Kingdom of Storms (The Desert Cursed Series Book 8)

by Shannon Mayer

  Maks was not sure what he was expecting, but when she slumped sideways he was still caught off guard. She hit the sand and he stared at her as her breathing deepened.

  “Well, isn’t this fun?” he muttered as he lowered himself to the ground. He wasn’t sure if he believed her about staying tied together, but just in case he would stay close.

  “Life rarely is.” Marsum sat beside him.

  He looked at his father. “You said your goodbyes before, why are you really back?”

  Marsum laughed but didn’t meet his eyes. “You think I should have stayed away?”

  “I think it’s weird,” Maks said. “You’ve been helpful and not helpful. You know a hell of a lot more about this side of the desert than you have in the past. Were you lying before?”

  He shook his head. “Ah, boy, you don’t understand. I want you to succeed. I want you to take down Asag. That is important for the world, for the desert. For every supernatural—including the Jinn.”

  Maks frowned harder. “Why, Marsum? How did you know so much about Nico and Soleil? How did you know that they needed bodies to possess if they were to come forward again? That they were looking at me and Zam to be those bodies?”

  His father’s jaw ticked. “Just because you think you know everything—”

  “I don’t.” Maks cut his father off. “What I want to know is who you really are? My father is gone, I felt him leave.”

  His father—or at least the entity pretending to be his father—went very still. “You figured it out. I’m impressed. I did not think you were close enough to him to realize the differences.”

  “I’ve been suspicious, but the reality is you haven’t done anything harmful. So let us be true between one another, who are you?” He motioned with a hand at the sleeping body of the Storm Queen. “Do you have a connection to her?”

  Marsum shook his head. “No. I . . . was a Jinn. I was killed trying to protect my family from Asag many years ago. You slept on my grave and your own pain woke me as nothing else would have. I saw in you a chance.”

  “And?”

  “And I would help you stop Asag. I know demons well, boy. Better than most.” He sighed. “My name is Roshawn, and I was a hunter of demons. We were a sect of the Jinn, created and trained to take them down. And in turn, we were hunted by Asag and his army.”

  “And you chose to help me why again?” Even though Roshawn’s words made sense, he needed to understand truly why it was him and not someone else.

  Roshawn smiled at him. “Because you share my blood, boy, you share the blood of a demon hunter. Your pain, the loss of your mate called to my own pain and woke me from a long slumber.”

  He stared at the figure next to him. The face that had been Marsum’s shifted, sliding into a longer, narrower chin and nose, dark brown hair past his shoulders, dark brown eyes, and deeply tanned skin. Roshawn was leaner than both Maks and Marsum. “Are you a shifter too?”

  “No, I am not.” Roshawn ran a hand over his head. “We need to get you away from this one, though.”

  “You said you didn’t know her,” Maks reminded him.

  “No, I don’t. But I knew her grandmother. They are a long line of female Jinn, powerful in their own right.” He glanced at the chalice that Dani had drunk from. “Mostly because of that.”

  Maks crouched next to the chalice but didn’t touch it. “What is it?”

  “The source of all magic. And the thing that Asag wants more than anything else in the world.”

  Maks turned and stared at the item in question. He couldn’t take his eyes from the chalice once he’d truly looked at it. Cut out of what looked to be a diamond, it glittered and sparkled with the small amount of water in it. “And if I drank from it?” What he was hoping was that perhaps his own magic would be opened back to him. So that he would not be so helpless when dealing with Dani.

  “Do not. The fact that she dared to even put her face in it,” he waved a hand at the still-sleeping Storm Queen, “is surprising. But then again, you are both covered in protective symbols meant to guide the magic.”

  “I felt nothing,” Maks pointed out.

  “Doesn’t matter, the magic was directed at her. She didn’t really need you for this. Have you ever even walked the dreamscape?”

  Maks frowned. “Not like Zam.”

