Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Author:Melissa Bashardoust [Bashardoust, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781250751713
Google: K32oDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1250751713
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Published: 2020-07-06T23:00:00+00:00
16
Soraya woke with a gasp. The last thing she remembered was moving up toward the stars and seeing Golvahar disappear below her. She remembered the beating of wings and the sharp points of claws digging into her skin. But these were all just memories. She was lying on something solid now—a bed?—and she was alone. Or at least she hoped she was alone. The light was dim, wherever she was.
Soraya sat up cautiously and squinted in the low light. When she touched the wall beside her for leverage, her hand met cool, uneven stone. What had the Shahmar said? That he couldn’t keep her in Golvahar, and so needed to take her elsewhere. She tried to keep her breathing even as she considered the possibilities—was she in a cave somewhere in the forest? Did he intend to keep her locked up here until he tired of her? She still wasn’t entirely convinced he didn’t plan to kill her.
She rose from the bed, and went toward the source of light. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was in a windowless room hewn out of rock. The light came from an iron candelabra set on a table, alongside a jug of water and a bowl of fruit. Everything in the room seemed cobbled together and slightly worn, from the rickety wooden bed frame to the chipped marble of the table to the moth-eaten rug beneath it. It seemed more like a mismatched collection than anything else, and it did nothing to alleviate the feeling that she had been buried alive.
But she let out a breath of relief when she saw a door set into the wall. The door, too, seemed misplaced—a rectangular wooden panel jammed into an arched opening—but more important, there was no keyhole beneath the handle. She wasn’t trapped, then … unless it was a different kind of trap. What would happen to her if she opened that door? What would be waiting for her on the other side?
Soraya went toward the door, and as she neared it, she noticed deep grooves made in the wood around the handle—the kind of grooves claws might make.
She was still staring at the door when the handle started to move and the door started to open. She braced herself for the sight of the Shahmar, that face from her nightmares.
But it wasn’t the Shahmar who stepped through the door. It was Azad. Soraya glanced at his hands, at his eyes, at his hair, but there was no sign of the monster she knew him to be. He was as beautiful as the day she’d first seen him.
He smiled when he saw her. “Good, you’re awake. Now we can—”
“No.” Her voice echoed slightly.
He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t pretend. Not anymore.” Her throat clenched painfully as she tried to hold back angry tears.
“I’m not pretending, Soraya.” He stepped forward and reached for her hands, thumbs tracing the line of her knuckles. Soraya wanted to pull away, but it was still
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