Today's Reading
Guilt cut through her growing wooziness, but she could barely think through the thrumming in her mind. "So what if it isn't?" she snapped. "What if I told you that I'm furious at you for what you've done to Mikira and that you're being unreasonable?"
A line of tension descended through Damien like a steel rod. "I've told you before," he replied in a too-even tone. "Mikira and I are done."
"She's our friend," Ari countered.
"She ceased to be that the moment she betrayed me."
Reid joined them, his anguished look switching between them. "Can we just—"
Ari cut across him, her simmering frustration finally boiling over. "She didn't betray anything. It was a misunderstanding, and you refuse to see that!"
"People are listening," Reid said more forcefully.
Ari knew now was not the time to be addressing this, but she was more upset than she'd realized, and with every passing second that fury swelled. It coiled about her heart, squeezing until it was all she knew.
"Arielle?" Damien reached for her. She seized his hand, bending it backward hard enough to make him drop to his knees with a hiss. For an instant, she stared at him without recognition, trying to place his face, why the flash of pain in his expression worried her. Then she came back to herself like a lock snapping into place.
She ripped her hand away, falling to her knees alongside him. "I'm so sorry. I—I don't know what happened."
"Your eyes." He clutched his injured wrist. "They went white again." "No." Her fingers brushed her cheek. Her verillion—she'd nearly burned
through her entire store without realizing it, racking up hours of using her magic.
'Get out of my head', she hissed at the Heretic.
A beat of silence, and then the voice rumbled back, 'It is' our 'head now'. Ari pressed a hand to her mouth, her stomach threatening to upend.
Because as surely as the Heretic could read her emotions, Ari could sense the truth in the spirit's words. Day by day, their connection had grown, fueled by the magic she could not relinquish. It had become a part of her, as deeply woven as blood or bone. She couldn't just stop, and this wouldn't be the last time she lost control, the last time the Heretic stole her body from her.
"I'm sorry," she said again as she pulled Damien to his feet. "I'll fix this.
I promise. I—"
"Lady Kadar?" A servant stood in the doorway to Damien's suite. "I apologize for interrupting, but this girl was adamant that she speak to you."
"Who—" Ari cut off, the air evaporating from her lungs as someone stepped into the hall. Someone she'd thought she'd never see again.
Her sister was here.
CHAPTER 2
ARIELLE
"RIVKAH?" ARI BREATHED in disbelief.
Her sister's brown eyes, always a shade lighter than her own, were wide with alarm. Dirt stained her thinning clothes, her dark curls gathered in a messy side braid and her olive skin tanned from the sun.
Ari reached out a hand, her fingers hovering over her sister's cheek in fear that they would pass straight through. But then Rivkah was in her arms and there was no denying her realness. She'd gotten taller, her head nearly striking Ari's chin, but she was still thin and bony and smelled of the rugelach she consumed like air.
"You're alive." Rivkah's voice broke, and the sound of it nearly shattered Ari.
It had been nearly a year since she'd left Rivkah behind, terrified of her own power and racked with guilt over their Saba's death. A year since she'd seen her sister's face or heard her raucous laughter.
A thousand questions rose at once, but Ari gave herself another moment to simply hold her sister before she had to face them. By the time they pulled away, both their faces were wet with tears.
Damien took in the scene with sharp understanding. "We'll give you some privacy." He gestured at Reid, who followed him, though not without shooting Rivkah a suspicious look.
This excerpt is from the ebook edition.
Monday we begin the book HEIR by Sabaa Tahir.
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