Page 101 of The Tenth Muse

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also by skyler drake

Commanded by Night

Heart of the Wild

nested

Rose Santoriello

author’s note

After a plane crash in a myth-drenched Greek forest, a reluctant traveler meets a harpy seamstress who might just be her soulmate.

Content Considerations

Includes mild peril (plane crash, wild boar chase), pining, soft monster smooching, finger bangin’, harpy anatomy, consensual sex between adults, emotional whiplash, and one very persuasive mother.

one

. . .

“This is your captain speaking,”a feminine voice says through the airplane speakers. “Due to some recently developed weather conditions, we’re making an adjustment to the flight route to ensure a safer, less turbulent journey. This will tack on some additional flight time, though we’re not sure of how much just yet. Myself and the crew will keep you updated as we know more.”

“Lovely,” my mam says, giving me a look.

We’ve spent the last two weeks visiting her family in Scotland, and now we’re headed to Kuwait to visit my baba. They’re divorced, but they’ve remained … friends? And that whole side of my family still loves her, so she’s tagging along.

Besides, who wants to travel internationally alone?

People don’t usually visit Kuwait in the summer. Autumn is the better season, but something has been pulling me in this direction. I feel a draw to travel east. It might be that I miss my baba, or that there’s some opportunity the universe is trying to send my way.

I’m trying to listen to my therapist’s advice and follow my intuition, so here we are.

“Better to adjust the flight than to fear for our lives,” I say. Growing up, I had an immense fear of heights. That transferred into a fear of flying, but when your family lives on opposite sides of the world … you learn to get over it quickly. That being said, I’m still not the type to go on Ferris wheels or stand close to edges.

The flight attendants are standing next to us, whispering in Arabic, and my mother gives me a look.

“What?”

“What are they saying?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. You and baba never taught me anything, so I’m the only person in the family who is monolingual, remember?”

She squints. “You hear us speak Scots and Arabic all the time, you haven’t picked up anything?”

“They said the wordsthe,and, andI swear. A lot of talk about God. I don’t know what you want from me. Also, it’s been years since I’ve spent more than a week or two around baba.”

“I know, I know. Do you feel like you know any Scots?”

“No.”

“Dalal, be serious. If you learned more, it could give you an advantage. Would look good on a resume to future employers,” she says, grilling me.

“Mam, I have a job. I make good money.”

“You barely make more than me, and you don’t even get summers off. That’snotgood money.”

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