  “Exactly. This is a game to Arin. Whatever reason she wants you here for is not what she’s been telling you, and it’s not what she’s been telling her granddaughter. When you get out of this place,” Roshawn waved his hand at the oasis, “take the first boat off the island. The demons wait for you there, not here.”

  “Wait, demons?” Maks spun on his heels, and Roshawn was gone, and Maks had a feeling it could be for good. Dani, on the other hand, was slowly waking, a groan sliding out of her.

  He didn’t touch her but stood and stepped away. He wanted nothing to do with the Jinn woman, any more than he had to in order to get away and get back to Zam. His heart thumped hard at the thought that he might be too late, but he knew it wasn’t true. He’d felt her at the other end of their connection. She’d been hurt and drawing on him without realizing it.

  “I’d know,” he whispered to himself.

  “Know what?” Dani rolled and sat up.

  “If my mate were dead.” He watched her as she rubbed the side of her face.

  Dani stood and wobbled, putting her hands out, but he didn’t help her. “I learned much. We must go. My plans have changed.”

  That had to be good. He let himself feel a small amount of relief. She tugged on his leash and began to walk back up the slope that led out of the oasis valley and to the edge of the water. She put her toes into the surf, and he followed suit.

  Once more the world turned upside down and then they were swimming hard for the surface, toward the flickering lights of the torches.

  Dani popped her head out first and he swam up next to her, dragging himself out before she even got the rest of her body clear. He did not trust her not to lock him in there.

  “What did you learn?” Arin asked her granddaughter.

  “Much. You were right, the path I am on must change.” She wiped her face, the fatigue written clearly across it.

  He slipped the leash off his neck and tossed it to the floor. “I have done my part. Arin, you swore to me I would leave on the next boat.”

  The old woman nodded. “I did. But I do not rule here.”

  Dani turned to him. “I might need to walk the oasis dreamscape again. And it showed me that a child of yours would be a great boon to this world. So, I will take my time with you.”

  He stared at her, anger surfing its way to the top of his body, coiling his muscles tight and his fists tighter. “I will not.”

  “You will.” Dani’s voice was calmer than he’d ever heard it. “I saw it in the dreamscape. A daughter, just as I’d hoped.”

  And just like that, his own hopes were dashed, gone on the winds of a storm he could not fight. Which meant all he could do was hope that Zam was coming to get him.

  22

  Zam

  The edge of the Sea of Storms lapped at my boots. We were here, and Asag’s golem army was coming. Vahab stood next to me, his hands on his hips. “Now what?”

  “We hold our ground and hope to hell the rhuk show up,” I said.

  Reyhan played and jumped in the waves. I wasn’t sure she was all that oblivious to what was happening, but maybe she knew this might be her last time to play. My throat tightened. That could not be. I couldn’t let it be. I swallowed hard. “One of the dragons has to take her out into the ocean. Not too far, maybe twenty feet.”

  Lila tightened her hold on my shoulder. “I will take her. And I . . . I will do what I must if it comes to that.”

  I nodded, unable to speak. “I will shift. As a jungle cat I have the strength and bite to throw them into the waves.”

  Interesting that Lilith didn’t argue with me. Even what she could do as a magical weapon wouldn’t touch the go
lems.

  Vahab snorted. “And me? You don’t expect me to help, do you?” Even as he spoke he started walking down the beach, away from us. “I only said we would work together to get here. Nothing more.”

  I stared at him. What a shithead. There was nothing I could do to make him stay. To make him help us. I turned my back on him. “Come not between a dragon and his wrath.”

  Lila grunted. “That’s a good one.”

  Fen’s body shimmered as he shifted into his larger version of himself. “I will stay, I am with you. I can grab them and throw them into the water.”

  I lifted a hand and he put his nose against it, his warm breath curling around me and sending his long white moustache fluttering in the wind. “Thank you, Fen.”

  Lila reached out and mimicked me. “Yes, thank you, Fen. Maybe I was wrong about you. Maybe you aren’t so bad after all.”

  The green tinge of his skin deepened, and he turned away. “I am not the monster you think I am, Lila. One day I hope you will see that.”

