“SO?” HUDA WAS WAITING FOR her at the bottom of the staircase. “How’d it go?”
Alizeh kept walking, her eyes averted even as Huda chased after her. She felt shaken. Unwell. She wasn’t quite ready to speak, and she didn’t know what to do with her heart, which was battering her ribs so hard she thought they might bruise.
“Fine,” she said. “It went fine.”
“Fine? What do you – Heavens, look at your face,” Huda gasped. She stopped Alizeh in place, holding her at arm’s length for an inspection. “What did he do to you?”
“What?” Alizeh, who felt unreasonably vexed by this question, looked into Huda’s steady brown eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Did he try to hurt you?” Again, she gasped. “Was he horrible? Oh, I knew you shouldn’t have gone in there alone – I tried to tell you –”
“No, he didn’t try to hurt me,” she said, delivering the words with more heat than she intended, and regretting it the moment she saw the astonishment on Huda’s face.
“Forgive me,” she said. “I didn’t mean to direct that anger at you. It’s been a difficult day.” Huda softened at once, her eyes heavy with sympathy. “Of course, dear. I understand.” Alizeh had never been in such a bad mood.
She drew away from Huda, wrapping her arms around herself. She felt frustrated and confused; she wanted the world around her to make sense, and it didn’t. Cyrus was supposed to be evil. She wanted him to act evil. He wasn’t supposed to be kind and deferential and considerate. He was the character she was meant to kill without a crisis of conscience. She wasn’t supposed to lose her head. She wasn’t supposed to feel like this, like there was an open wound inside her, like she wanted to sit down and cry.
The feeling came dangerously close to grief.
She moved blindly down the hall, not knowing where she was headed. She didn’t want him to die. She didn’t want to perform a blood oath. She didn’t want to kill him. The library. Where was the library? Was it necessary for her to kill him? Yes, she considered, for if she didn’t kill him, she’d be married to a man bonded with Iblees, which meant she could never fully trust him; he might one day hurt her if only to please the devil – Cyrus himself had not denied such a possibility. Then again – Kamran had offered to marry her, hadn’t he? That was an interesting alternative, but then she’d have to be married, forever, to Kamran – which, while not so terrible a prospect, did make her feel a bit claustrophobic. Yet, if she married Kamran,
perhaps Cyrus might not die. Except no, that wasn’t right, because the devil would kill him anyway, wouldn’t he? And would Kamran still want to marry her without the jewel of Tulan in her possession?
She made a pitiful sound.
Where on earth was the library? She’d only seen it once, in passing, on her first day at the palace. She supposed she could ask a servant, but she didn’t want to draw attention to their evening plans. If only she could remember –
“Did you set a date, then?”
“A date?” Alizeh echoed, distracted. Huda was keeping up with her, the look of concern in her eyes growing only stronger.
“For the wedding.” Huda frowned. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Oh,” said Alizeh, blinking. “Yes, of course. Huda, do you know where the library is?”
“The library?” she repeated. “Head straight down the hall and make two rights, then a left, but wait –” She tugged gently at Alizeh’s arm, drawing her back. “What did he say? When will you marry?”
“In two days.”
“Two days?” Huda nearly cried. “Isn’t that terribly soon?”
Alizeh tensed. There were servants everywhere, by all appearances attending to their various tasks. When she’d worked as a snoda, it’d always been astonishing to Alizeh what people would say in her presence. They simply didn’t think of her as a person. They paid her as much attention as they did the wallpaper – and yet she was always, always listening.
“Gather the others,” she said quietly, “and meet me in the library as soon as possible. I have a great deal to tell you.”
Huda smiled brilliantly. “Excellent! Shall I ring for tea? Should I wake Omid? He went to bed, but I –” “No,” said Alizeh quickly. “It’s better that he’s asleep, I think. And no tea. No servants at all. It won’t be
that kind of an evening.”
“Whyever not?” Huda’s smile dimmed. “Are we not gathering to gossip?” “No,” said Alizeh, squeezing the young woman’s arm. “Not exactly.”
“Your Majesty,” came a familiar, agitated voice, and Alizeh spun around to see Hazan all but running toward her. He reached her in moments, taking a beat to study the sight of her before he said, “Are you all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she said, surprised by his concern. “Has something else happened?”
