BooksBarbecue
Back Empire of Sand
Chapters (48)
  1. COVER
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. DEDICATION
  4. MAP
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. LALITA
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. RAHIMA
  15. CHAPTER TEN
  16. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  17. CHAPTER TWELVE
  18. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  20. KAMAL
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. LALITA
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  43. EXTRAS
  44. MEET THE AUTHOR
  45. INTERVIEW
  46. A PREVIEW OF REALM OF ASH
  47. A PREVIEW OF TORN
  48. ORBIT NEWSLETTER

Arwa was standing in the desert, barefoot in the sand. She was holding a weapon in her two hands. Mehr’s dagger. Their mother’s dagger. The opal at its hilt glowed like a small moon. Her face was still and smooth, and no matter how hard Mehr reached, she couldn’t touch it.

“You killed me,” Arwa said. “It’s your fault.”

Mehr finally brushed her fingertips to Arwa’s cheek. Just her fingertips. Arwa’s face crumbled and scattered to the wind. In its place a black veil remained, a veil of dark smoke that coiled around Mehr’s wrist with curious fingers. The veil fluttered in the wind, ragged at the edges. Through its mesh, Mehr saw a gleam of gold.

A daiva’s eyes met her own.

“Greetings, sister,” it said.

Mehr shot awake. She didn’t look at Amun as she slipped out of bed, still dressed in her tunic, her old green shawl from her pack wrapped around her for cover. She let the shawl slither from her shoulders to the floor and stepped over to one shuttered window.

This one didn’t face the desert. She unbolted it and felt the cool air brush her like a caress. She leaned forward and stared down at the oasis that lay at the heart of the temple. Its clear, calm surface reflected the light of the moon back at her.

She didn’t return to sleep for a long time.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Mehr slept again, eventually. When she next woke, she saw pale dawn light pouring in through the shutter she had left carelessly open during the night. Amun was gone. He had smoothed the sheets on his side of the bed down flat, making it look like he had never lain in the bed at all.

Mehr stood and stretched her limbs, curling and uncurling her toes against the ground. Even though her sleep had been restless, she felt less like the burden of her circumstances was going to crush her. She’d eaten a good meal and slept in a warm, comfortable bed. Those were small things, but at least they were good things. As long as she focused on them and pushed the knowledge Amun had given her to some far corner of her mind, she could breathe easily. She held on to those small comforts as she stretched her hands above her, preparing her body for the familiar motion of a rite.