Rebel of the Sands

My knuckles skimmed over the edges of the sun tattooed over his heart. That was the last thing I noticed before I kissed him. His jaw tensed in surprise for a moment; his hand gripped my arm hard enough to hurt. And then his body was flush against mine, pushing me back against the wall of the train.I was a desert girl. I thought I knew heat.I was wrong

Tell me that and we’ll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that’s how you want your story to go and we’ll write it straight across the sand.

You know, I never believed in fate until I met you... then I started thinking coincidence didn't have near so cruel a sense of humor

I was born the same year as ten brothers and a dozen sisters. Being born doesn’t make a single soul important. But you were important when I met you, that girl who dressed as a boy, who taught herself to shoot true, who dreamed and saved and wanted so badly. That girl was someone who had made herself matter. She was someone I liked. What the hell has happened since you came here that she is so worthless to you? What’s happened that only my brother’s approval and some power you never needed before can make you important? That’s why I didn’t want to bring you into this revolution, Amani. Because I didn’t want to watch the Blue-Eyed Bandit get unmade by a prince without a kingdom.

The world makes things for each place. Fish for the sea, Rocs for the mountain skies, and girls with sun in their skin and perfect aim for a desert that doesn't let weakness live.

Haven't you ever wanted something so bad that it becomes more than a want? I need to get out of this town. I need it like I need to breathe.

She moved like a storm someone had given steel to.

Jin had told me once there was no arguing against belief. It was a foreign language to logic.

But if knowledge was power, then the unknown was the greatest weakness of immortal things.

Jin always smiled at me like we were both about to be in big trouble and he loved it. The prince smiled like he was forgiving you for it.

I was a desert girl. I thought I knew heat. I was wrong.

You're right." He cut me off. "I never understood this country. I never understood why he chose to leave everything else behind and stay for this. Not until I met you."I felt like he'd pushed me, like I was falling and I needed him to reel those words back in to keep me standing straight."You /are/ this country, Amani." He spoke more quietly now. "More alive than anything ought to be in this place. All fire and gunpowder, with one finger always on the trigger.

I don't mean to worry you and all," I said, trying to keep my voice calm, "but have you noticed that you've been shot?""Ah." Looking at him closer now, I could see he was clutching the counter to stay upright. "I'd almost forgotten about that.

Amani." My eyes flew open. Jin was standing in the gates to Fahali. His face cleared as he saw me, and he ran toward me, relief written all over him. "Thank God.""You don't believe in God," I said. It came out half a croak just as he closed the last of the space between us with a kiss.

And then came that grin. I may have traitor eyes, but Jin had the sort of smile that would turn over whole empires to the enemy-that made me feel like I suddenly understood him exactly, even though I knew nothing about him. The kind that made me feel like if I was on the right side of it, we could do anything together

It was damn hard to trust a boy with a smile like that. A smile that made me want to follow him straight to the places he’d told me about and made me sure I shouldn’t at the same time.

The truth is I had no idea what I was doing when it came to you, Amani. I tried to leave you in Dustwalk because I didn't want to drag you into my brother's war. I came back for you because I didn't want to see you die at the hands of my other brother. But either way, I was bound to wind up doing one or the other. Just depended on which one." His hand came up like he was going to reach for me but dropped to his side instead. "I was glad in Sazi when I saw you'd gone because it meant you'd escaped on your own path, and I was glad when you took the compass because it gave me a reason to go after you. And yes, I lied to keep you out of Izman because I was afraid someone would know what you were and you'd get snapped up and sold to the Sultan. And I steered you toward Dassama figuring there was a chance I might be able to deliver you to the sea and get you out of this country before it killed you.

She turned to Jin now, sprawled by the fire, his hat pulled over his eyes. “I can tell you’re awake. Are you coming with us?” He sighed, tipping his hat backward. “Yeah, yeah. Just trying to get some sleep before going to near certain death.

What else was I meant to do? Leave you to die?""You might've.""I wouldn't have.

Like I was about to say before getting interrupted, it's a modern age. I don't need a lot of muscle to pull a trigger.'...'Did you just shoot someone?''I got us hired, if that's what you're asking.

I wasn’t up to no good. Then again, I wasn’t exactly up to no bad neither.

I believe money and guns get you a lot further in a war than magic these days.

I'd near forgotten what it felt like to be a girl in Miraji. I was inconspicuous, but not the same way I'd been as a boy. Not because I was the same as everyone else. Because I didn't matter. Nobody in Miraji had ever thought enough of a girl to imagine I might be a spy.

The stories of Izman had belonged to my mother. But the world was a lot bigger than my mother ever told me. And it occurred to me once or twice that I could go anywhere in it.

These ideas could make men shout for rebellion even when it meant they would hang for it.

Hundreds of prayer cloths were tied around rocks and stakes all the way up the mountain, but God had failed here.

tomorrow the sun would rise on the first day of a new desert.

My aunt Safiyah might be blood, but Jin I knew. And I didn’t want to leave him. He made the world bigger. I wanted to go to the countries he’d been to. And more than anything I wanted him to ask me to go with him. But we were running out of time together.

We all knew the stories. Djinn who fell in love with worthy princesses and gave them all of their hearts’ wishes. Pretty girls who lured Nightmares straight onto men’s blades. Brave merchants’ daughters who caught Buraqi and rode them to the ends of the earth.They were drawn to us, but also vulnerable to us. We could turn them into flesh and blood.

I don't mean to worry you and all... but have you noticed you've been shot?''Ah... I'd almost forgotten about that.