“And you haven’t answered my question.”
“Alizeh did not wish for you to die” was his cold response.
At the reminder of Alizeh’s sacrifice for him, Cyrus experienced a painful cratering in his chest, and he grit his teeth against the feeling. “Excellent,” he said to Hazan, the word hollow. “That is your only reason?”
“Yes.”
“And you wouldn’t mourn the loss of me were I to unceremoniously drop dead at your feet?”
Hazan sent him a scornful look. “Certainly not.”
“Then you all have reason to rejoice.” Cyrus took an unsteady breath before addressing the room. “Fear not a union between myself and your queen. The underlying reason she’s deigned to consider my proposal is that, as incentive for accepting, I’ve offered her my kingdom.”
“That is not news,” Kamran said irritably. “By taking the throne, she would naturally have influence in the empire –”
“I mean to say,” Cyrus bit out, “that I’ve offered her my kingdomwithoutmy involvement. She would be the sole ruler.”
“What?” Sarra nearly screamed.
“What?” echoed the prince, who couldn’t hide his shock.
“Oh my goodness,” breathed Huda, blinking fast.
“But how?” asked the apothecarist. “You can’t simply recuse yourself.At best, you’d be cast out of society, stripped of your titles – at worst you could be tried for treason –”
“By the angels,” Hazan said softly, shock and awe burning in his eyes. “You’re willing to die for this.”
“Once my debt to the devil has been fulfilled,” Cyrus said flatly, “Alizeh would be free to kill me at her leisure. My empire would become hers, to rule over as she wishes.”
“So this is why she wanted you to live,” said the Jinn, subdued. “This is why she tried to save you.”
“Cyrus,” his mother gasped, looking at him with something like real feeling. “What are you thinking? You would simply hand over our empire to this girl? Have you well and truly lost your mind?”
“I still don’t understand,” said Hazan, his brows furrowing. “What would motivate you to act so recklessly –”
Cyrus turned away from this noise. He was most interested in the reaction of the prince, who regarded him now with steady silence.
“You cannot be trusted,” Kamran said finally. “What’s to stop you from reneging on such a deal as soon as your vows are spoken?”
“I offered to perform a blood oath.”
Everyone, except the child, inhaled sharply.
“Cyrus!” his mother cried once more. “You cannot be serious!”
“That sounds disgusting,” Omid muttered.
“It is,” said Hazan, who looked troubled. “Blood oaths were outlawed in Ardunia centuries ago.”
“Why?” asked the boy.
It was the prince who said, quietly, “It’s a violent, dangerous magic.”
“For as long as he remains in debt to her,” Hazan explained, his eyes on Cyrus, “he will be physically bound to her. He’ll have almost no free will. Blood oaths were responsible for long stretches of darkness throughout our history.” He hesitated. “They’re everlasting oaths. They cannot be broken.”
“Are you really so desperate?” Kamran was studying Cyrus, too, though he appeared unbothered by the cruel limitations of the blood oath. “You would hand over your birthright for a single night as her husband?”
“No,” said Cyrus. “Not a single night. She’d not be free to dispose of me until the devil releases me from my contract.”
