“Both. The other rockfalls you’ve been reading about—perhaps they were distractions. Decoys to divert our attention from their true aim.” Hazan shook his head. “Perhaps Cyrus was deluded enough to think he’d be recognized as the true sovereign of the land, that Arya would open its arms to him. But if he’s spent months searching the mountains with no success, it follows that he’d then seek out someone who might be able to possess it—and if the stories are true, there’s only one person alive for whom the Arya mountains will give up its secrets.”
“The lost queen of Arya,” Kamran whispered.
Hazan stilled. “Where did you hear that?”
“She told me,” Kamran said, remembering. “She said her name was Alizeh of Saam, daughter of Siavosh and Kiana. That I might know her better as the lost queen of Arya.”
Hazan took a step closer, studying Kamran now with a renewed focus. “Why would she tell you that?”
“Because I asked her. I’d wanted to know her name.”
“Was this when you went to Baz House? When you were meant to search her rooms—and claimed you’d found them empty?”
Kamran, who was perturbed by the look on Hazan’s face, considered lying but didn’t see the point. “Yes,” he said.
“Angels above,” Hazan said quietly, horror awakening in his eyes. “You kissed her, didn’t you?”
Kamran felt uneasy now. “Why does that matter?”
Hazan turned sharply away, pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. “How can you not understand?” he all but exploded as he spun around. “She is the hope of an entire civilization—she is not some girl to be trifled with, to pass the hours on a dull day—”
“You misunderstand me,” Kamran said sharply, “if you think I ever—”
“I should call you out right now, you arrogant bastard, for treating her so poorly—that you’d ever dally with her and discard her—”
“I didnotdally with her—”
“You speak of killing her!”
“I would’ve married her,” Kamran cried.
Hazan stiffened at that, his features frozen in a strange shock. “You lie.”
Kamran laughed, laughed like he’d lost all reason. “I only wish I were. I wish I felt nothing for her. I wish I could rip this useless organ out of my chest for all the trouble it’s caused me. I was so deluded—so disgustingly besotted—I even named her as a possible bride to my grandfather. I had the gall to propose as my queen the young womanprophesied to be his downfall, and he nearly chopped off my head in response.
“I’d asked her to give me hope, Hazan. I asked her to wait for me. It wasshewho didn’t want me, who didn’t want to be with me. I never trifled with her. If she’d given me even a little encouragement I would’ve laid down my life for her—happily, I would’ve made her my queen, I—”
“Wait.”
“No— You accuse me without evidence—”
“I saidwait,” Hazan cried angrily.
“What on earth for?” Kamran shouted back.
“Just—shut up a moment.” Hazan swiped the book from the table, scanning the inscription on the back once again. When he looked up, he appeared confused. “Maybe,” he said, his frown deepening, “maybe youaresupposed to marry her.”
“What?” Kamran blinked; his anger vanished; his heart wrenched in his chest. “What do you mean?”
“Braid the thrones, it says.” Hazan studied the book again, touching his fingers to the embossed letters. “This is a clear message to the chosen sovereign. The last Jinn kingdom existed a millennia ago, and the empire comprised only Jinn; it was a purely homogeneous contingent for a number of reasons, namely in the interest of our safety. But here”—he tapped the book—“this message is both evident and unprecedented. She’s not meant to lead the Jinn in an isolated empire—she’s meant to braid us all together.In this woven kingdom, clay and fire shall be.”
“That may well be true,” Kamran said, still struggling to calm his racing pulse, to quash the hope blossoming inside him. “But you’re thinking of the wrong thrones. You forget that she is betrothed to the Tulanian king.”
Hazan pushed a hand through his hair. “I cannot accept that,” he said, frustrated. “You’ve leveled accusations against her that do not withstand reason. She would never betray her people. She would never accept assistance from Iblees. And she wouldneveragree to marry Cyrus.”
“You don’t actually know her, Hazan,” Kamran saidquietly. “You only know who you want her to be.”
Hazan swallowed. “Well, then,” he said. “There’s only one way to have our questions answered.”
