Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri

Author:Tasha Suri
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2019-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

The both of them did the only thing they could, now that they had made the choice to face their fate. They entered the realm of ash.

Again, Arwa felt the tug of the realm—the yawning, breath-stealing deep of it—before the tea was drunk or the fire lit and blooded. The ash in her head loomed large. But she said nothing to Zahir, only followed the parameters of the ritual, and entered sleep.

They moved through the realm of ash, from Arwa’s storm to Zahir’s forest of great trees and shadows. They moved from forest to desert, over broken bodies, limbs smooth as stone. They moved farther than they ever had before. In the swirling storm, Arwa thought she saw her sister once more, a distant silhouette wreathed in shadow with a familiar braid flung over its shoulder. Brown, living skin. Head turning, as if to the sound of a voice. Arwa’s heart twisted with hurt, a terrible knot. She looked away.

She could not indulge her grief. Not now.

Abruptly, Zahir stopped.

“I cannot go farther,” he said.

“Can’t or won’t?” asked Arwa.

“Can’t.” He held his hand before him. Around the blood roots, his hand had faded; light poured through shattered facets of flesh that barely resembled the shape of fingers, of a wrist, of a palm. “This feels,” he said, “like an end.”

He stared into the distance.

Then: “Your blood, the fire built from the dust of Irinah—none of it is enough. We cannot do it.”

“Pull back with me,” she said softly. “Let the roots take you home.”

They returned to the waking world. Rose to their feet. Arwa grabbed the water carafe as Zahir rubbed his knuckles over his closed eyes, frowning and thoughtful.

When she offered him the water—after drinking some herself—he said, “We need to go to Irinah. Nothing else will work. Nothing else will be swift enough for our need.”

“And you think,” Arwa said, all even disbelief, “that anyone is going to allow you or me to visit Irinah? To leave the palace, after what the Emperor said of you?”

“I can ask Jihan,” he said.

“She has no more power than she did before, my lord.”

“She is now the head of the household of the Emperor’s heir,” Zahir replied. “And there is no other way to reach the Maha’s ash. I can only ask. And hope.”

He did not sound convinced. Arwa was not either.

“I will talk to her,” he said. “Don’t worry, Lady Arwa.”

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