me, Elias.” She takes my chin in her hand. “The Nightbringer baited you. And I gave him the perfect bait. He knows you, like he knows all humans. He expected you to help me and knew you would later feel guilty about it. He’s always a step ahead of us. But the cost this time is thousands of lives—tens of thousands—”
“The concerns of the human world are not—”
“He’s playing a tune and you are dancing to it. That is your concern. The Nightbringer wants you chained to the Waiting Place. It serves his purposes perfectly. Because if you are trying to control things there, you are not fighting out here.”
“If I am chained to the Waiting Place, it is because of my own choices—not because of the Nightbringer.”
“You’re chained because of me.” She releases me, her face in her hands. Seeing her this way feels wrong. No, I realize. It feels wrong to see her this way and not give her comfort.
“You died, Elias, and still you could not let yourself fail. You promised to save Darin and so you did, though it led to your own imprisonment. You promised to serve Mauth and so you do, though it will lead to the destruction of my people. You are so—so—” She throws up her hands. “So stubborn! And the Nightbringer knows it! He is counting on it, for it allows him to wreak havoc in the human world without anyone to stop him.”
Laia’s disquiet swirls around her, a weight too heavy to carry alone. “You said yourself the forest is sick. The ghosts are not coming through. I tell you, the source of these ills is the Nightbringer. If you want to fix the Waiting Place, you must stop him from tampering with the spirits.”
Though I’m certain I had the good sense to put a foot of space between us, our knees touch. She pulls my hands to her heart, and my pulse judders in response.
“Thank you for helping me,” she says. “I know it cost you. But if you hadn’t helped me—”
“You’d have been fine.” This, I know. “You’re tough and smart. You’re a survivor, Laia. You always have been.”
She smiles and looks down, her hair falling into her face. “It is sweet to hear you say my name,” she whispers.
A desert wind gusts through the gully, and I breathe in the scent of her, sugar and sweat and something unknowable that makes my head spin. I push her hair back from her face, and find my thumb lingering on her cheek. It is flushed, though the night is cold.
Laia looks up at me as if she is going to speak, and her fingers press into my forearm. My own desire stirs at the depth of hers, and I imagine her fingers digging into my back, her eyes on me like they are now, her legs around my hips—
Stop. You are the Banu al-Mauth.
But the voice fades when she rises to her knees on the rock and brushes her lips against mine. She is careful, like I might flee. But her wildly thudding pulse matches mine, and I drop my hands to her waist and pull her close, my lips parting hers. Closer still when she moans, her nails grazing my neck. The sound that it elicits from me is nothing close to decent.
She pulls away, smiling, and I wish she had not, for in the space that opens between us, tumult takes hold, the cold reality of my present sweeping over the horizon of my mind.
I am a fool. Holding Laia, kissing her, touching her, letting myself want her. All I’ve done is given her hope.
She must sense it, for she tilts my face toward hers. “Elias—”
“That’s not my name.” I pull away and stand, grasping for the coldest version of myself: Mask, Soul Catcher, Chosen of Death. I think of the thousands of ghosts I created, the thousands who died because of me—friends and enemies and people whose names I never even knew.
The Nightbringer was right about humans. Murdering and smashing and forgetting.
“Please,” I tell her. “I could not live with myself if more suffer because of me. Stay away. Leave me in peace. Find someplace safe to—”
“Safe?” Laia laughs and it is a terrible sound. “There is no safe place for me in this world, Elias. Not unless I create it for myself. Go then to your duty. I will go to mine.”
Before she turns her back on me, I am gone, windwalking east, flying faster
<<Previous page A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 1 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 2 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 3 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 4 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 5 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 6 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 7 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 8 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 9 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 10 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 11 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 12 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 13 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 14 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 15 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 16 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 17 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 18 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 19 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 20 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 21 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 22 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 23 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 24 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 25 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 26 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 27 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 28 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 29 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 30 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 31 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 32 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 33 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 34 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 35 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 36 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 37 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 38 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 39 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 40 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 41 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 42 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 43 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 44 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 45 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 46 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 47 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 48 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 49 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 50 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 51 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 52 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 53 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 54 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 55 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 56 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 57 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 58 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 59 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 60 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 61 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 62 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 63 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 64 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 65 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 66 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 67 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 68 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 69 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 70 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 71 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 72 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 73 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 74 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 75 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 76 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 77 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 78 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 79 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 80 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 81 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 82 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 83 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 84 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 85 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 86 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 87 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 88 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 89 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 90 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 91 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 92 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 93 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 94 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 95 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 96 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 97 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 98 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 99 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 100 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 101 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 102 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 103 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 104 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 105 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 106 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 107 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 108 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 109 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 110 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 111 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 112 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 113 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 114 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 115 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 116 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 117 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 118 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 119 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 120 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 121 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 122 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 123 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 124 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 125 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 126 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 127 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 128 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 129 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 130 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 131 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 132 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 133 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 134 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 135 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 136 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 137 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 138 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 139 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 140 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 141 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 142 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 143 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 144 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 145 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 146 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 147 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 148 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 149 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 150 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 151 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 152 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 153 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 154 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 155 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 156 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 157 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 158 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 159 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 160 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 161 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 162 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 163 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 164 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 165 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 166 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 167 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 168 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 169 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 170 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 171 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 172 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 173 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 174 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 175 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 176 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 177 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 178 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 179 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 180 A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) - Sabaa Tahir - Page 181
Next page>>