Alizeh clapped a hand over her mouth.
Only then did she realize where she’d left her carpet bag.
Nine
MISS HUDA WAS WAITING FORhim inside the morning room, unmistakable and severely out of place, clothed in an ensemble so hideous that even Kamran, who did not know the difference between a ruffle and a petticoat, could not help but condemn.
The situation was dire, indeed: she was a broad young woman, the sharp slashes of her chin and cheekbones hinting at a regal bone structure one could only imagine was repeated in the lines of a figure presently swathed in the skin of a deflated sun. She wore yellow from ruff to hem, the billowing folds of her gown inhaling her, occasionally pinching in places he took care not to study. Aside from the tragedy of her costume, the miss looked well enough despite being visibly nervous, her eyes darting around and unable to settle. Kamran watched her a moment from the doorway, noting, with a start, the bulging carpet bag at her feet, the sight of which sent a bolt of feeling through his chest.
Quietly, he cleared his throat.
Miss Huda sprang up at once, curtsying with a grace that contradicted the inelegance of her dress. “Your Highness,” she breathed, her eyes pinned to the floor. “You must know how grateful I am that you made time to see me this morning. I know we’ve never been formally introduced, but afterthe events of last night I felt I must breach propriety in the hopes of pressing into your arms an item of great— That is, not that I would ever press it directly into your arms, I’d never dream of taking such liberties, I only meant that I wished to deliver you— I wished—Oh—”
Kamran had by then already crossed the room and retrieved the carpet bag from the floor. Only when he stepped back did Miss Huda finally look up, after which she gaped at him, her mouth hanging open like a codfish.
“Your face,” she gasped.
“Thank you for the bag. You may go.”
“But what happened to your face?” she insisted, astonishing him with her rudeness. “Was it that terrible king? Did he do this to y—”
“Miss Huda,” he said, jaw tensing, “if you would please—”
“Oh but never fear, sire, you are still quite desperately handsome,” she assured him in a breathless rush, her hands fluttering about her waist. “I didn’t mean to imply you’d lost your appeal, only that you’ve a much more tragic look about you now, something some might even considermoreattractive—depending, of course, on their individual tastes, but then I—”
“Miss Huda.”
Like a tractable child’s toy, she suddenly snapped shut.
Her mouth closed, her hands clasped, her heels clicked together. She straightened as best she could in that travesty of a yellow gown, and pinned him with a look of intense mortification.
“Yes, Your Highness?” she whispered.
“Unless there is anything else of note you wish to impart about the young woman to whom this bag belongs”—he nodded to the small luggage he still held—“I’m afraid I must be on my way.”
“Anything,” she said nervously. “I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know. I’ve already looked through the bag, sire, and while I wasn’t able to discern anything of great significance, I did find a few medicinal salves stamped with the seal of the local apothecarist, who I thought might prove a worthy lead should you choose to pursue an investigation—”
“I already know about the apothecarist,” Kamran said curtly.
“Right.” Miss Huda took a sharp breath. “Well. I suppose all that remains is to ask whether you might return me my gown, which I can’t imagine is of any relevance to your interests, but which I was hesitant to remove from the luggage for fear of tampering with what might be considered a body of evidence—”
“Return you yourgown?” Kamran cut her off, dropping the bag to the floor before pinching his nose between thumb and forefinger. First she had the audacity to give him investigative advice, and now she had the nerve to ask him for clothes? Lord, but this woman was giving him a terrible headache. “Are you feeling ill, Miss Huda? What business might I have with your wardrobe?”
She went slack a moment, still as a pillar of salt before she laughed in a sudden, terrible burst, clutching a hand to her chest as she assured him, with not a small bit of hysteria, that she did not think he would have any business with herwardrobe, that she was only referring to the unfinished garment still stuffed into the carpet bag, and “which I’d dearly love to have returned, sire, for the gown is still pinned quite neatly in all the right places, and I think I might be able to convince my maid to finish the job Alizeh had started—”
Kamran flinched.
Her name struck him like a stone when she spoke it, filling his head with the sound of wind and birdsong and a sharp, blistering pain that forced him to turn away. He pressed the heel of his hand against a sudden spasm in his neck, along the fissures snaking up his skin, trying in vain to understand what the devil was happening to him.
“Forgive me, sire,” said Miss Huda, misinterpreting his abrupt motion. “I didn’t mean—”
“I don’t understand a word you’re saying,” he managed to get out, turning once again to face her. “She was a servant, not a seamstress, and you indicated toThe Daftarthat you’d only met her shortly before the ball, so it doesn’t follow that she’d even have time to alter a gown for you, and never mind the fact that she’d have no reason to do such a thing.”
“I see,” she said, surprise widening her eyes. “So you’ve already read the article.”
Kamran scowled in response.
“I am grateful,” she said carefully, “to understand now why you’re so reluctant to speak with me, though I fear you’ve formed a terrible impression of my character, and I must now assure you, sire, that I spoke toThe Daftaronly briefly, sharing only a small part of what I know, and only because I was accosted by a journalist not long after that odious kingreleased me from his fire. I was feeling vulnerable and was caught quite off guard, you see, but I swear to you I told them but a fraction of the truth, for even if you will not accept that I acted on principle, you might believe that I’d withheld the whole story in the pursuit of protecting my own interests—for the truth would’ve landed me in a great deal of trouble with my parents, sire, so I could not have risked the lot of it being printed in a paper for all to read.”
