Maryam nodded. ‘I know. I… saw it.’
Neither of them moved.
‘I saw a lot of things I wish I had not.’ She practically whispered that part.
Aisha swallowed. ‘I trusted you.’
‘I know.’
An impulse gripped Aisha. Lunging forwards, she seized the attendant’s wrist and mentally reached for anything she could get. Maryam flinched, her mouth parting in shock. Then the world slipped sideways.
Aisha’s vision slammed her senses. Maryam stood before Zahvik, her shoulders hunched in defeat and tears pouring down her face. Zahvik appeared unmoved, fingers steepled like the villain he was. Maryam’s knees buckled, and she collapsed to the floor.
The vision shattered.
Aisha stumbled backwards as the corridor came rushing back around her. The cold stone and poor light. The weight of her own body. Maryam rushed forwards and caught her around the waist.
‘Come with me,’ she said.
Aisha pushed her off. ‘Let go of me.’ She then lost her balance because she hadn’t had enough time to recover.
Maryam caught her—again—and looked her straight in the eye. ‘You cannot let them see you like this. Not now.’
Aisha didn’t push her away this time.
Maryam led her to a nearby unoccupied room, ushering her inside and closing the door behind them. Aisha collapsed onto the floor, careful not to take her eyes off the attendant.
‘You have to be more careful than that,’ Maryam said. ‘You have some very difficult challenges ahead of you that require you to keep your cool and be smart. That was not smart.’
Panting, Aisha said, ‘Don’t stand there and pretend to be my friend.’
‘I am your friend.’ Maryam’s throat worked, and her eyes glistened. ‘But I am also a covenweaver trying to survive this world.’
With everything that was happening, all Aisha wanted to do was lie down and cry, but she needed to get to Tariq and protect her family. ‘I have to go to Tariq.’
‘Not like this. If they see you?—’
‘I’m not listening to you anymore. You drugged me. You drugged me, and I saw you with Zahvik. I…’ A sob rose up her throat, but she forced it down. ‘What is going on?’
Maryam’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Because he told me to.’
‘Who told you to?’
She blinked, and a tear escaped. ‘Zahvik.’
A loud ringing sounded in Aisha’s head. ‘What?’ She shook her head, rejecting the answer.
Maryam brushed tears off her face. ‘They have eyes everywhere. Everywhere. You had not even arrived in Gruisea yet, and they were at my family’s door.’
Aisha took a hurried breath.
‘He wanted insight into your intentions, your thoughts,’ Maryam said. ‘I was instructed to extract whatever information I could.’
Aisha stared at her in horror. ‘And you did it.’
‘I did what I had to and nothing more.’
Aisha covered her face with her hands, trying to steady her thoughts. ‘He knows you’re a covenweaver.’ Her hands fell away. ‘And he knows about me.’
