Page 78 of Joy Guardian

Fuck.

I was too far from the camp to be noticed, but it seemed someone had spotted at least one of my helpers.

It was now or never. I only hoped all the jars were open and ready. There was no time to delay. I started to recite the curse out loud.

“Get back here!” the same voice yelled.

Two dark shapes rushed my way up from the camp.

I hurried, pushing the words out of my mouth as fast as I could while trying not to mess up their meaning.

As the last word fell from my lips, thunder shook the air.

Bright light exploded, tearing the darkness to shreds. Knowing that I had lives to spare, I’d mixed the potions for more sound and light than the devastating power. But the magic was pulled to the campfire, exploding the flames. The traders who had gathered around it were engulfed instantly, turning into running, screaming torches. One of them crashed into the nearest tent, setting the weathered fabric aflame too.

Where did theykeep Ciana?

What if Gefred had made a mistake, and she was in one of the tents?

My breath caught in my throat at the horror of that thought. I ran down the dune as fast as my legs would carry me, wishing I still had my tendrils to shift into a shadow to add me speed.

Sakin was climbing up the dune toward me, running away from the trader who chased after him. Startled by the explosion, Sakin turned to stare at the inferno engulfing the camp.

The trader tossed a dagger, hitting Sakin in the shoulder. The wounded man groaned, dropping to his knees. Red sparks rushed along the blade around the handle, meaning the dagger was made from iron and forged to kill.

“Sakin!” I grabbed the handle and yanked the weapon out of his wound.

The comfortably familiar fit of the handle in my hand made me take a better look at the weapon. It was my dagger. One of the pair I’d had for several decades now. Malis currently had one of them. And I’d given the second one to Ciana before we left the temple.

The trader who chased Sakin caught up with us. Raising a sword in his hand, he tipped his chin at the dagger in my hand.

“That’s mine!”

“No, it’s not. Only two days ago, this blade was in this sheath.” I pointed at one of the two sheaths I had made for my daggers, both were now empty. “Tell me how you got it, because you aren’t the person I gave it to.”

He jerked his hand with the sword, getting a better grip on his weapon.

“Fuck you.” He spat on the ground through his teeth.

Something in that gesture and the way he fisted his other hand looked familiar, echoing through my chest with long-forgotten fear.

I took a closer look at the trader, noticing his wide posture, the way he slightly raised his shoulders, as if being on the defensive even when he was the one getting ready to attack. The way hewore his hair in a single ponytail, with several ties spread along its length was also familiar. Only his hair was messy and unkempt, when I remembered it neat and slick like a rope.

I raised my prodding gaze to his smirk, which had not changed at all.

“Watrat.” The name fell like a curse from my lips. I hadn’t uttered it in decades. Though for years, I used to scream it in my nightmares.

“Do I know you?” He squinted at me, raising the sword higher, as if the possibility of us knowing each other would increase his reasons to attack.

Of course he didn’t recognize me. A century had passed. I’d lost all resemblance to the scared, scrawny boy he used to hit whenever the mood struck him.

He stared at me, waiting for my reply with his face frozen in utter confusion.

But what was I supposed to say? What did one say to someone one hated all their life and never expected to see again under any circumstances?

“Who’s looking after the farm? Now that Mother is dead and you’re committing crimes with the nomads of the desert.” I managed to speak calmly, even as all my feelings were in turmoil.

“The farm?” Confusion deepened on his face before he finally caught up. “You’re her boy, aren’t you? Whatever the fuck was his name? Of course, you’re grown now.” He ran his pale eyes up and down my frame, stopping at the collar around my neck. “Right. She sold you to the temple, didn’t she? I see the Joy Guardians made you one of them.”

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