She gestured at Tanin. "This man will join me. He is my half-brother and will not leave my side." She knew that if she called Tanin her bodyguard, he would be slain as an enemy. If she called him her husband, he would be slaughtered too, freeing her for a possible marriage between the kingdoms. A bastard brother, not noble but still of her blood, would be allowed to accompany her and live.

She turned back toward her people and raised her palm, letting them see the light of her amulet. "Children of Eteer! Wait for me in the desert and do not despair. I will return to you with water for your thirst, with milk for your children, with food for hungry bellies. You have suffered greatly under Raem the Demon King, and you have traveled far in the heat and and cold, but I promise you: I will bring you deliverance. Your queen does not forget your pain. Taal will bless you, my children."

They looked upon her, eyes huge and weary in their gaunt faces. One man cried out, "Blessed be Issari, True Queen of Eteer!"

The others answered his call. "Blessed be Issari, the Priestess in White!"

Her eyes damp, she turned and entered the city of her people's oldest enemies.

RAEM

 
RAEM

"Hello again, Laira!" he shouted and laughed. "Hello, daughter!"

She flew toward him, a golden dragon now, but he had seen her human form, and he had laughed at her wretchedness. Issari, his youngest, was a beautiful woman, her hair long and rich, her face fair enough to inspire poems and songs. Her sister, meanwhile, bore the marks of her shame upon her: a crooked jaw probably broken long ago, a frail frame denoting years of hunger, and short ragged hair. She had fled him years ago, and she had suffered for it, and that pleased Raem.

"And you will suffer much more, Laira," he whispered as he flew toward her. "You will grow to miss your exile. Stitchmark will make you more wretched by far."

He grinned to remember Stitchmark, the demon of needles and scalpels and spools, stitching a new face onto Ciana. The young woman was fighting nearby upon her own demon, her new face flushed with her lust for battle. But Laira—she would not become beautiful like Ciana. She would turn into a creature like the bat he rode. Perhaps he would ride Laira too, fly upon her to hunt dragons and ruin this world she fought for.

"Warriors of darkness!" he shouted. "Gather around me. To the golden dragon! Take her alive!"

His soldiers mustered at his sides, a horde of demons of all shapes and sizes, leering, drooling, staring at the golden dragon. They flew through the darkness, passing through smoke and flame.

Laira flew toward him, howling, her fire blowing. Raem raised his shield, and her flames crashed around it like waves around a tor. Golden dragon and demonic bat slammed together.