  Her skin deepened too with that, and she looked away, a distinct sparkle of tears in her eyes. Perhaps this was more of a heart twist than I’d realized.

  Vahab wandered off a few steps and then stopped. “Perhaps I will watch, to see how the fight goes.”

  “Whatever floats your boat,” I muttered.

  The thing about a fight, a battle, is that the waiting is the hardest part. My belly twisted in on itself and I had to force myself to eat a little, and drink down some water. Because once the fighting started, there would be no break, no time out to catch our breath. Either we would win the day, or Asag would have us. I could not see any other outcome, which terrified me.

  Fen and me against an army of five hundred. This was not going to be a good day, no matter how it went.

  “You know, we could have run straight toward the Storm Queen,” Vahab said. “I am sure she would side with you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Your fantasy woman does not exist. For all you know, she works with Asag and would hand us over to him.”

  “Cassandra said she didn’t,” Fen pointed out.

  I wanted to tell them they were wrong, but maybe they weren’t. I forced myself to look at the island out deep in the ocean, the waves crashing around it. I could feel Maks stronger than ever before and he was there. Waiting for me.

  Held captive by a woman actively trying to fuck him. My anger surged and I pushed it down. “Lila, if it comes to the worst, fly Reyhan to the Storm Queen. Beg protection.”

  Lila’s mouth dropped. “What?”

  I nodded, feeling the certainty behind what I was saying. “That is the answer. If it comes to it, if we are overrun, take her to the Storm Queen.”

  A rumble under our feet turned us all around to face the northern sand dunes. At the top of the final dune appeared the first of the golem army. “Pillars, what a stupid name,” I muttered.

  Lila grimaced. “Whoever named them had not so much brain as ear wax.”

  I paused, letting my mind work over the quote. “Troilus and Cressida?”

  “Damn it, I’m never going to stump you, I could only stump Toad!” Lila spun around, weaving her way through the air currents. Her anxiety was showing in her barrel rolls again.

  A smile crossed my lips even as more of the golems gathered. “You’ve been saving that one, haven’t you?”

  “Damn skippy I have.” She sighed and dropped onto Reyhan’s shoulder. The little girl reached up and patted her side.

  “Zam,” Reyhan said, and I turned to her. “The monsters are after me, aren’t they?”

  There was no denying it and I did not like lying, especially to a child. I nodded. “Yes, but we’re going to make sure you are safe, the best way we can. Okay?”

  She frowned. “But if you can’t—”

  “Then I will fly you to safety.” Lila butted her head against the little girl’s. “You will be okay, Reyhan.”

  Her eyes went to Vahab where he stood a little apart from us. “Are you going to protect me too? Are you going to help keep me safe?”

  His face said it all. Shame was a heavy thing to swallow and he sure tried if the way his throat bobbed was any indication.

  Vahab went to one knee and held out a hand to her. “You . . . trust me? No one else does.”

  He wasn’t wrong about that last bit.

  “You’re the first Jinn,” she said as she put her small hand in his. “You could kick everyone’s ass if you wanted to.”

  His laughter was unexpected and he tugged the girl into his arms for a quick hug. “Because you asked so sweetly, yes. I will stand with these three and you of course, princess.” He flicked his fingers at me and Fen and Lila.

  “Am I a princess?” Reyhan gasped, and Vahab nodded.

  “I deem you first princess of the desert Jinn!” He touched her on the head and a tiny burst of sparkles spread out over her face.

  She gasped and spun. I turned back to the sand dune where the golem army still gathered; they stood ten across. Ten across meant there were at least fifty rows deep of golems.

  Fuck.

  The one in the front raised his arm and spoke.

  “Give the girl to me, Vahab. And I will not pursue your death.”

  Vahab put his hands to his chest. “You think I’ve been doing this? You’re a fool still, demon. I am no Roshawn the Deadly, hunter of demons. I am the one you caged, and I am just glad to be free. Also this one,” he pointed at me, “is a pain in the ass. I don’t much like her.”

