Page 81 of Daughter of the Dark

But the words were stolen from his mouth as a tug on her soul, a familiar rush of emotions she had only felt when killing, made her fall to her knees. Reyes caught her with an arm around her waist before her knees could crack against the ground, and he held her as the pain subsided into a dull ache, until all that was left was a whisper of her name in the back of her mind. Solana was being called to.

“Masimu,” she whispered. Before Reyes could so much as breathe a word, Solana was spinning through the darkness to find her father, Reyes’s grip like a burn on her wrist.

They didn’t get a chance to catch their breath before they landed violently and were torn apart. Solana tumbled sideways and Reyes skidded backward, the force of her rifting throwing him several paces from her. Her ears were ringing, but she could hear someone screaming her name, feel that gift swirling inside of her that was a beckons and an answer. The floor tilted as she pushed to her feet.

She recognized the room immediately. All of the silver gilding was intact and the floor-to-ceiling windows were letting in a watery light that told her twilight was just on the horizon. From the direction she faced, she could see the double doors and Reyes, who was wiping blood from his brow and struggling to stand. When she turned, it was both exactly what she expected and not at all.

Killian sat on his wooden throne, blue eyes glowing fiercely in the dying light, a small smudge of blood at the corner of his lips. Masimu sat next to him on his knees, a muki on either side, talons sunk into his arms like stakes tying him down.

“This is a pleasant surprise,” the king said softly. Now that she knew the truth of his gift, she read his face differently. The glint of a smile in his eyes was cruel. The soft curve of his lips, wicked. His fingers tapped on the arm of the throne, and she saw the impatience there. The frustration at this pleasant surprise.

Solana wanted to lunge for his throat. She wanted to use her gift to eviscerate him from the inside out. “Don’t,” Masimu warned, the look in his eyes like a spear pinning her to the stone floor. It was a reminder of everything that was at stake. Without her, there would be no breaking of the curse. Solana steadied herself against the current of rage that threatened to sweep her forward. She couldn’t afford to be reckless in this moment.

“Yes, Solana, listen to your father. I would hate for someone to get hurt.” Killian leaned forward and placed his chin on a fist. Then he turned his eyes to Reyes. “It’s good to see you again so soon, son.”

“Do not call me that,” Reyes seethed. It was such a strange response to a term of endearment that it made Solana pause. The disorientation from rifting cleared, and in its place was a hazy, dawning understanding. She looked between them, at their sharp features and broad shoulders, at the way they were always carefully composed. The loyalty that Solana couldn’t understand. Reyes didn’t deny it, either.

“Oh, she doesn’t know,” Killian said smugly. “Here I was thinking that you two had grown so close.”

The last piece of the puzzle that was Reyes finally fell into place. The story Reyes had told her about getting into the Academy. The special accommodations for his mother. The position at the king’s right hand. Solana struggled against the betrayal pushing to swallow all rational thought.

“What do you want, Killian?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“Oof.” Killian placed a hand on his heart and fell back against his throne. “Am I no longer your king, Solana? You seemed more than eager to serve me for three hundred ilyas a week.”

Solana slid her eyes to her father, who was still watching her. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple. His eyes burned with a fierceness that she felt mirrored in her own. Behind her, she heard Reyes shift closer and whisper her name like a warning. There was a tug at the back of her shirt, whether to comfort himself or her, she wasn’t certain, but she stepped away from it all the same.

“What do you want,” Solana repeated, biding her time while she figured out how to get herself and her father out safely. Reyes too, so she could get some answers.

“I want to extend a new contract.” He stood and took one step down the dais. The muki behind him shifted to keep themselves parallel to him. It was eerie to see them so well-behaved, eerier still that she could not feel them at all.

“Become my queen.”

What the fuck? Solana wrenched her gaze back to Killian.

Pushing past her, Reyes surged forward. “You son of a—”

Killian clapped his hands and the air shifted. Two more muki appeared from a burst of shadows and mist and seized Reyes. Heart pounding, Solana jumped forward, ready to swing her dagger through their necks, but the tip of a talon at the soft flesh of Reyes’s jaw stopped her cold.

“Let’s try this again,” Killian said, dropping another step. Solana didn’t dare move or take her eyes off Reyes.

“Join me, become my queen,” Killian continued, “and you could finally have everything you’ve ever wanted.”

Mind racing through possible responses, Solana settled on, “And what is it that I want?”

“To be free, just like me.” Finally, Killian was level with her, his attention so intensely pinned to her that it felt like a physical touch. “There is no leaving Supay.”

“I know,” Solana said slowly. “Hence the Medallions and our ridiculous contract.”

“You misunderstand,” he said with a laugh. “There is no leaving Supay for anyone, ever. The Medallions are for pomp and show, though some have certainly tested it.” He moved closer, almost touching. “People may come, but no one may leave. The other lands of Auquis have forbidden it and trapped us here like animals.”

Old stories of faraway places came to mind, of journeys from here to there without an ending, of the things that Sami had seen on his boat with his father. The yakumama forces us to stay close, he had always said. There are plenty of fish to catch right here. He had always believed that leaving Supay was a fool’s dream.

“It is not me that is the enemy. It is the people outside the confines of this curse. They do not know what it is to live as a prisoner to their land during life and after death. For centuries, the kings before me have just accepted it. I refuse to be so weak.”

“You’re imprisoning your own people,” Solana yelled, pointing to the muki holding her father. “You’re prolonging their torment to sate your petty revenge, and giving your people false hope for a cure.”

“IT IS NOT PETTY!” Spittle flew from Killian’s mouth. The echo of his words lingered in the tense quiet. The muki shifted, agitated. Reyes said her name again, the word choked through clenched teeth. Solana saw a glint of silver in Masimu’s hand. He had worked her dagger out of its sheath and into his palm, the red glow of the himaya in the pommel glistening like wet blood. “They have kept us prisoner for long enough, when it is us who deserves to rule, to be free.”