I spun Balder and put my heels to his sides, driving him down the western road, only to pull up short in two strides as the castle sat like a lump of stone that was not going to be denied.
“It won’t matter which road you take, the lady of the house would speak with you,” Insha said. “And she will not let you leave until you speak with her. This is one of her skills.”
Lila’s claws dug into my neck. “This is not good. No one who forces your hand is a good person.”
I looked at Maks. His face was tight with anger and worry, no doubt a mirror of my own emotions that rolled through me.
“I don’t like games, Insha,” I growled and forced myself off Balder. Balder bumped my back with his nose, pushing me forward.
Insha smiled, flashing some seriously sharp teeth. “But cats love games; they love to play with those they kill first, not unlike ghouls.”
Maks pulled his staff, the blade at the end wickedly sharp as it rested just in the hollow of Insha’s throat. “We are leaving now.”
“She will not care if I die,” Insha said. “There are many to replace me as you saw in the desert where you came upon us. I suggest you speak with her, and if you are brave and smart, you might get what you came for. Or you might get more than you came for.”
“You brought us here, you can take us out,” I growled, feeling the jungle cat under my skin all but begging to be let loose on the little bastard. To claw and tear my way through his body and make a damn example of him.
He spread his hands wide. “I cannot. I am a slave to the mistress, gladly a slave for she protects us from Asag and his army.” He bowed at the waist and made a sign with one hand, pressing it to his forehead. Circling his finger to his thumb, the rest of his fingers spread outward, as if they were shading his face.
The creaking of well-oiled but old hinges whispered through the dry desert air.
“Insha, you may all go to your homes now.” Her voice was deep and thrummed through me, a pounding in my chest. Her words were wrapped in magic and they reverberated in my bones.
The ghouls didn’t scatter, but sunk into the ground, leaving behind puddles of their robes from where they’d been standing.
I locked my eyes on the lady of the house.
Her black hair had a single streak of white on either side of her head, starting at the temple. She wore it long, loose, flowing all the way to her knees. Her dress was silk and dyed the deepest red, a color so dark that it bordered on black. It did not cling to her curves, and yet as she moved you could clearly see how feminine she was with the sway of her hips.
She was perhaps in her middle forties, her face heart-shaped and girlish despite her age. Eyes the color of honey stared at me. There was no hate in them, no anger, just . . . curiosity.
“How interesting to finally meet you, Zamira, the Desert Cursed. And you, Lila, queen of the dragons.” Her eyes swept to Maks and quickly dismissed him. “And your human mate, Zamira. I’d heard that you were bedding a Jinn master, but this one looks like a shifter to me.” That deep thrumming voice echoed in my chest and I grimaced.
“Can’t say the same for you,” I said. “What are you? And what do you want from us?”
Again, interminably rude, but I was not about to treat her with any sort of respect when she had tricked us to bring us here. Games were the shits, and I hated them.
She clasped her hands in front of her body. “There is payment for passage into the lands that I hold. And if I understand correctly, you seek out the hatchlings of Dragon’s Ground. You seek passage into Asag’s lands to find them?”
Damn it, how did she know? I wasn’t good at schooling my face and she laughed at me.
“Your deeds and battles have reached even us, here in the lands cut off from your own desert. Whispers of a rider known for her cunning and ability to find the most treacherous of items. Of the jewels of power and of other things.” She paused, her eyes sweeping over us. “A rider who befriends those who have no magic of their own and yet she shows them a new way to survive.”
Her hands spread wide like Insha had done, yet on her it looked elegant and graceful. “I will answer your questions, as I am sure you have many, but you must come inside. The heat does not agree with me.”
I highly doubted that. She lived in the middle of blasted desert. There was no way the heat bothered her all that much. I looked at Maks. He gave the subtlest of nods. Because, like me, he already knew the answer.
We had no choice. We had no magic with which to compel her, so that meant, at the moment, we were doing what she wanted. And there was no easy road away from this place. We had to play by her rules.
Lila gave a low growl. “I hate this.”
“You and me both.” I breathed the words as I slid off Balder’s back. Again. I touched his nose and whispered softly to him, “Be ready.”
He snorted, bobbed his head and pawed at the ground.
The question was, what was he to be ready for? We couldn’t get away, but even so, I felt like I’d be a fool not to acknowledge that what was happening here was a shit deal. That I wanted us all to be ready for whatever was coming. If there was a chance to escape and make a run for it, we would take it.
Maks stepped up beside me, his arm brushing mine, the back of his hand bumping my own. He wouldn’t take my hand; that would show too much to this new threat.
“Into the deep,” he muttered.
I drew a breath and made myself walk to where I stood only a few feet away from this new person. “You know my name, you know Lila’s and you know Maks’s. But we don’t know yours.”
She smiled, perfect white teeth flashing against her dark skin. “I am Mamitu, desert born, and desert cursed.” She dipped her head toward me. “Just like you.”
6
Mamitu’s words rang hard in my ears. Desert born, desert cursed. She was like me? Part Jinn, part shifter, part fairy, part whatever else got tossed into my bloodline?
She motioned for us to follow her through the doorway into the castle. “Come, I will explain as much as I can to you with the time allotted.”
That alone pulled me forward, my curiosity something that unfortunately got the better of me on more than one occasion. What time? Who was timing us? Because it sounded like it wasn’t her idea. Maks fell in behind me, his breathing hitched as if he were struggling to get enough air. “Tread lightly,” he said quietly.
Mamitu led us to the center of the castle, a massive courtyard filled with trees, grass, a bubbling spring, and a cool breeze that did not belong in the desert. This was heavy magic here, though it did not feel dangerous.
“Come, rest yourselves.” She snapped her fingers and the sun dimmed a little. The thump of hooves on hard ground rumbled behind us and Balder and Batman trotted into the open space. She’d beckoned them?
“I know what he is,” she said softly, her eyes landing lightly on Balder. “One of the last. There are perhaps a dozen left in the world. And yet he is bonded to you as surely as if you were his own species.”
Balder stared at her a moment and then dropped his head to graze. I forced myself to take off his saddle and bridle. He dropped to the sweet grasses and rolled. Batman followed his lead after Maks removed his gear.