AQREEN STARED IN DISBELIEF at the tall figure that dismounted from the dromad and strode toward her.
Her hand flew to her mouth. She turned to stare at the wagon where Krushita had lain for the past hour.
Krushita descended the ladder and came toward Aqreen. She had an expression on her face that Aqreen could not read.
“Krush?” Aqreen said. “Look.”
Krushita kept her eyes on her mother. “I know, Mother. He wants only to talk.”
“Talk?” Aqreen stared at her. “What is there to talk about?”
“I understand. But that is the bargain I made with him.”
Aqreen’s mind reeled. “Bargain? With him?”
“I had no choice, Mother. It was the only way to save us. He will not harm you. He wants to talk. You don’t have to agree to anything he says. Refuse him, reject him, abuse him all you want. Then he will go away and leave us alone. And we will live out our lives—”
“Leave us alone? You really believe that? After all he has done?”
“Please, let me finish. We will live out our lives in peace, and he will never trouble us again. That is the bargain I made.”
Aqreen searched her daughter’s face, unable to believe that these words were coming from Krushita’s mouth. “You cannot expect him to keep his promises, Krush. Whatever he promised you, this so-called bargain, it is meaningless. He will never change, he cannot change. He is Krushan. He is like stonefire itself. Forever evil. I should have known that at the outset, but I was gulled by his sincerity and blinded by my own youth and naiveté. Don’t fall for his lies, Krush. Fight him if you can, fight him now. We will die fighting him together. Better that than any bargain with the devil!”
But Krushita had the look in her eyes that she always got when she was determined to do something and nothing Aqreen or Bulan or anyone else said would change her mind. Aqreen knew that look all too well. She had seen it in mirrors when she was young too. And in her father’s eyes before herself. It was a stubborn streak they all shared. The sense of conviction in something, no matter how impossible.
“It is the only way, Mother. I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice. Do it now. Fight him. Please, Krush. Do it. You are stronger than you know. You are powerful in yourself. Destroy him if you can, or let us both die fighting him. But don’t give in!”
A shadow fell over Krushita’s face. Aqreen felt his malevolent presence without even needing to turn her head.
“Hello, Aqreen,” Jarsun said.
She forced herself to turn and looked at him briefly.
The sight of that thin, long face and those piercing eyes disgusted her so much, she thought she would lose the contents of her stomach right there. She couldn’t believe that Krushita had agreed to this . . . whatever it was.
“Go away,” she heard herself say, faintly. Too faintly to be heard.
She felt a hand on her back, supporting her, and realized she was on the verge of fainting. The hand was Bulan’s, she could make out from the fact it was large enough to cover her entire back. She breathed in, fighting the nausea and panic that warred within her.
“Go away,” she said, louder now. “Whatever you agreed with Krushita, I was not part of the bargain. I don’t want to see you, to hear you, to hear anything you have to say. Go away now.”
He began to speak again.
She screamed at him, unable to help herself. “GO AWAY, YOU MONSTER!”
She felt Bulan holding her shoulders now, holding her back, and realized she was lunging forward, trying to drive her weapon at him, to spear him, to kill him. Jarsun.
She heard the bastard Krushan’s voice saying something. It was barely a murmur, hardly audible over the roaring of her blood and the rage that filled her being.
It didn’t have to be this way. I offered you the world. All you had to do was take it. Remember that.
And suddenly, she felt something, a sharp pricking at her throat. It was so minute, she thought it must be an insect, some desert mite. But then she felt the trickle of blood roll down her neck and knew.
“You . . . stung me,” she said incredulously.
She looked at Krushita, who was staring at her in horror.
“He . . .” Aqreen said.
Then felt herself falling.
Bulan caught her in their enormous hands, bellowing with fury. Around her, pandemonium erupted as everyone tried to make sense of what was happening.
Then Krushita screamed in rage and something, a great ball of power stronger than any force Aqreen had felt in her life, blasted out from her daughter and struck the place where Jarsun was standing.
But instead of hitting flesh and blood, it struck something that burst into a shower of sand.
The wind caught the sand grains and blew them away.
Only his laughter hung in the air, lingering.
Too late, little one. Remember. You are powerful. But I am still your father.
The laughter rang in Aqreen’s ears as she felt her life leaving her.
Her last thought was, Krush!