A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Seventy-Seven

Zahra's face is suspended over mine. Her eyes are the first I see, warm as the earth when the sun shines upon it. It's raining in the desert. Heavy sheets of rain, pouring nonstop to the point I wonder whether it's a natural rain at all. Thunder and lightning streaking across the sky and waves of water beat against Lioness Gate.

Zahra pulls me upwards and into her arms. I shudder within them.

"You weren't supposed to follow me into the temple. What if you got hurt?"

She presses her fingers against my forehead, and I wince at the stinging that rumbles along my head. Her hand comes away pressed for blood. She quickly tears at her own shirt to clean the wound. "Why are you worrying about me getting hurt when you're the one bleeding?" She curses, wiping at the wound. "You always faint in these temples! No wonder you avoid them like the plague. Your fathers will kill me if you die before your wedding."

It's not my fault that the gods enjoy communicating through cryptic dream messages. If I have to suffer a minor headache for it, well, so be it.

"I saw Ode Ngayoh." My teeth jar against one another. My entire body is wracked with chills and the beginnings of a fever. "I saw Kaliya and I traveled through time."

"You've received a nasty head wound." Zahra wraps my arms around her neck. Her warmth seeps through the cold I'm experiencing, keeping me still. "You must have had hallucinations."

"Zahra." I still, scrabbling weakly against her grip. She holds me firm, keeping me standing. "Zahra, you know there aren't accidents. Not with me." I press my palm against her cheek. Stunned by the gesture, her skin returns to its golem form for the briefest moment, fissures crackling along her skin. She hides it quickly in shame. A curse, not soon forgotten. "There aren't accidents with the gods. They weren't hallucinations. They were visions."

"When for the love of ghūls did you get so pious? Tell me." She breathes, moving my hand to wrap around her neck again. Half-carrying me in her arms as I clutch at my makeshift bandage. "Keep yourself talking. We need to get you to a healer."

"Zahra," my teeth chatter. "The name, I—."

I slip in the rain. The temple steps are slick from it. "Damn this storm!" Zahra screams. It happens quickly. In one blur of motion, she scoops me up into her strong arms and hefts me out of the temple area. Gold coins scatter in the basin at the statue of Ode Ngayoh's feet.

Perhaps it's the mystically-derived head wound, but I imagine her statue winks at me in a cheeky, congratulatory manner.

"I've got you, amira." Zahra holds me tight. Mud sucks at the soles of her feet, but still, she carries me tightly in her arms to the squadron of guards running towards us. A healer, anxious as can be, in tow. "I got you."

The name... I wonder at it, grasping at the threads of consciousness. Fever overtaking my body. Time travel must have had more of an impact on me than I first thought.

I have to get to Ingatan.

I have to...

***

Readers,

Arnina: Do you keep having to give me headaches when you deliver your dream-messages?

Kaliya: -scoff- darling, I AM a headache.

Ode: Like daughter, like mother.

-Sophia