Heart of Thieves (Fallen Empires #1)

Chapter 9.2

9.2
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The sound of what appeared to be a chair scraping against the polished marble floor could be heard clearly in the silence, dragging close to her whereabouts.

Waking up didn't come easily, it felt more like an emergency, as though sleeping had become a dangerous or strenuous thing. Although her heavy eyes managed to open, Yazia couldn't remember anything; her heart began to pound, mind empty. It was as if a hypodermic of adrenaline had emptied itself into her carotid. When a sudden brawl did not come, her body relaxed. Yazia closed her eyes and descended back into the satin sheets.

It felt like home again. For a few moments her body lay there, under the appearance that she was safe and back in Elyrik. Before the Abingorian guards attacked her, rotating her life around and forcing Yazia to seek vengeance. But everything seemed still, quiet. Was she in Zhannar?

Then it struck her. She remembered.

Yazia's eyes shot wide open, and the sun had been pouring an intense light into the room through the arched window; it stung her eyes the longer she kept them open and a quiet groan escaped her lips.

How is it that she'd found herself in this very situation once before? If the Seldarine were watching her now, Yazia grew conscious that she'd appear a fool to them; that she didn't deserve to be in Jannah. Had she been rebutted as an outcast to Sehanine Moonbow? If her value was degraded purely to almost dying each time she'd stepped closer to her goal, then Yazia's many circles of life practising her swordsmanship was not enough to get into Zhannar.

How she'd swept in with a thirst for blood, but overskipped the very fact that others may have come with the same initiative, except to target it at her. Yazia was so tied up in her own scheme, it's own vines cutting deep into her skin that she did not think to realise the flurry of her enemies' motives.

It began to haunt her how much she'd missed. Had the enemies from her past finally caught up?

Sudden pieces of memory flashed within her mind as though she'd just collected the last piece of the puzzle; it suddenly made sense, it all made sense. The look in Aeneas' eyes weren't only of unkind duty, but like spitting venom seeping through the cracks of an open wound--the wound Yazia refused to let heal inside her. He'd wanted to finish what the poisoner had started, or perhaps he had tried to poison her himself with the Silverine dosage. Her bones ached. Not only did she descend back into the sheets, she'd sunk straight back into reality.

But why?

Do they know that I'm--

"Oh, I'm very sorry...did I disturb you? I didn't mean to wake you, I..." The voice beside the bedside trailed off into a whisper.

Yazia didn't recognise it.

But her heart didn't pound or try to escape her ribcage. She wasn't afraid. The voice had a seemingly fleeting comfort to it. Yazia gazed across the room and met the eyes of the Jampurien. The woman's eyes rent with amber when the sun caught in them, highlighting her brown skin.

She dunked the cloth into what appeared to be a clay bowl with the inscription of words forming a ring around its outside. Yazia watched her then pull the fabric from the clean water with both hands and quietly wrung the water out of it, twisting the cloth tightly.

"W-who are you?" Yazia's voice cracked. Her throat once again felt like razor blades.

The Jampurien sat beside Yazia at a stool on the right side of the bed. Only to stay silent for a few moments, she furrowed her thick brows, eyeing her with a piercing gaze. The woman then brought the warm cloth to Yazia's cheek, and tended to the wound. Yazia flinched.