“But how did she know I’d require a safe house?”
Hazan looked suddenly troubled. “I don’t know. As I said, your mother is a strange woman. She didn’t seem at all surprised to discover me alive; did not ask whether you’d survived the dagger she’d generously planted in your shoulder; did not seem disturbed by the death of your grandfather; and asked me only whether we’d made plans to go to Tulan. When I said yes, she demanded I spare her the details.”
Kamran turned away, dragging a hand down his face as an icy breeze sent a shiver through his body. Dawn had not yet broken, but the dark was lifting like a stubborn stain. Blue and gray smeared at the horizon, the promise of golden light just beyond, and the prince drew a deep breath, relishing the mist as he tried to make sense of these revelations.
Hazan hesitated before adding: “She also asked me whether the devil had yet paid you a visit.”
Kamran turned back, every muscle in his body tensing. “The devil?”
“I told her I had no idea, as we’d not discussed it.”
The prince shook his head. He’d always had the good sense to be repulsed by the devil, but after witnessing the fallout of his grandfather’s terrible bargain with Iblees, the very idea of meeting with such a creature revolted him to his core. “What reason would he have to pay me a visit? I’ve not yet been crowned king.”
“I don’t know,” said Hazan, a furrow forming between his brows. “She did not expound on the matter. She only instructed me to tell you that she’ll be waiting for us upon our return, that she has the situation in the countryside well in hand,and that I should direct any militia in her direction, to be managed under her care.” Hazan hesitated. “She also sent you this.”
Hazan reached into his coat pocket and retrieved a pale pink envelope, which he handed to the prince, who received this strange gift in a bit of a daze. He turned over the delicate paper in his hands, noticing that the flap of the envelope was open. Unsealed.
Kamran glanced up at his friend. “You’ve read it?”
Hazan exhaled, looking grim. “I suppose I should forewarn you,” he said. “It’s not a letter.”
FIVE
ALIZEH TRAVELED CAUTIOUSLY, TAKING CAREnot to tread on the overlong hem of her robe as she moved. Her extremities had deadened with cold; she’d finally admitted defeat and begun the trek back to the palace. The stars withdrew as a new day threatened, black skies now feathered with gray. Despite this promise of light, the journey seemed more menacing now that she traveled alone, and it was odd to think she’d felt safer with Cyrus about. Nevertheless, there had been no point in waiting for him to reappear; he was too wise, she’d realized, to retrace his steps upon returning home, and she’d refused to waste another minute waiting for him.
In fact, the whole business had left her feeling angry and foolish.
It had been hard to accept that her efforts to track Cyrus had come to naught; but it had been a grave error, too, thinking she could crack the enigma that was the king of Tulan, for he possessed advantages Alizeh was unable to match. She’d followed him and he’dvanished. His use of magic, she’d felt, was deeply unfair.
With a sigh she strode on, absently smoothing her hands down her cloak as she went, brushing away lingering salt from her garment. Her palms prickled, and she shook them,slightly, before pulling the heavy hood forward, hiding her face as much as was practical. She advanced in the direction of the castle, its magnificent spires beckoning in the moonlight, and wondered what more awaited her here, in this foreign land.
Both the king and his country perplexed her.
Tulan was a much smaller empire than Ardunia, yet its geography still managed to impress. Alizeh didn’t know whether it was the abundance of magic in this region that made it so, but Tulan appeared home to various microclimates and geographical variations. From the middle of the salt flat she could count the teeth of a distant mountain range, savor the scents of night blooms, hear the muted hush of waterfalls, shrink from the eerie calls of jackals. With its dynamic landscape and elevation changes, Alizeh was beginning to see how rare such a piece of land might be, situated as it was along the Mashti River – and parallel to the sea.
It was no wonder to her that Ardunia desired to possess it.
Still, she struggled to understand how an empire as powerful as Ardunia had been unable to overtake the humble nation. No doubt many had tried and failed to conquer this fertile piece of land. Tulan seemed a place both accessible and unfathomable; diminutive yet vast. It was the kind of contradiction she often felt repeated in herself: that she was both useless and powerful; unimportant and essential.
If only she might learn how to reconcile all these feelings.
Then again, her life had changed so dramatically in so short a time that it was easy to imagine why she felt emotionally uncertain; indeed, if she agreed to Cyrus’s offer for the Tulanian throne,she might never return to Ardunia. Already she’d accepted that she’d never again see Kamran, whose own life had recently been eviscerated – and she stopped, suddenly, nearly tripping over her cloak at the thought of him. She wondered how he was managing in the wake of so much ruin. She wondered whether he would one day look back upon the days during which their lives had so serendipitously intersected, and she wondered how – or whether – he might remember her.
With her whole heart, she wished him well. Wished him peace, wherever he was. She’d always be grateful for his kindness. For trulyseeingher when no one else had.
Alizeh shivered, curling inward as an icy wind blustered against her back. Her heart had grown heavy under the weight of her thoughts, making her body harder to carry. Never again would she see her trio of unlikely friends. Never again would she see Hazan, who was doubtless buried in an unmarked grave. Her breath caught at this last thought, her chest constricting as she felt acutely the pain of loss, of loneliness.
And yet – somehow – she was no longer alone.
Hours ago she’d addressed a crowd of thousands as their queen.
Even so, between her shocking scene with the southern king and her subsequent performance before a surging mass of Jinn, Alizeh had begun to worry that, upon her return to the palace, she might discover herself the center of extraordinary scandal. She didn’t relish the idea of becoming fodder for gossip. Moreover, she had no interest in dealing with Sarra – whose recent insistence that she murder Cyrus remained an unresolved issue.Heavens, but the woman was peculiar.
With a final sigh, Alizeh summoned the last of her strength to propel herself, with preternatural speed, back to the castle. She all but flew as she ran, her murky surroundings bleeding together, and soon enough she was back on the palace grounds, gasping for air as the deafening roar of water inundated all with its clamor.
She took a moment, easing her shaking body against the trunk of a towering tree. It had been a hellish few weeks, and she wasn’t sure she could go on like this, at this breakneck pace. She desperately desired sleep, but she needed a minute more before she embarked upon the final, impossible task of finding her rooms in the mountainous castle.
She clenched her teeth against the icy gusts of air lifting off the waterfalls, absently patting down the countless folds of her cloak in search of pockets. She’d thus far been curling her fists in the extra length of her sleeves, but the bitter chill was proving unconquerable, and it was with great relief that she shoved her frozen hands into the fleece-lined pockets, clenching and unclenching her fists to warm them. It was then that she felt something like a shock – an electric heat sparking painfully against her fingertips.
