Kingdom of Storms (The Desert Cursed Series Book 8) Read online

  Vahab’s voice echoed out of the container. “We are at rest; I can feel no movement. Open this container so we can discuss my release.”

  I snorted and pushed my concerns away. “We can discuss it right now, while you are still in there. Otherwise, I’ve released you, and then we are discussing your release? That makes no sense.” For good measure I knocked on the vessel with a closed fist.

  The bronze container rattled as if he’d kicked it. In my mind I could see him throwing a tantrum like an oversized toddler and that made me smile. Sure, he was the first Jinn, and I really should have been more afraid, but he was stuck in a bottle. Jinny in a bottle as it were.

  “You promised!” he roared, and the sound echoed through the cave. I looked back toward the entrance and the still crashing ice balls as they slammed into the desert out there. How long would the Storm Queen rage? Hopefully she’d run out of juice by morning.

  “I promised to discuss your release. I did not promise you I would let you out again,” I pointed out. Because I was no fool, I knew how a power like him could be if I wasn’t careful. Manipulative and dangerous to not only me, but to those I loved.

  I kept a hand on the container. “Let us be honest with one another, Vahab. And perhaps I will consider letting you out.”

  That stilled the bronze vessel under my hand. “How will I know you are honest, and how will you know I am honest?”

  A good question.

  Bind your words on my edge, Lilith whispered. And your honesty will be assured.

  I frowned. “Lilith says—”

  “LILITH?” If I thought his voice was loud before, it was nothing to the roar that blasted out of him. “WHERE IS SHE?”

  The bronze container almost vibrated out from under my hand. I sighed. “I should have known. Let me guess, you have a history with her too?”

  “She is a terrible, terrible beast of a woman!” Vahab spit out, his voice echoing now only inside the container. “And I hate her. She is . . . arg, perhaps I will stay inside here after all.”

  “If we bind our words on her edge, she says that will keep us honest,” I said. “Sound like a deal?”

  He was quiet, the vessel still for a long time. Long enough that I thought perhaps he’d rather not speak to me ever again and stay within his container rather than deal with Lilith. Which was more than a little unnerving considering the fact that I was carrying her openly as my current weapon of choice.

  “What do you mean, bind on her edge?”

  I closed my eyes. “She is trapped inside a weapon.”

  He started to laugh and then that laugh turned into the braying of a man who could not control himself. A heaving gasp was his final noise before he spoke again. “She got herself trapped too? Serves her right!”

  I rolled my eyes. “She is my weapon now. Do you want to bind your words by her blade or not?”

  “She will kill us both given the chance,” he grumbled.

  I rolled my eyes. “Now tell me something I don’t know.”

  His sigh was heavy as they come. “She is, perhaps was is the better word, my ex-wife.”

  Well now. . . that was not what I’d expected to come out of his mouth.

  “And she’s been trying to kill me for a very long time,” he added.

  I grinned. “I wish I could have introduced you to Steve.”

  The container rumbled. “Who is that?”

  “My ex-husband,” I said. “And I killed him once, brought him back from the dead, and killed him a second time. Just for fun.” Okay, so that was a little bit of an exaggeration, but it got the point across.

  A muttered curse rolled from the container and Lilith laughed softly in my head.

  I knew there was a reason I liked you so, desert girl.

  2

  Bonding with a psychotic weapon over the double-death of my ex-husband was not really how I’d seen my day ending up.

  But here we were. Doing just that in a cave in the middle of the desert while we waited out a deadly storm. Lilith’s voice cooed to me. I look forward to killing with you. If you would kill your own ex-husband, perhaps you will help me kill mine as well.

  I shook off the sensation urging me to grab hold of the short sword and go to town on a bloody killing spree aimed at the vessel at my feet.

