Alizeh hesitated.
She didn’t want to be locked into another uncomfortable conversation, but she did want to tell him about her decision to marry, and, given his general feelings about Cyrus, she didn’t know how he’d receive the news. Ultimately, Kamran’s opinion on the matter would not move her, but Alizeh was not cold to the fact that Cyrus had murdered his grandfather. She felt she should be the one to deliver him the news; she felt she owed him this much. All this she considered in a matter of seconds, and was preparing to answer when Huda made a choking sound, something like a terrible laugh.
Kamran turned to face her, scathing as he said, “Was my question funny to you?”
She shook her head in an exaggerated motion, eyes widening in fake innocence. “Not at all, Your Highness. Nothing about you is funny.You’re a very serious prince. Everything you say is of the utmost seriousness.”
“That’s interesting.” A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I didn’t realize you even knew what the wordseriousmeant.”
She gasped, then fell dramatically against the wall. “Oh, your words have wounded me! I’m bleeding!”
In a shockingly unrefined action, Kamran rolled his eyes, turning away from her as he muttered, “You’re insufferable.”
She drew away from the wall, then crossed her arms. “You’reinsufferable.”
“Miss, you really shouldn’t talk to him like that,” Omid whispered, tugging at her arm. “He’s going to be king of the largest empire on earth –”
“Yes,” she said, sounding bored. “I think we’ve all been reminded of that fact a million times.”
Kamran spun around angrily. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“What’s that? I can’t hear you,” she said, and cupped a hand to her ear. “Maybe if you got off your high horse I might be able to –”
He strode in Huda’s direction with lightning speed, looking as if he might tie her to a tree and leave her there. “You brazen, unmanageabledelinquent–”
“Delinquent?” she cried. She quickly backed away from him, her face bright with color. “What crimes have I committed? None! You, on the other hand, nearly killed the prophesied Jinn queen of the entire world and then expect her to go on a carriage ride with you –”
He stopped in place. “I apologized!”
“My condolences!” she shot back. “That must’ve been hard for you!”
“Heavens,” said Alizeh, who could no longer contain her laughter. “When did this tender relationship begin?”
Everyone, altogether, turned to look at her.
The spell broke. In fact, Kamran appeared startled by the sound of her voice, shaking himself free of the moment before putting the length of the entire courtyard between himself and Huda who, for her part, was staring at the door, looking almost embarrassed.
“It’s been this way since before we left Ardunia,” Hazan offered, his eyes glinting with humor. “Though in the last few weeks it’s grown a great deal worse.”
Huda opened her mouth to protest and Kamran shot her a withering look. She glared back.
“Yes, all right,” Alizeh said to Kamran, still smiling. “Let’s ride back together. Perhaps you can tell me more about all that’s happened in my absence.”
TWENTY-FIVE
ALIZEH NUDGED THE CARRIAGE CURTAINSopen an inch, hoping to glimpse the scenes out the window. She’d been assured it wasn’t a long drive back to the palace, and she’d missed so much in the last month that she was desperate to drink in the sights before they lost the sun. The day was steadily dipping into night, a hazy bloom of color casting the royal city in a surreal light, while a soft, brief rain had given it a liquid glow. Huda, she soon discovered, had not exaggerated.
Everything was covered in roses.
They’d grown nearly everywhere, pink blooms on roofs and doorways gleaming gold in the evening light; massive, blossoming vines reached up the sides of buildings, snaked along sidewalks, circled lampposts and trash bins, beautifying everything.
The more she saw, the more her heart hurt.
Cyrus had left a mark everywhere. Remnants of him lived in eternal bloom in the outside world and inside her veins. At the thought of him she experienced a relentless ache she didn’t understand, and it scared her.
There was a shout, then the sound of muted laughter, and Alizeh peered once more out the window. The streets were so thick with petals that children had stopped to jump in the drifts,tossing handfuls into the air while their parents apologized to those trying to shove past. Traffic was thick and slow, and Alizeh, whose life had been so recently ripped apart, marveled that the world could spin on as usual. There was something comforting in the sounds of hurried pedestrians; the whinny of horses; the angry shouts of carriage drivers blaming each other for the jam. She bumped along, watching, with a twinge in her heart, as groups of young people laughed with abandon. Men pulled their hats lower, frowning at the sky; children giggled and giggled, then screamed; shopkeepers locked their doors, squinted at the street, and set off for home.
Despite recent horrors, Alizeh smiled.
