A Dance of Dragons: Series Starter Bundle (3 page)

But she remembered cradling him in her arms
as a baby, the little spittle drooping from his lips while he
giggled, the time she taught him to blow kisses, the way he wrapped
his tiny fingers around her thumb.

Leena released the breath she had been
holding, watching the air bubbles float before her face and drift
higher, disappearing into the glare of the candlelit room up
above.

Water had always been her friend, there for
her even before Mikza. Her eternal escape. Her secret hideout. Some
might call it magic, but to Leena it was as natural as breathing,
sitting in those cool depths for hours without needing to fill her
lungs, knowing she would never drown no matter how long she stayed
below the surface. As a girl, she thought maybe her mother had
gifted her with the powers, letting the pool provide a warm embrace
since her nurturing arms had been stolen away.

Now, Leena did not know what to think.
Dreams of her mother seemed childish, but she had no other
explanation for the gift. She could not manipulate the water, could
not move it, or produce it from thin air. It was more like a close
friend. A place she could cry without fear of discovery. A place
she could dream and pretend she was somewhere else.

For tonight, a place she could remember an
innocent, beautiful little boy without facing the realities of her
world. It wasn't his fault, she tried to remind herself, not
really. Haydar was just becoming what he was groomed to be, what he
knew, what he was taught. But still, it cut her deeply.

A shadow fell overhead, interrupting her
thoughts and casting a dark circle through the water.

Leena looked up, smiling, as a memory
flashed before her eyes. Two and a half years ago, on the day of
her fifteenth birthday, the same thing had happened. Only then, it
was met with fear instead of excitement…

Leena knew it was time to get out of the
water. Her maid would be there any second to primp her for the
party—for her party. Fifteen. It didn't feel so old, not really,
but it was old enough for her father to take notice—to present her
to the men of the court.

She never talked to boys, never spoke with
them, and never showed any interest. She was happy in her solitude.
In her freedom. Leena did not want anything to change. It was too
fast.

Her hands shook, making bubbles in the pool,
a drift of fizz that floated to the top of the surface, a trail of
nerves.

She really should get out. But her limbs
felt too heavy to move, so she continued to sit and ruminate,
hidden from the world.

A sound made its way to her ear. A muffled
noise she could not make out, something very loud for it to travel
all the way down to her, breaking the silence.

Leena looked up and gasped, accidentally
swallowing water.

A shadow looked down on her, a person,
someone she could not recognize through the ripples.

Frozen. She was frozen in place. No one knew
her secret. Not even her sisters.

Suddenly white blinded her, a splash and
then a crash as a body hit the water, breaking it apart, sinking
closer.

Where could she run? There was no place to
hide—she was discovered. And now even this secret had been stolen
from her.

Time seemed to stop as the body swam closer,
as two brown eyes grew more distinct in the blue, a reassuring face
that seemed to tell her it would be okay. Leena did not struggle as
the man wrapped his arms around her waist, tugging, pulling her up
and up, until her head broke the surface and she took a long
gasping breath, shaky with fear.

Silence trapped her tongue and she did not
speak as he lifted her from the water, laid her gently down, and
cupped her cheek.

Words, but she was too distracted to listen.
It was not a man but a boy, a boy who had to be hardly older than
she, his olive skin tanned and his muscles firm as they held her.
She had never been so close to one before.

"Are you alright, Princess?" He repeated.
She didn’t know how many times he said it before she finally found
the courage to pay attention. And when she did, the entire
situation came barreling forward into realization. She jumped from
his embrace, stepping backward on unsteady feet.

"Who are you? How dare you manhandle a
princess of Ourthuro? I demand to know your name."

He stood abruptly, moving his hands into a
fist behind his back, squaring his shoulders and stepping his feet
perfectly together.

"I am Mikzahooq, your new personal guard
assigned by King Razzaq, my Princess."

