“No,” he said. “Please, do tell me, Eshara.”
“Apparently, no one has seen the body of the Emperor’s blessed son, the one he named Maha’s heir before his death,” Eshara said levelly. “No one has seen him alive, either, of course. But on the night Prince Akhtar and his closest confidantes were murdered, many people claim they saw a man fling himself from the palace walls, grow wings, andfly.” Eshara shook her head. “Those people babbled, of course, and though many believe the man was Prince Akhtar or Nasir or the dead Emperor himself ascending to the Gods, even more still claim that the Maha’s heir survived. They whisper that he must have used his Maha-touched power to save himself from death at the new Emperor’s bloodied hands. They say,The Maha’s heir lives, as gifted and Gods-graced as his great ancestor, and he will save us all.”
Zahir lowered his head and swore.
“I didn’t quite believe it,” Eshara said. “But here you are. Wings, Zahir?”
“They should have seen a woman and a man,” he said tersely. “How far have the rumors spread?”
“Oh, everywhere. I haven’t been back to the palace since—Reya’s death.” Eshara’s voice caught, just for a moment. “But you can’t find a shop or drinking house where people aren’t talking of the deaths of the princes and the survival of the Maha’s heir.”
Zahir swore again and pressed his knuckles to his forehead.
“Before we lament further,” said Aliye, cutting in from where she stood by the door, her arms folded, “have you decided what you will do, Zahir?”
Zahir shook his head. Aliye frowned.
“You told me you wish to go to Irinah.”
“Wished,” corrected Zahir. “Things are different now, Aunt. The Empire is greatly altered. Parviz is more likely to hack off my head than accept my counsel, Maha’s ash or no.”
“You know it is not only the Emperor who seeks to preserve the Empire, or has the means to do so.”
Zahir was silent for a moment. Then he said, “I promised you information. I’ve given you and your sister scholars my knowledge of the realm of ash. I offered no more than that.”
“I don’t ask for the Maha’s knowledge out of a desire to barter with you further. Giving us the Maha’s knowledge would be the right thing to do, Zahir.” Aliye’s voice was suddenly rich, impassioned. “We do not have armies and thrones, as your brother does, but we are not lacking in influence. We are everywhere, seeking and learning, holding the Empire as it crumbles. You do not know what we have already averted, through carefully chosen lies and truths, through the men we cultivate, through the light of knowledge alone.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t know.”
“If you hear nothing of the fall of Atara Fort, it is the work of a group of my sisters, who betrayed one soldier’s traitorous pillow talk to his commander. If youdohear of a fatherless man of low blood raised to commander or noble adviser, then you see our efforts to ensure the strongest in the Empire rise. And if the royal mortician tells his pretty mistress in confidence that Prince Akhtar was strangled to death, and she spreads the knowledge of it, so that Parviz may not sit easy on his stolen throne…” Aliye made an expansive gesture. “Small gestures can have great power.”
“The spread of the story of the Maha’s heir,” Arwa whispered. “You had a hand in it. Didn’t you?”
Aliye said nothing. But she nodded, eyes on Arwa, as if to say,You have the measure of me.
“Aliye,” Eshara said, in an aggrieved tone. “Tell me you haven’t.”
“You were not there when we conferred, Eshara,” Aliye said. “But the will of the Hidden Ones is united in this. We honor the Emperors who rule by right of the Maha’s blood. But Parviz is no true Emperor. He was not his father’s chosen heir. He has broken the imperial line of legitimacy, and worse still, he abhors everything we believe in.” Her voice lowered. “We know what became of Durevi, under his rule. We will not see the people of the Empire suffer as Durevi has for what he names heresy.”
“Spreading tales will only anger him, Aunt,” said Zahir.
“He may be angry, indeed,” she agreed. “But his court will remember that he strangled the fine, upstanding brother who should have ruled them. They will remember that the Maha’s heir has slipped beyond his reach. And when he gives his orders to seek out heretics and see them gutted, his court will hesitate. Perhaps they will even disobey.” She shrugged, one elegant lift of her shoulders. “Better for us all, that his throne rests upon such a bed of sand.”
Eshara muttered something unsavory under her breath. Then she said, “It paints a target on Zahir.”
“It does,” Aliye acknowledged. “But, Zahir, you need not be in danger. You can travel invisibly. There are plenty of pilgrims making their way to the Maha’s grave. A few more would not be noticed. Eshara has offered herself for the task, and I can provide your provisions. Coin, food, supplies.”
“That is all your Hidden Ones can offer?” Arwa asks.
Aliye and Eshara both turned looks upon her.
“Only coin, and no defense but a single guardswoman. It suggests,” said Arwa, chin raised, “that your power is limited.”
“Not limited,” Zahir said, an edge of bitterness to his voice. “Divided. Isn’t that so, Aunt?”
“Knowledge is complex, the path to truth shaped by the individual’s own nature,” Aliye said softly. “But we have one rule, for our sisters. One alone. The Hidden Ones remain secret. Secrecy keeps us alive. Bahar was wise to try to influence the Emperor and Empress to look kindly upon our vision of a better world, one shaped by more than circumstance of birth, but she revealed too much. She broke our trust. For her son to continue her work…” Aliye shook her head. “A traitor’s child, and a boy. Many of my scholar sisters will not be willing to provide resources to his work.”
“And others are willing,” Eshara said. “Like me. Obviously. Zahir, there are scholars enough that may not support you, but will accept the Maha’s knowledge. They’ll make use of it—build the better world you hope for, as we do—”
