Rodric leapt into the valley between us.

“Nowhere to run now, Kateri,” he said.

He started up the dune toward us.

I glanced down into the next valley, praying there was someplace to hide. Something to use as a weapon. Some sign that if I shouted, the Desert Boys would come running.

What I saw before me wasn’t unending sand. It was a sea of black. It had to be some sort of mirage.

I shook my vision clear, certain the effort of dragging Cion had caused my vision to haze, that I was moments from blacking out.

No matter how many times I blinked, the sand ahead of us remained black.

Rodric’s feet pounded into the dune. The whisper of the sand wrapped around me, warning he was getting closer.

The sound was echoed by something else. Soft clicking. At first, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Until the sand in front of me shifted without the wind blowing it.

Because it wasn’t sand.

It was scorpions.

Scorpion Hill.

The thought jolted through my mind. I’d stumbled upon the very place Tamlin had run through on his way to save the kingdom.

If he’d made it through unscathed, maybe I could.

I swallowed down the thought that no one had ever survived a scorpion sting, telling myself I shared Tamlin’s blood. I could make it.

Rodric’s heavy breathing signaled he’d neared the crest of the dune. I knew what he’d do to Cion. We were dead either way. The most I could hope for was to get Rodric to follow me out there. To take him down with me.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to Cion as I took an unsteady step forward.

Several scorpions scuttled away as a wave of sand hit them.

I hoisted Cion as far as I could against my hip and kept going. I sent small kicks of sand forward to get scorpions to move. I took slow, measured steps.

“Still running away?” Rodric laughed. But his laugh cut off when he crested the hill and saw what waited before him. “Scorpion Hill,” he breathed.

I could hear the fear in his voice. “Think about what you’re doing, Kateri. Get back here while you still can.”

“If you want me,” I panted over my shoulder, “you’ll have to come and get me.” I’d made it to the first valley between the dunes. I turned to stare up at Rodric. Half because I wanted to draw him out. And half because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold Cion up.

Sweat greased my grip on him. His head rolled against my shoulder with every step I took. I just needed him to hold on a little bit longer. Either I was going to find a way out of this, or it was all going to be over very soon.

I’d created a makeshift path in the mass of scorpions. A few had filled in some of the gaps, but it wouldn’t be hard for Rodric to follow me.