Page 53 of Silver & Gold

“So you knew, even then, that it was me.”

“I saw you fleeing. You’d been missing for two years, but I recognized you at once. I shouted your name, but I don’t think you heard me. I didn’t know until later that my father was dead. But now … I’m the one who must be sorry. For my own anger toward you, which you never deserved. For what my family did to you.”

Raider’s throat tightened. “And yet you blackmail me and Seth into a dangerous hunt for a very dangerous object.”

The softness vanished from her eyes, replaced by steel. She said, “I must.”

“You would follow through with your threats?”

“Yes. And, yes, I am aware that that makes me like my uncle. You don’t need to tell me.” She turned to leave.

“You’re nothing like your uncle, Zarina. I understand. Why you’re doing this.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. There was a question in her eyes, or maybe fear. But she said nothing, only left.

***

Raider waited for Seth outside the Blue Gate. When Seth and Nasrin had left the training yard, Raider had slipped away from the palace grounds and circled around to the gate so he could meet Seth like he always did.

This was the first time, though, that he felt anxious about Seth’s arrival. Seth had been upset about something.

Raider distracted himself by studying the gate’s towering walls. From a distance, the blue looked like a single color. Up close, the fired bricks revealed a thousand shades of lapis blue. Dozens of golden animals marched across them, their bodies in shallow relief.

As a child, his favorite had always been the peacock. Here, the showy bird was depicted with its long tail fanning high.

A memory came back to him, one so old he’d forgotten it. Or maybe it was just too painful to recall any of the good moments with his mother.

He had pointed to the peacock as they passed by this gate. He must have been very young because he recalled pointing up. The animals had all been well above his head. He’d asked his mother what that bird was. He recalled her smiling down at him. He recalled that she had ruffled his hair like his question pleased her.

Then she had taken his hand and they had walked on and she’d told him that the peacock, for its great beauty, was beloved by the djinn.

Raider couldn’t remember all the details, but he knew she’d told him how the beautiful, elemental djinn lived deep in the desert, hidden from human sight.

The memory soured as it slotted together with another one. It must have been that moment with his mother that had sparked his interest in the djinn. That must have been why he’d been playing in the courtyard of his stepfather’s house, building a miniature djinn city in the dirt. He recalled the sandaled foot that had kicked the mounds aside, that had smashed the little figures made of twigs and fig leaves. He recalled lying amid the ruins of the little city with his ear ringing and the sky spinning.

As the gates opened, Raider banished the memory from his thoughts and tried to ignore the chill it left in him. He had something much better to focus on as Seth came into view.

Seth looked every inch the Curator that Raider had first met in Shalaa. His physical power and the burning intensity of his green eyes still stirred Raider in every possible way, but there was a thread of anxiety worming through it all.

Usually, Seth smiled when he saw Raider waiting for him, like he was surprised and delighted every single time. Today, he stopped dead. He stood still and tightly controlled, as he’d been in the training yard. Raider’s heart skipped.

Fuck. It was something to do with him. He shivered as the chill lingering from that old memory redoubled.

Then Seth’s eyes softened and his body relaxed. He walked toward Raider. Raider’s heart didn’t stop pounding, though, not even when Seth lifted his hands to Raider’s face and cupped his jaw. His thumbs stroked Raider’s cheekbones as he looked into Raider’s eyes like he was hunting for something. Then Seth grabbed him into a hug and squeezed so damn tight that it drove the breath from Raider’s lungs. Raider clung to him in return.

Seth relaxed his grip but didn’t let go. “You’re shivering. What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

Raider told him part of the truth. “I can tell something happened. I can tell you’re upset. With me.”

“No, baby.” Seth drew back a little. Tugging Raider against his side, he set into a walk, heading in the direction of the Pink Lotus Inn. “I’m not upset with you.”

“Then what happened? I saw you in the training yard with Nasrin. I could tell something was wrong.”

Seth halted and sent him a narrow-eyed look. “You weren’t supposed to be on palace grounds.”

“I wasn’t banned, you know.”

“That’s not the point. It’s not good for you, being there. Is that why you were shivering? Are you okay?”