Glimmer in the Maelstrom: Shadow Through Time 3 by Louise Cusack

of her T-shirt.
    ‘I am a sworn Champion to the throne,’ she heard him say warily, as though convincing himself to give up his vengeance. ‘My duty is to protect the descendants of the Ancients.’
    ‘And while I am in this weakened state I require your protection,’ she reminded him, untroubled by the admission. Her dependence on Kert was all that kept them together. She could hardly bemoan it.
    ‘How long must you rest?’ he asked, an edge of anger still in his voice.
    She shook her head, as though she was unsure. ‘Anchoring the Four Worlds has sapped my strength. Bringing you here was too great a strain.’ On heart, body and mind. ‘It could be days.’ In truth, she hoped to keep Kert with her for years, but that wasn’t news he would want to hear.
    ‘Lenid’s … death unsettled me,’ he admitted. ‘I am sorry to have offered you violence.’ This was not said graciously but Glimmer did not care. ‘Clearly your life must be safeguarded if the Four Worlds are to be joined and Mihale is to live.’ So he blamed her for Lenid’s death, yet would protect her out of duty to Mihale. It was a poor beginning for a relationship.
    He looked around. ‘Our histories of the Four Worlds speak of a Serpent of Death on Haddash, a fearsome beast that devours all who appear on his world.’
    Glimmer nodded and tried to focus away from her body and how Kert affected her. She must sound sensible to regain his respect. ‘Kraal cannot exist on the same world as descendants of the Ancients. While I am here he cannot come.’ She knew she should show an interest in their surroundings, but while Kert was with her she had eyes only for him.
    ‘What else may offer us violence here?’ Kert continued to scan the nearby area. She saw that his animosity was no longer directed at her but was now aimed outwards, at any threats to their safety. That gave her heart. Where the anger had been, she hoped to plant seeds of love.
    ‘I don’t know,’ she lied, thinking the idea of threat might keep them in the cave where close proximity could breed intimacy. In reality Haddash was harmless. The Fire God’s underlings had disappeared with his castle when Kraal had fled her presence. Only the Domedwellers with their fetish for technology remained, and they were a spent force.
    ‘Have you been to this world before?’ he asked her. ‘Is there food?’
    For the first time Glimmer noted a distant howling. Wind? The cave they had appeared in was evidently far from the exposed surface of Haddash. ‘I saw only the crumbling palace of the Serpent God, several domed cities and a great expanse of baked earth,’ she said. ‘There was little vegetation.’
    He looked back to her and frowned in irritation. ‘Do what you must to regain your strength. Later we will venture forth in search of food.’
    Glimmer nodded. He did not know the extent of her powers. That could be used to her advantage. After sleep she would be able to materialise edible moss in the next cave, together with a spring. Such meagre sustenance would not raise his suspicions, and convenient food would encourage him to stay in the caves. With no duties to perform he would be forced to keep his attention on her, watching her, talking to her. And if she pretended weakness long after her strength had returned, he would not be distracted by thoughts of returning to Ennae.
    ‘I will try to sleep.’ She lay back on the hard ground, her arm under her head for a pillow. Kert did not offer his cloak as bedding, and she did not ask. Her mind was trained, she could ignore discomfort. But she could not ignore Kert. Her eyes moved of their own volition, watching as he paced the cave, his long legs restless, the set of his shoulders tight. He stopped to inspect the wall, lifting a portion of the glowing fungus with his knife. He sniffed it, then dropped it to the ground and turned back to her.
    ‘Sleep,’ he ordered.
    She closed her eyes. It was not a Champion’s place to command