  The golem opened its mouth and laughed, a horrible grinding noise of rock on rock that stopped as suddenly as it had started. “Then give them both to me. Then we will be quits.”

  “It’s not up to him.” I snapped the words out, feeling my own anger climb my spine and pour out of my mouth. “Your army is dead today, Asag. And then I’m coming for you. I’ve released Vahab. I know where the source of magic lies. The tasks are nothing to me.”

  I wondered if his face was tightening. If Asag—wherever he sat watching this through his creation’s eyes—was having a fit, throwing chairs around because of my defiance. I hoped so. And that hope made me smile.

  “Why do you smile?”

  “Because you think you’ve got us pinned down. You think you’ve won before the battle even begins. But you don’t know me. You don’t know Lila. You don’t know what we’ve survived.”

  The golem pointed a hand at me. “Every survivor dies at some point. Every fighter collapses one day. This is that day.”

  “Want to make a bet on that?” Lila zipped around in front of me and the urge to grab her tail and tell her to be quiet was so strong I lifted my hand before I clamped down on it.

  Your dragon is clever. Make a bet with him, he loves to gamble. All demons do.

  Lilith’s words were spoken with more than a little excitement.

  “Yes, a bet,” I said, and Lila looked back at me. I gave her a nod. If she had an idea, I trusted her enough to run with it.

  The golem’s eyes went dark and I thought that perhaps we’d pushed Asag too far. But a moment later, a creature I knew all too well emerged from between the golems.

  “Mamitu?” Her face was littered with bruises. “Fuck.”

  The graceful woman walked down the slope, her red skirts spilling out around her. At the bottom of the dune, she held out her hands and before I could ask, her eyes shimmered and changed to orange.

  “Do you see,” her voice was deep and thick with Asag’s tones, “that I keep what is mine. Forever. Mamitu made a bet against me and she lost. Do you wish to make the same mistake?”

  If he is trying to talk you out of a bet, he is afraid you might have a chance to win. Which means the rhuk might be close.

  Might. Maybe. There were those words again.

  “If we beat your army today, you will free Mamitu, and no longer pursue the child,” I said.

  She swivelled her head side to side. “And you? Do you not wish me to stop pursuing you?”


  I let a slow, angry smile cross my face, so that he could see my teeth. “I am coming for you, either way, Asag. I do not care if you chase me all the way to your doorstep, demon.”

  Mamitu’s face darkened. “You . . . do not fear me.”

  I did because I was no fool. But I wasn’t about to tell this dumbass that. Instead, I dug deep and pulled on every ounce of badass that I’d earned.

  “See me trembling? I’m shaking like a leaf.” Maybe I could goad him into this fight.

  He flicked Mamitu’s hand at me and I was swept up into the air, my limbs pulled in all four directions until my joints popped free. A scream bubbled up in my throat, but I would not give him the satisfaction. I would not scream for him. Instead I closed my eyes and let the tears run down my face, silent.

  “If you beat me, you may have Mamitu’s freedom. And I will rescind my desire for the girl. But you . . . you I will gladly take. Let us begin this bet in truth.”

  As quickly as I was tossed into the air, I was released.

  “Oh camel piss! He popped all your joints out!” Lila dropped next to me on the sand. There was only one way for me to deal with this. I needed to shift.

  I walked through that door in my mind between shapes and a moment later I was shaking sand out of my black fur and standing comfortably on all four legs.

  “Keep her safe,” I growled to Lila and butted my head against hers.

  “Don’t die on me,” Lila said. “We’ve done this too many times to lose now.”

  I really hoped she was right.

  I turned as the first ten golems came marching down the dune. Vahab cracked his knuckles.

  But it was Fen who took them first. He shot into the sky, undulating and flinging his body around to gain height, then swooped down from the east and grabbed three of the golems fast and hard, banked and dove straight into the water.

  He was gone in a massive splash and didn’t come up.

  “Fen!” Lila shot toward the place he’d gone down.