Page 128 of Mother of Death and Dawn

“That’s impossible,” Sammerin said. “No one can be brought back from the dead.”

“She was never truly dead,” Ishqa said. “A part of her lived as Reshaye.”

Perhaps more of her was in Reshaye than I ever realized.

I relived those terrible moments again—the moments when my mind, Max’s, and the Fey king’s were interlocked. I had felt Reshaye inside of me then, being dragged back into this world. I knew it was possible he had taken it successfully. Ishqa and I had discussed this at length. But I had never considered the possibility that the Fey king would want it for something more than to be a weapon in his own mind, as it had been a weapon in mine.

“Still. It’s still impossible.” Sammerin shook his head, looking offended that something so outlandish had even been brought up. “Do you have any idea how much a human—or Fey—body consists of? The sheer intricacy of tissues and bones and nerves? No one can create a living thing from nothing, let alone one that complex.”

“But hehasbeen creating things from nothing,” Max said. “He’s created those monsters, hasn’t he? The ones he keeps hurling at Ara.”

“He can’t be creating those from nothing, either.”

“And they are very different from… a body,” I added. “Anormalbody.”

“There is nothing normal about her,” Ishqa said, harshly. “I have never been so certain of anything as I am of that. If he created a body for her, then that body is capable of monstrous things. And the fact that he was able to do such a thing at all means that we’re in greater danger than we realized. The fact that he hasn’t moved yet, at least not with all the power at his disposal, means nothing. Today I saw what he is capable of with only a fraction of the power at his fingertips. And now a city no longer exists.” Ishqa turned to me, his eyes fire. “We cannot waste time. We need to follow the wayfinder immediately and claim the Lejara it leads us to now.”

A chill ran up my spine. I looked down at my palm and the light still emanating from it. I could feel it tugging me northeast, like a song sung in a frequency no human ears could hear, calling to my deepest soul.

My heart ached to go to my people—fight with them if not mourn with them. If Serel was indeed dead, and, gods forbid, if Filias and Riasha had met the same fate in Orasiev, then the rebellion had no leadership.

They needed me.

But I would be no use to them unless I had enough power to help them.

“I know,” I said.

“You have another problem.” Brayan’s deep voice rang out from the back of the group. He winced as he rose to his feet, pressing a cloth to his abdomen. “In the time we were in Zagos, the price on all our heads has been rising by the hour. No doubt that trend continued. We may be thousands of miles away from Ara, but when someone is willing to paythatmuch for someone, news travels fast and far.”

“We have been wanted this entire time,” I said.

“Not like this. Nura must be getting more… motivated.”

“Then it was unwise of her to use us as bait,” Max muttered, which was very true.

“It’s probably not much of an exaggeration to say that every bounty hunter or mercenary on four continents is now looking for you.”

I cringed and muttered a curse. Inconvenient.

“It makes things considerably more difficult for you. But Max and I are going to Besrith anyway, and that’s a hub of mercenary operations. At the very least, it’s where the Roseteeth are based, and I don’t doubt that many of the most skilled people coming after you are Roseteeth affiliated in some way. Max and I can draw their attention east. Maybe I still have enough pull these days to broker some sort of deal with them.”

Max and I are going to Besrith.

That sentence made my heart lurch.

“I’m not going to Besrith,” Max said, without missing a beat.

Brayan looked like this was news to him. “What? Why?”

“Because… I have other things to do.”

“Things like providing double the attack surface to this group of people and centralizing all of Nura’s targets in one place?” Brayan retorted, irritated.

“That is a risk,” Ishqa said. “If we remain together and get captured, then we have just handed the Aran queen—or the Fey king—every option we have. Perhaps he is right. It might be safer to separate.”

No.I wanted to scream.No, no, no. I just got him back. You can’t ask me to give him up again.

And that was why I even surprised myself when the words slipped from my lips.

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