  Instead, I shifted my seat so that I leaned against the wall of the cave that we were hiding in and forced my breathing and energy to calm. The weather outside was not slowing down in its efforts to kill us so we were going to be here at least until morning. The wind whipped into a frenzy that lifted some of the melon-sized ice balls that had already fallen and flung them deeper into the cave, closer to us. The crashing and shattering of ice exploded, echoing into the cave, shards coming dangerously close even this far in. Could the Storm Queen have known that we were here? Or was she just throwing her weight around, knowing that if we were in the open, she had us dead to rights?

  My bet was on the second thought, but just in case . . ..

  “Back up.” I stood and pushed the two horses ahead of me. Reyhan didn’t so much as wiggle in my arms and Lila stayed tight to my shoulder.

  The cave curved to the left and dropped down a few feet, hiding us completely from view of the outside world. The back wall was rounded—we’d gone as far as we could down the tunnel. Here’s hoping it was far enough.

  I dug through my saddlebag and pulled out an old flashlight that I’d turned into a proper torch on our trek south. With my flint and steel, I lit the top and gave the leather-wrapped torch to Lila.

  “Hold this for me.” I handed the torch to her. She scooped it, fluttered to the floor and sat on her round bottom, whipping her tail back and forth in the loose dust.

  “I wish I could blow fire,” she said.

  “Your acid is plenty badass,” I reminded her.

  “But fire would be handy all the time. The acid is only good once in a while.” She put her claw tips into the flame one at a time.

  Scouring the back of the cave, I found a few chunks of old wood, some brush and bits and bobs that would act as fuel for a fire. A few minutes later I had a good flame going and set about stripping the horses of their tack so they could rest easier.

  Rules of the desert were simple, and rest while you could, that was one of the most important ones. Because if you had nothing in your reserves, you would die.

  Saddles and bridles off, I fed the horses oatballs, went back out to the mouth of the cave and scooped up some ice to melt it for water for them. Only then did I let myself sit and breathe.

  My peace lasted for about 2.3 seconds.

  “I want out.” Vahab rattled the vessel he was in. “Now. If Lilith is bound up, then I will be sure to avoid her.”

  I rolled my eyes. As if he had room to demand anything locked in a vase. “Listen, I can’t trust you. So, unless you want to swear on Lilith’s blade—”

  “You can’t trust Lilith,” he snapped. “She would kill me and your friends if given the chance, just to prove she could!”

  Kill him twice. Once for you, once for me, Lilith purred, and her words had my hand moving toward her before I even realized it.

  I clenched my fingers into fists, dropped my hand and folded my arms. Reyhan squeaked and I put her on the floor, where she shifted back to two feet and looked around the room. “Where are we?” She sneezed. “It’s dusty as shit here.”

  Lila snickered and I shook my head. Not my kid, I wasn’t going to correct her. It was dusty as shit.

  “A place to rest for a bit. Maybe get some sleep.” I patted her on the head and then sat down with my back against the wall and my feet and face taking in the heat of the flames. She sat next to me and mimicked how I sat.

  The shadows danced and flickered against the walls, and the space slowly heated up with the bodies of the horses and the small fire.

  Lila rolled on the floor at my feet, dustbathing on the cave’s loose sandy floor where it was already heating up. “Maybe you can make a deal with him?”
she offered. “He would know a lot about Asag, and before the forbidding thingy that Mamitu talked about that cut the two deserts in half. Maybe he isn’t bound by the same rules that she was.”

  I winked at her, knowing exactly what she was up to, and she winked back. She was setting him up for me to knock him down. “He doesn’t know anything, Lila. He’s been locked up in a damn vessel at the bottom of a river for like a million years.”

  “Maybe even a billion billion.” Reyhan curled up beside me, yawning. “A long time.”

  I wrapped an arm around her, and she snuggled against my side, her breathing shifting into one that spoke of a deep sleep. I would never understand how kids could sleep in such weird positions.

  “The kid has a point, it was so long ago, he likely doesn’t know,” Lila said. “Or maybe wouldn’t remember even if he did. He’s old. You remember how it was with your grandfather. Couldn’t believe a thing he said.” The flames cast shadows over her purple and blue scales.

  “Good points,” I said, though I wished she hadn’t brought up my grandfather. He was the last person I wanted to think about.

