and you will triumph.

Help me, mother.

Listen, was all she whispered.

He filled his lungs and forced his clenched fists open. The darkness hummed, a song just out of earshot. Listen. He closed his eyes and reached, tugging on the tangled whispers and deciphering the chaos.