"Oh," she exclaimed, surprised,
interested, trying to ignore the flutter of her heart as he said
the word
princess
. He was older than she had thought but
gentler than she expected a soldier to be. "Well, please do not
barge into my rooms unannounced again."

"I won't, my Princess." He paused, squinted
at her. "Only, may I ask what you were doing? When you did not
respond to my knocks I grew worried that you were hurt. I saw you
in the pool, and I feared, well, the worst, my Princess. I only ask
so I can better protect you."

"I…" Leena bit her lip, shuffling
uncomfortably on her feet. "I was swimming of course. I dropped a
ring and I needed to go find it." She held up her hand, defiantly
presenting him with the emerald band circling her finger.

"Of course, my Princess." He could not hide
the smirk on his lips, the knowledge that she was lying, but he did
not press. And Leena silently thanked him for that respect, a
respect very few ever graced her with—one not out of duty but out
of kindness.

"You may go," she said, covering her giggle
as he jumped into action, suddenly realizing that she was in her
undergarments and clearly safe from any harm.

Leena followed him to the door, shutting it
gently when he left and falling back against the metal, biting her
lip, thinking how fun fifteen might be.

Leena remembered that night so clearly—it
was the night her reputation as a flirt first began. Throughout the
ball she danced with every boy, remembering no faces because she
pictured each with the same features, Mikza's features, imagining
she danced with him, her accidental savior.

It had taken months for her to break down
his walls, to make him talk to her so openly again, but it had been
worth it. He was a man of duty and of honor, a soldier with rules
to follow, but love was strong enough to weaken those barriers.
Eventually, Leena had told him the truth about her magic, which was
why he had now learned to wait for her to rise from the waters on
her own.

With one shove of her feet, Leena pushed off
from the tile floor, swimming up through the blue until his face
became ever more clear. As he had done a hundred times before,
Mikza reached both of his palms below the surface, holding her
gently and pulling her from the water so she stood in his arms.

Staring into his deep brown eyes, glittered
by the candlelight, Leena finally felt relaxed. Mikza lifted a warm
palm to her cheek, using his thumb to brush away the water masking
her tears, concerned.

But Leena did not want to talk about her
brother. Not yet.

"Do you remember the first time we met? How
you tried to save me?"

Mikza grinned, nodding as he slipped his
hand to the back of her neck and ran his long fingers through her
dripping hair.

"I remember the seven other times you made
me save you, too, before you finally confessed your secret."

"What secret?" She teased, opening her
already large eyes even wider, feigning innocence.

"That you love having my arms wrapped around
you," he whispered.

"I don't think that was ever a secret."

Her hands drifted further up his chest until
they found his shoulders and pulled him slightly down, just enough
to meet her lips.

Immediately, her heart fluttered as though
airborne in her chest, lifting her closer to Mikza, making her arms
squeeze him tighter. His touch was soothing, comforting, but still
burned a slow fire in her belly—a heat she hoped time would never
take away. His kisses were the only thing she feared she might
drown in, so she clung to him.

Mikza's arms wrapped firmer around her
waist, lifting her to the ends of her toes. He was tall and lean,
but strong and perfectly fit to her body. They molded together like
water, with a fluid grace. As he moved, so did she.

When Mikza pulled his neck back, she tried
to follow, but Leena knew that move. He rested his forehead against
hers, breath unsteady in the small space between them, leaving an
unbearably long inch between their lips, and an even longer pause.
She waited for the words she knew would come, the ones she hated
for ruining their perfect slice of happiness, but also ones that
needed to be said.

"Leena…"

She dropped back down so that her heels came
to rest on the floor and stepped back, escaping for a few seconds
longer. Mikza watched, waited, but Leena kept moving, running.

Walking past her private pool, she stepped
into the night air, onto the balcony outside her bedroom. It was
cool, prickling her moist skin and bringing an instant chill to her
body. But the cityscape below provided the distraction she needed,
the one she searched for.