  Vahab was quiet.

  I pulled food and a flask out of the saddlebags and made myself eat a bit of dried meat and slurped back a bit of the melted ice water. Hardly what I would call satisfying, but it would do. I woke Reyhan up and had her eat some too, and then she was right back to sleep.

  Closing my eyes, I waited. I don’t know how long passed, but I rested and the flames at my feet guttered into nothing but embers before Vahab spoke again.

  “I can . . . guide you. Perhaps,” he said finally. “But I wish to be free. No more bindings on me.”

  I cracked one eye open and glanced down. “And what if Asag finds you? I’m assuming he is the one who stuffed you in the bottle the first time?”

  A grunt rumbled the container on my hip. “He was not the one who stuffed me in here.”

  I did, Lilith said, and then she laughed.

  The container rumbled against me as if Vahab were pissed off and shaking his fist at me, as if he could hear Lilith too.

  I frowned. No, that rumble hadn’t been on my hip. I put a hand to the ground and the shaking came through my palm.

  “Everyone, quiet,” I whispered. I slowly got to my feet and in the semi-darkness put saddles and bridles back on the two horses. Just as silently I lifted Reyhan up in my arms, pushed my alpha’s power into her tiny body and forced her to shift to her jungle cat form.

  I set her on Balder’s back and patted his neck while she blinked sleepily at me. “Be ready, friend.”

  He bumped me with his nose and gave me a quick bob of his head.

  The rumbling was intensifying now, drawing closer. Big enough to be trouble, whatever it was.

  “Answer me—” Vahab grumped, and I pressed a hand to the container as if I could squeeze his neck.

  “We have company. Be quiet. We’ll finish this conversation later.” I gave a low growl, hating that I had to speak at all.

  That steady thumping rumble kept on coming. Whatever it was, was now inside the cavern with us with the shuffling and scuffing of dirt that rippled our way.

  Fuck, shit, damn, piss on my boots. The urge to reach for Lilith tightened every muscle in me and about strangled my ability to breathe. But I didn’t touch the sword handle. I knew this game; I’d played it long enough with the sister weapon—my flail. I had to be stronger than her, that was all.

  I made a motion for Lila, and she flew to my shoulder. “Any ideas?”

  She drew a deep breath and then coughed. “Dragon.”

  That was not good. Because all the dragons here belonged to Asag as far as I knew.

  The other important part of this was that sneaking up on dragons was a terrible idea in general. Maybe we were in her lair? That was more of a double fuck. Territorial didn’t even begin to describe dragons. Not even close.

  Grimacing, I cleared my throat. One chance. To call out and hope we didn’t end up trying to fight our way past it.

  “Not to be rude, but is this your home?” I said.

  The thumping stopped and I made my feet move, stepping out and around the curve of the tunnel to where I could see the entrance, my hands spread wide at my waist, showing that we had no weapons. The light was still dim. I would have been able to see the entrance had there not been an enormous, sinewy body in front of us blocking the natural light of the land.

  The dragon blinked down at me, blood running from a wound in its head that colored through some of the white mane that rolled and fluffed out around its head like a lion. That same flowing white rolled down its long spine.

  Eyes of deepest green, like a forest at night just kind of locked onto me. Not menacing, not angry, just . . . watching.

  Bronzed horns protruded back, curving like branches from a tree, brushing the ceiling of the cave. Dark green scales covered the midsection of its body and a glittery, opalescent white scale flashed on its underbelly.

  Clawed front and back legs in the same bronze tones of the horns dug into the floor of the cave. The steady drip of blood falling from its head was the only sound.

  Well, not quite.

  Lila was snarling under her breath. “Get out. This is our cave! You don’t belong here! Monster!”

  I reached up and put a hand on her, and those dark green eyes tracked my movement. Shit, Lila losing her mind was not what we needed right then. I was doing my best not to freak out because the dragon’s mouth was only about two feet from my midsection. And I was not so stupid as to think that even wounded, this dragon would be slow. The sinuous movement was all muscle.

