Dawn of Cobalt Shadows (Burning Empire Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best e ink reader for manga .txt) 📕

forcing his body not to get up and run. He couldn’t leave without a reason, even though he was sultan of these lands. Damned lungs wouldn’t inhale properly, leaving him almost gasping like a fish out of water.

Still your mind, he told himself. Imagining relaxation rising from his toes to his head, a wave of calm washed over him, and he wished it would help him through a few more hours of this hell.

Even that didn’t work.

Eyes wild, he stared out at the crowd of people and tried to find someone to look at that wasn’t judging him. Someone who was a kind soul, where the emotion radiated out of them and could ground him.

He paused, spine stiffening, when his gaze met another man’s who looked remarkably like him.

Dark eyes, dark hair, caramel skin and a hawkish nose that was almost too sharp for his face. There was a roundness to the other man’s features, perhaps puffier cheeks, that wasn’t from Nadir’s lineage. Yet, there was something familiar about the man.

The man looked toward a side door that lead into the throne room, one that was only used by servants as far as Nadir knew. Then, breaking eye contact, the man stepped away and disappeared through the door.

Did he want Nadir to follow him? That would be foolish. Far too many people wanted to see Nadir dead, and that included his first wife. This man could be an assassin for all he knew.

The thought made him pause. Assassin. Of course he was. This was the person whom Tahira had spoken of, the man the Alqatara sent.

He glanced at his advisors, still murmuring amongst each other, and decided in that moment it was worth the risk. Whether this man was an assassin sent to kill him, or an assassin sent to take his place, was a detail he couldn’t risk losing because he brought a few guards.

Gesturing to one of the few personal guards left around him, he said, “I’ll be back in a few moments. I need some water.”

“I can get that for you, Your Highness.”

“I’d rather stretch my legs. It’s been a long day.” He grinned. “And it’s only going to get longer, wouldn’t you agree?”

The guard seemed surprised for a moment, then nodded and hesitantly smiled back. Nadir missed Raheem. He would have jested back, treated Nadir like an equal, not like someone who was going to lash out and have him beheaded.

He stood, ignored the questioning call from Abdul, and made his way to the side door. The crowd of people watched as he moved. Nadir kept to the edges, making certain not to touch anyone or stare at them for too long. They’d expect something from the sultan if he gave them any attention. And right now, he wasn’t the Sultan of Bymere.

He was just a young man, panicking at the power which he held.

Slipping through the side door, darkness immediately blinded him. To go from such stunning sunlight filtered through his throne room into complete and utter darkness was disorienting to say the least. Worst of all, he knew there was someone in here who looked remarkably like him.

A match struck in the darkness, flaring briefly to illuminate the face of the man. Harsh shadows appeared, narrowing the wider cheeks.

He looked like Hakim, Nadir realized. So much like Hakim that it made his chest seize with the specter of his brother standing before him so clearly.

“Follow me,” the man said.

“Who are you?”

The man did not respond. Instead, he touched the match to a torch and strode down the long, narrow hallway.

Should Nadir follow him? His people would notice if the sultan was gone too long, and there wasn’t much time for him to chat with this stranger.

He plunged into the shadows after the man, following the dim light of the torch.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere they can’t hear us.”

Nadir looked around them, certain no one would follow him into these corridors. It appeared even servants hadn’t used it in ages. “I don’t think anyone can hear.”

“You’ve lived in this castle your entire life, and haven’t realized the palace has ears everywhere?” The man turned. The look in his eye was so similar to Hakim it made Nadir’s heart hurt. “I thought better of you, Sultan.”

“Do we know each other?”

The man shook his head, “Not yet.”

They paused next to a door, leading somewhere Nadir didn’t recognize. He hadn’t been in this part of the palace since he was a child. Even then, his brother hadn’t liked to take him into the servants’ quarters. It wasn’t proper for a sultan to be seen here among the folk that worked for them.

The man ducked his head as he entered, scanned the room, then dragged Nadir through by the arm.

When was the last time someone had touched him without asking? Sigrid certainly, his advisors only rarely, but Nadir was always asked to make sure he was comfortable. Did the man not understand he could have him killed immediately? All he had to do was yell and the guards would arrive.

Apparently, this visitor wasn’t worried about that in the slightest. He pulled so hard Nadir stumbled into the store room which was filled to the brim with what smelled like potatoes.

“What are you doing?” he snapped, pulling his clothes down where the man had wrinkled them.

“You’ll be fine.”

“I haven’t been handled like that—”

“Yes, I know. Likely never. I need you to stop talking now, Sultan of Bymere, and listen to me very carefully. The leader of the Alqatara has called you to her side. I don’t care if she’s your maternal mother. She didn’t raise you, and you aren’t the man she would have wanted you to become. With that aside, I am here to take your place.”

Nadir looked the man up and down. How dare he? The audacity of the man! “Explain why I should trust you in the slightest. I have no idea who you are.”

The man’s smile seemed a little too sarcastic for Nadir’s liking. “You’ll find