Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,52

then yanked me forward. The two robed sorcerers flanked me on either side as we walked through the palace, down the steps into a lower level below the ground, but not toward the dungeons, which I remembered were in the other part of the palace, across the courtyard I’d been led through to meet the king the first time.

The dry heat of Dansii crept through every crevice of the palace, even this early in the morning. At night, it grew alarmingly cold. But the moment the sun rose each morning, the heat did, too, scorching the earth and sucking the moisture from the air. When I glanced down at my hands, I could see the toll the dryness was taking on my skin.

But as we descended lower into the palace, it grew cooler once more. The walls were lined with lit torches, sending firelight flickering over the back of Akio’s dark head in front of me. When he finally stopped in front of a massive black door, a shiver of fear snaked down my spine. What on earth could they possibly be doing down here that would require my presence? I wondered about this man — The Summoner — trying to figure out what his name could possibly mean. I was about to find out.

Akio knocked on the door, one short rap and then three longer ones.

It cracked open, and he whispered something in Dansiian to the person on the other side.

“The king bids you enter,” the person said in Antionese, and the door swung wide open.

Akio went in first, pulling my chain to force me forward. Not wanting to feel any more like an animal on a leash than necessary, I quickened my pace so that there was slack in the chain, closing the gap between me and the Blevonese sorcerer.

But the moment I walked through the doorway and saw what lay beyond it, I froze, horror clawing at my chest.

Welcome, Alexa,” King Armando said, stepping forward to greet me, his mouth turning up into a pleased smile when he took in my altered appearance, his eyes raking down my body, then back up again, only pausing for a moment on my scars. “You are surprisingly stunning, I must admit. I personally find the marks of battle only enhance the beauty of the rest of your face. They are a visible testament to your strength.” He stopped a mere foot away and took my hand in his, lifting it to his mouth to press a kiss to my knuckles. His touch made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to stand still, all too aware of his tendency toward violence if provoked. And even when he wasn’t. “It is shocking that you passed yourself off as a boy for so long.”

When I still didn’t respond to his baiting, he continued.

“Tell me, what do you think?” He stepped back and spread his arms wide.

I stared at him in disbelief. Did he expect me to praise him? I glanced around the cavernous room, hardly able to believe what I was seeing was real. A terrible, cloying smell — like burned flesh — assailed my nose. Cots stood in rows along one wall of the room, where dozens of people lay, moaning, seemingly only half-conscious. Most of them were younger, close to my age, but a few of the women were older, with swollen bellies. Some of their heads tossed and turned, but the servants who attended to them had tied them to their beds, so that no other parts of their bodies could move. On the opposite wall of the room, tables were set up with bowls on top. Flames licked at the air above the rims of the bowls. Men in robes stood over them, holding knives to their hands, cutting themselves — or small animals — and letting the blood drip onto the fires, which explained the smell. It reminded me of the night we’d been commanded to go to Iker’s room and had interrupted him in the middle of doing exactly what these sorcerers seemed to be doing — sacrificing his blood to call upon the demons who fueled his dark power, for greater strength.

And directly across from me were tables with strange instruments I’d never seen before. One robed man stood by them, but I couldn’t see what he was doing, as his back was turned to us.

“This is the future, Alexa,” King Armando said, taking the chain hooked to the shackles on my wrist from Akio.