Da'astiku. The capital city of their island
kingdom, Ourthuro. The golden palace belonging to her father sat at
the top of the mountainous city, and each level below degraded
slowly down in class, from the glimmering silver coated plateau of
the nobles to the bronze plateau of the merchants, all the way down
through iron and rock until one reached the sea.

Many loved the beauty of Da'astiku during
the day, the way the sunlight bounced from metal roof to metal
roof, but Leena found those glares too harsh, too blinding. The
moonlight was more beautiful, it made the jagged rock look gentle,
the ferocious waters look calm. Even the roofs sparkled, not enough
to make her wince, just enough to glisten like diamonds, mirroring
the shimmering surface of the water.

Ourthuro was a hard place. The islands were
steep with cliffs, with edges that cut. The rock they lived on was
relentless, filled with metal ores that made their people rich in
coins and jewels but left room for little else. Their land could
not grow food, could not nurture plant life. The hunger and the
heat had made their citizens tough. But in the night, under a bed
of stars, Leena could sometimes forget that her home was an
unforgiving place. Under this silky sapphire, she thought maybe
there was room for love.

Mikza stepped beside her, dropping his arm
over her shoulder and pulling her in close. Heat billowed from his
skin, warming her, melting away the harsh exterior of an Ourthuri
princess until she was just a girl, hurt and lost. Leena relaxed
into his embrace, bringing her arms around his waist, using his
sturdiness as her strength.

"He is just a boy," she whispered.

"I know." His deep voice was soft and
soothing.

"I don't think I can do this anymore," she
said slowly, hardly believing herself. But it was the truth.

Mikza's heart paused. She felt the beat stop
in her ear, heard the shock in his chest. "Are you…?"

He drifted off, letting the breeze speak for
him. But Leena understood. They had spoken about this many times
before, always with her ending the conversation, saying she could
not abandon her little brother, could not leave him to this
fate.

But time had worked against her. He was
already beyond her reach.

"I want to leave." Leena arched her neck up,
resting her chin on his chest so she could see into his eyes.

"When?" He asked.

"As soon as possible. In little more than a
week, Fayrih will be wed and then my father will turn to me, his
next youngest daughter. We've both known for a while that my time
is running out. I'll be matched soon, and once that happens, there
will be no escape for us."

Mikza brought his hands to her cheeks,
cupping Leena's face. His deep brown eyes bored into hers. They
always grew darker when his passions were high. Now, they seemed
almost black.

"Are you sure you want this? A life on the
run?"

His gaze explored her face, searching for
the truth. Leena slipped her hands from his back, bringing them
over his, holding him, squeezing just slightly, emphasizing her
truth.

"I love you, Mikza. I could never want a
life that did not have you in it, and so we will run if that is the
only option we have."

"I will have nothing to offer you. I will be
disgraced. There will be no fancy clothes or luxurious baths or
servants to help us."

"I don't care," Leena urged. "The way we
feel is richer than this golden palace to me."

A war raged in his mind. Leena could see it.
His entire life was about saving hers—always a soldier, always
looking to protect her, always putting her needs before his own. In
a way, it made her love him more. But in another way, she worried
it was the one thing that would ruin them.

If he thought she would be happier married
to a noble lord, living in Da'astiku for the rest of her life,
raising a herd of children her father would turn cruel before her
eyes—if he really thought that fate would be better for her, he
would do it. He would sacrifice. But Leena would not let him decide
for her.

"Mikza," she sighed, "please trust me. If I
stay here any longer, I will die. Perhaps not my body, but my soul.
I can already feel it slipping away, hardening. That is what this
place does to people, that is what my father does. We must fight
it. I need you to help me fight."

He dipped his head, gently pressing his lips
against hers, holding onto the moment. This time, Leena was the one
who pulled back, who implored, who forced him to speak.

"My Princess," he sighed, lips lifting ever
so slightly. Leena's heart followed with them. "Such a handful.
Yes, let's do the impossible. Let's defy the king. Let's find our
sliver of forever."