to resume our journey.
“Are you ready?” Ahmose asked. I nodded. He rubbed his hand across his jaw. “Going through could take at least a day.”
“You can find the quickest path,” Asten encouraged his brother.
Relieved that whatever was torturing Amon was over, I looked down past the perilous, jagged rocks descending to the valley floor below, to the countless waves of white grain. A ghostly moan sent an eerie echo, and I stared at the movement of the grain, puzzled by it. The plants moved haphazardly, and not at all like wheat on a farm. “What is it?” I asked.
It is unnatural, Tia whispered in my mind. Not of the earth.
“Not it. They,” Ahmose answered.
“They?”
“Yes. They are the undead. Those who were banished and who were unable to fight off their demons like Asten did,” Ahmose explained.
“They’re like our ghost guide,” Asten added, “only they’ve been discovered and brought here. Some feel they have no reason to fight their demons. Others try but are quickly overcome and grow too weak to stave off their tormentors. Here in the mire they are plagued for eternity as their hearts are dangled like bread before a starving man.”
“So they’re like the ghosts I saw the Devourer consume? They weren’t as solid as our guide was.”
Asten’s fists tightened, though I wasn’t sure he was entirely aware of it. “Yes. This is her garden. Her stores of…food.”
“That’s horrible!” I exclaimed.
“There’s no choice but to pass through,” Asten said. “If we hurry, we can make it through before the reapers come.”
“Reapers? Why does that sound even worse than the existence of an undead farm?”
“The reapers are not to be trifled with. Any soul caught in their path will be harvested. Trust me when I say we don’t want to linger in this place.”
“So how do we get down there?” I asked. “Can you find a path, Ahmose?”
“There is only one safe path down. We’ll have to carry you,” he answered.
“Carry me? Are you going to jump?”
“Not exactly,” Ahmose hedged. “Come. You’ll go with me.”
“I’ll take her,” Asten said, and stepped forward, placing a hand on my arm. Ahmose gave his brother a long look but then nodded and backed away. Apparently Ahmose wasn’t feeling the effects of the heart scarab as keenly as his brother at the moment. Ahmose raised his arms and levitated in the air, immediately heading over the side of the cliff and descending rapidly.
Asten moved in front of me and gave me a small smile with just the tiniest glint in his eye, reminding me of the cocky version of Asten that I was more familiar with. Taking my arms, he placed them around his neck and leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Hold on to me tightly now.”
I nodded as he leaned down and scooped me up. Within the space of a heartbeat, he had risen in the air and we slowly began to float down to the valley below. Again I felt my heightened senses become attuned to the man carrying me. The feel of his strong shoulders beneath my palms, the hair that brushed my fingertips, and the way he held me enchanted me.
As I gazed up at his face, an inner part of me tried to recall Amon’s, but the details I loved so much seemed to pale in comparison and I found I couldn’t hold his image in my mind, not when Asten was so close. A tiny sound of dismay escaped from my lips and he looked at me.
“Are you all right, Lily?” he asked, clutching me closer.
“Yes,” I managed to squeak out.
Asten studied me and seemed to see something in my expression that I’d been trying to hide. Warmth spiraled between us, and his eyes melted into liquid pools. With my heightened vision I could see the spark of little stars that glinted in them. The corner of his mouth lifted, not in a smirk but in a smoldering promise, and whatever it was he was silently promising me, I wanted, needed, to say yes.
He edged closer, touching his nose to mine and then grazing our cheeks inch by tantalizing inch until his lips found my ear. Tangling my fingers in his hair and stroking the nape of his neck, I focused on the feeling, imbuing the touch with my power, willing him to feel the caress and the contact of his skin on mine. I heard his sharp intake of breath and then his quiet murmur shot goose bumps down my neck. “Careful, little