“I was informed that you went up to his quarters alone – I didn’t realize you’d be in a closed room when you spoke with him – I swear, if he laid a finger on you –”
Alizeh’s bad mood returned. “Why is everyone so concerned he’s going to hurt me? Prior to your arrival, I spent a great deal of time alone with Cyrus, and I never came to harm.”
“Respectfully, Your Majesty,” Hazan said with forced calm, “when we found you, you were unconscious, your throat had been cut, you’d suffered a head wound, and you were covered in blood.”
“Must we speak like this in front of the servants?” she said desperately.
He lowered his voice. “The Diviners said they found half-healed dragon bites along your leg and torso
–”
“And then you woke up,” Huda added in a dramatic whisper, “only to be shot in the back and tossed off
a cliff.”
“That was Kamran’s doing!” “What was my doing?”
Alizeh looked up to find Kamran approaching their group. He smiled at her with genuine pleasure, then caught sight of Huda and scowled.
“What are you doing here?” he said, turning his eyes to Hazan. “You were supposed to meet me in the parlor. Why are you all standing in the hall having a heated discussion?”
“How interesting that you should ask,” Huda said sweetly. “Alizeh was just reminiscing about the time you nearly killed her.”
Kamran’s expression only darkened. “I doubt that.”
“Indeed I was not,” Alizeh said, frowning at Huda. “Please don’t fight tonight. There’s too much ahead of us.”
“Ahead of us?” Hazan looked suddenly alert. “Did something happen?” “Yes, I –”
Kamran came to stand beside her, briefly touching her lower back in a move that felt almost possessive. She looked up at him, surprised. It was not that she felt uncomfortable, exactly; she cared for Kamran, and felt quite safe with him. It was more that she wanted to be clear that she did not, at this time, consider him anything more than a friend. She thought to say something, but couldn’t decide whether she’d be overreacting to so small a gesture, and resolved to ignore it. Her mind was full enough as it was.
“Hazan,” she said, trying again. “Could you lead us to the library? I’ll explain everything when we have some privacy –”
Just then she heard a scream; she turned toward the sound to find that a snoda had gone rigid at the sight of her, and when Alizeh looked upon the girl, she made a choking sound and collapsed in the middle of the hall. Alizeh panicked, remembering then that a handful of Jinn servants worked in the palace, and moved as if to go to her, but Hazan tugged her back.
“You can’t,” he said.
“Why not? She could’ve hurt herself –”
“We haven’t caught the assassin yet – I won’t take any risks with your life –” “She’s a servant –”
“It’s a convenient uniform,” he said, shooting her a knowing look. “But – Hazan, we can’t simply leave her there –”
A cluster of snodas rushed into the hall at the commotion, two more of whom spotted Alizeh and promptly screamed. One of them clapped a hand over her mouth, fighting back a sob, while the other struggled to speak, then fainted.
The remaining servants, who were ostensibly not Jinn, stood and stared at Alizeh in open-mouthed astonishment, their appraisals all the more unnerving for the fact that she couldn’t see their eyes.
Hazan shook his head. “I’m taking you away from here. You can’t wander these halls alone anymore.” Glancing at Huda and Kamran, he said, “You two, meet us in the library.” Then, “And try not to kill each other before you get there.”
“But, Hazan – wait – someone has to help the snodas –”
“I’ll do it,” came a familiar, saccharine voice. Alizeh turned, unnerved, to see Sarra striding toward their group at a leisurely pace.
Sarra shook her head, her eyes fixed on Alizeh as she said, “What a strange and fascinating surprise
you’ve turned out to be. Lately everywhere I turn there seems to be some drama, and you, my dear, at the center of it.”
Alizeh said nothing to this, only watched Sarra warily as the woman sashayed past them toward the fallen snodas, snapping her fingers for someone to fetch “that Ardunian apothecarist.” Alizeh still had no idea what to make of the woman, and she was afraid anything she said would be heavily scrutinized, for
they were in the presence of at least twenty servants at the moment, a dozen of whom had filed into the hall in the last seconds alone. The longer they stood here, the more of a spectacle they were becoming. Whispers were gathering around them like a storm.
“Let’s go,” Hazan said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Yes,” Alizeh said, distracted. “Yes, we should go. We’re going to be late.” “Late?” Kamran and Huda turned toward her at the same time.
Beside her, Hazan stiffened. “Late for what, Your Majesty
