Empire of Lies

70

While Kamal had used the long ride to the camp to run various scenarios of what might happen once they were facing Rasheed, Nisreen had used the time differently.

She’d spent it sneaking furtive glances at her forearm, plugging in the right wording for ten days and committing it to memory as much as possible.

She knew she wouldn’t have more than a few seconds to act. On pure instinct and throwing caution to the wind, she decided to use it.

Ten days in the past.

Her lips mouthing the words as fast as they could.

The last things she saw were Rasheed, still riveted in place, stunned by Taymoor’s move—and Kamal’s eyes, wide with shock as he realized what she was doing.

Then the familiar rush, the same sensation of cataclysmic tearing apart and searing reassembly that she’d experienced before, and she was in the tent, in the same spot, naked, frozen with terror—and alone.

Rasheed wasn’t there.

Her mind raced to decide what to do and quickly settled on the only thing she could do.

Save Kamal.

Hoping he was still alive

Hoping the man he was fighting was too stupefied by her disappearance to react, hoping she might have bought Kamal a crucial few seconds that could make the difference between life and death.

She took a few quick steps across the tent, to where she’d last seen Rasheed standing, then positioned herself a couple of steps behind it and did the one thing she thought they wouldn’t expect.

She hadn’t just memorized the version for traveling into the past. She’d also memorized the variant she’d come up with, the one Rasheed had now confirmed she’d got right, the one that would allow travel into the future.

The same future she’d just come from, only a few seconds later.

Which was right now.

She raced through the words, the fierce jolt ripping her apart again, and she was back.

In the tent.

Still naked.

With a fusillade of images scoring direct hits in her frazzled brain.

Taymoor’s face crunching with pain as his opponent’s blade cut into his side.

Kolschitzky, locked in a ferocious tussle with his guard.

Kamal, on the ground, looking dazed, edging back from the janissary who held his blade up and clearly had the upper hand but seemed momentarily stunned and frozen in place by Nisreen’s disappearance.

And Rasheed.

Not where she last saw him, not where she expected him to be.

Instead, he had his saber out and was also circling Kamal, looming over him.

Going in for the kill.

“No,” she screamed.

All heads turned—and for the briefest of moments, the inside of the tent just froze in place, a still-life study in unbound ferocity.

It was just long enough to buy Kamal a reprieve.

Kamal heard the scream before he saw Nisreen.

She was blocked out by Rasheed, who spun around when he heard it, as did the soldier.

Besides grabbing their attention, her scream did something else. It sent a blast of adrenaline through Kamal, one that was potent enough to cut through the daze, obliterate the pain from the pounding he’d just suffered, and set his battered senses on fire.

But it was all happening too quickly.

He sprang up and launched himself at his stunned and distracted opponent, just as Rasheed began moving toward Nisreen.

His limbs jumped into overdrive, along with his fear.

He caught the guard by surprise with a savage blow to the ear and followed with a knee to the man’s groin that sent him crashing to the carpet. Kamal’s eyes were locked on the yataghan’s blade, but they still registered Nisreen edging backward, deeper into the darker recesses of the tent, with Rasheed rushing toward her.

Everything became a rush of frenzied imagery, a nightmare unfolding at lightning speed.

Wrenching the dagger out of the fallen eunuch’s grip and slitting his throat in the same move.

The jarred image of Rasheed skulking deeper into the tent, his bulk blocking Nisreen from view.

Hurdling over the fallen guard and charging toward Rasheed.

Rasheed’s arm swinging back and lunging as his back rushed closer into view.

Hearing Nisreen’s high-pitched, pained grunt just as he reached Rasheed and tackled him.

Driving his big blade deep into Rasheed’s side.

Hearing him roar with agony as he twisted it upward ferociously before shoving him off Nisreen.

Nisreen staring at him, her face twisted with shock and pain, her hands clutching her belly.

The blood seeping through her fingers.

The look of terror in her eyes as her legs gave way and she tumbled to the ground.