Page 93 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
“Harrow, honey, maybe we’d better go.” Malaikah’s hand landed gently on her shoulder.
“No.” She was sobbing now. “No, I have to find him. I have to find him!”
“I’m not saying give up. I’m saying that maybe there’s another way.”
“What other way? She can take me directly to him. What better way is there than that?”
“But she’s not going to, Harrow. Take a second and think about it. She’s not budging.”
Harrow did, gulping air into her aching chest, forcing her head to work through the panic. She met Nashira’s blue gaze again. The Ether Queen appeared calm, almost peaceful, as if she had some secret assurance about the future that she wasn’t willing to share. Or maybe she didn’t care either way.
Beside her, Ouro was running a hand over his skull, looking uncomfortable. At the far side of the room, Salizar paced while the circus workers rested on the floor. A few of the more seriously wounded had left already, including Loren, escorted by one of Ouro’s men to the nearest healing facility.
“How are you so calm?” Harrow snapped at Nashira, not caring in the least that she was being rude to one of the oldest, most powerful beings in the world. “Doesn’t it bother you at all that an innocent man is about to be killed?”
Nashira nodded excitedly. “Yes, yes, I’m being terribly coldhearted about all this, don’t you think? Best forget about me and take matters into your own hands. It’s the only way to get results these days. Folks are becoming so unreliable in modern times.”
“Fine. If you refuse to help me, then I will.” Harrow spun around and grabbed Malaikah’s hand. “Come on, Mal. We’re leaving.”
She stormed to the door with Malaikah in tow but stopped suddenly. Dropping Mal’s hand, she went back to the table and scooped up her Seer cards. Then she grabbed the bag with her scrying bowl, Seer herbs, and jewelry box containing her mother’s necklace, and snatched her cloak off the back of the chair.
A week ago, she’d been in a panic over what to pack. Now she knew she’d taken everything of value she owned. Leaving the rest meant nothing.
She went back to Malaikah and threw open the door. Before leaving, she said to the room, “I’ll be back at my caravan if any of you decide to help me. But not for long. As soon as I figure out the fastest way to get to Raith, I’m leaving.”
Without another word, she strode from the room, Malaikah at her side.
Chapter Twenty
Back on the circus grounds once more, Harrow threw open the door to her caravan—a home she thought she’d said goodbye to forever. Less than a week later, she was back. How had things gone so impossibly wrong?
Because you threw it all away, a hateful inner voice whispered.Because you couldn’t believe in the happiness you’d been given and had to destroy it as quickly as possible.
“Shut up,” Harrow hissed. “I will make this right.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Malaikah said warily, closing the door behind her.
“Not you. Me.”
“Right.” Poor Malaikah looked slightly afraid of her, but Harrow didn’t have time to care. “What’s your plan, Seer?”
“I’m going to use my power for its actual purpose for once and figure out where Raith is and how best to get to him.”
“Well, he’s probably at Castle Fera, no?”
“Yes, I know,” Harrow snapped, inwardly wincing at her rudeness. “But it will take ages to get there. We need to make sure there isn’t a better plan.”
“Well, look at you.” Malaikah perched on the edge of the bed, tail flicking behind her. “I thought you’d lost your marbles back there, but that actually makes sense.”
Harrow sat at her tiny writing desk, placing her cards in a neat pile and setting the heavy bag down at her feet. “Nashira may be eccentric, but I think there’s truth to what she was saying. And she kept telling me it was too late to go after Raith and that I had to wait for him to come to me.”
“So you’re actually going to just sit here and wait? That did not seem like what you were planning when we stormed out of that tavern.”
“No, I’m not going to just sit here and wait. But I am going to try to understand what Nashira was saying and where Raith is likely to end up. If I can predict his movements, we can be sure to be there to intercept him.”
“What if Furie kills him as soon as he arrives?”
Harrow twisted in her chair to glare at Malaikah. “That’s not going to happen.”