  He would strike and I would never see it coming at this range.

  “It is not my home.” His voice was deep, and melodic, and a little uncertain. “I am injured and wish to stay until the storm passes. That is all I ask.”

  “No.” Lila leapt from my shoulder, flying straight into the dragon’s face so they were nose to nose. “No. You can’t stay here! Get the fuck out!”

  I grabbed her by the tail and dragged her back. “Lila, he’s hurt.” And he could kill us without a lot of effort. I wanted her to hear what I wasn’t saying. We couldn’t afford to fight him.

  She was vibrating and didn’t take her eyes off the new dragon. “I don’t care. I know about your kind. I know that you hunt other dragons!” She was screeching and her mouth was foaming at the lips. As if acid was bubbling . . .

  “Shit!” I jumped away from her as the acid did drip, sizzling as it hit the ground.

  The green dragon pulled back a little, eyes widening. “I will leave.” I took note that he didn’t deny her words.

  Lila snorted at him, hovering in midair. “Away, be gone! Hence, be gone, away!”

  That she was spitting Shakespeare at him was no surprise. I found it interesting which play it was from.

  A slow breath rolled from between his teeth. “Oh, I am fortune’s fool.”

  Lila hissed, still spitting acid.

  The thing with me was I had pretty decent instincts. I mean, not perfect, but pretty good. And my impression of the green dragon? He wasn’t going to be a problem. Despite what Lila thought.

  He was at the mouth of the tunnel before I pulled it together. “Stay. Just don’t come further into the tunnel. You’ll die if you go back out there.”

  As if to highlight my words, an ice ball the size of my head slammed into the front edge of the cave, sending shards every which way.

  Lila got in front of me, glaring, acid still dripping, and then turned away. I don’t think I’d ever seen her so angry—at least not with me. Not in all the times we’d argued about stuff, this felt . . . different. She shot past me back toward the horses and the still sleeping Reyhan. “You have no idea, shifter! No idea what you’ve done!”

  Ouch.

  The green dragon backed a few steps away from the entrance, closer toward me, limping. Each step rumbled through the ground. “I give you, my thanks.”

  I tipped
my head at him.

  “I am Zamira. That was Lila. Is she right about you killing other dragons?”

  He bowed his head to me, his mane fluttering like silk. “I am Fen. The storm caught me unawares and this cave was the first cover I could see.” Nice, not answering the hard question.

  I nodded. “Us too. Now to the bit about the dragons. You go about killing them?”

  He tucked his body in tight, just far enough in that he wasn’t getting many of the shards of still bouncing ice balls. The light had changed a little, and it looked like dawn was coming on, but it was hard to be sure.

  The ice had left a thick layer on the ground with well over a foot of frozen shattered pieces piled up.

  “Yes and no.” He shrugged, his body rippling with the movement. “When needed, my family has hunted other dragons that have caused . . . problems. Dragons that cause problems tend to cause problems for the rest of us if not caught and dealt with quickly.”

  I snorted. “And you never thought to come after Corvalis?” Corvalis was Lila’s father and the biggest, baddest dragon of them all. Or he had been before Lila finished him off and stopped his reign of terror.

  Fen’s eyes narrowed. “I know that name only in whispers. Is he real?”

  “Was real,” I said. “His daughter killed him when he sought her life, and the life of her chosen family.”

  He pulled his long tail around his body, curling up tight like a snake coiled, ready to strike. The image in my head made me take a few steps back but he didn’t twitch toward me. “That is good. If he was as terrible as the stories, then his daughter is a hero. I would thank her if I could.”

  I smiled even though said hero was pissed as a wet cat right now. “I agree. She’s a badass.”

  The staccato of the ice falling eased only a little. I realized then we’d been shouting to be heard over it.

  “You must have gotten lucky to last this long out there.” I swept a hand toward the opening to the cave.

  He gave me a toothy smile. “Something like that.” A wince and he lifted a clawed hand to his head. “Perhaps not as lucky as I would have liked.”