Zeyar turned back to where he had Hasan pinned, eyes blazing. “You broke your promise. You said you’d stop acting out based on your personal moral code.”
“You did the exact same thing!” Hasan snapped his head forward, bashing his skull into Zeyar’s nose with a sickening crunch. Zeyar grunted, lifting his hands to protect his face instinctively, allowing Hasan to throw him off at last. Zeyar rolled down the remaining flight of stairs, forcing their ma to jump back.
“Hasan!” she said, her eyes flashing with a warning.
He didn’t heed it. He leaped down the flight before Zeyar could rise, grabbing him roughly by the collar. He shook him once, hard. “Tell me what he promised you.”
“I did it to bring Paranjay home,” Zeyar said, blood staining his teeth. “I did it for both of you. He’d have raided every holding of ours, razed every safe house, until he found Poppy. Even if we had the numbers to defend ourselves, we’re no match for his weaponry. We lostelevenmen at the museum. We lost Vinay?—”
“Don’t you fucking talk about Vinay,” Hasan said.
“You yourself almost died. I got him tostop!”
“You gotnothing.” Hasan shook Zeyar viciously. “You say you did this to bring Paranjay home? Well, where is he, then? Where is he?”
Zeyar closed his eyes. Then, finally, he said, “He’s in the city.”
“He’s still in jail?” Rohini covered her mouth.
“As part of the bargain, Montrose moved Paranjay to a third location and gave me the address and the key when we arrived in Sanivali. He didn’t trust me enough to bring Paranjay here until he knew it wasn’t an ambush.” Zeyar tossed Hasan a dirty look.
His words bothered Hasan, though it took him a minute to realize why. “Tell me what else you got from him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Partof the bargain,” he repeated. “You saidpart. What were the other parts?”
“I got immunity, for all of us.” Zeyar shoved him away. “We won’t be charged for Poppy’s kidnapping, so long as we don’t provoke the police further.”
“And that’s all?” he asked. When Zeyar hesitated, Hasan said, “Swear that that’s all he promised you. Swear it on our grandfather.”
Zeyar relented, running a hand over his hair. “His father, the marquess, has agreed to sponsor me as one of his picks in the House of Representatives.”
The revelation was like a kick to the teeth. Hasan’s shaking hands curled back into fists. “How could you?”
“I told you,” Zeyar said. “We can only protect ourselves if we have a voice in the system. Paranjay would never have been taken if we’d had someone to guard our interests.”
“Poppy could have been our voice!” Hasan exploded. “That was my wholepoint, but you refused. What makes you different from Poppy, Zeyar? What makes you think you can survive the machine that you profess will devour her?”
“Because, unlikeher, I’m not reaching for a position that I could never keep,” Zeyar said, pointing at himself. “I only play games I know I can win. The girl has bitten off more than she can chew. She isone womanvying for the top office in the colony. No one will support her.”
“I support her!” Hasan shouted. “I’d already told her we would back her, and then you went and ruined it.”
“That was a choice you made without me,” Zeyar said, “which is ironic, given that you’re upset that I made a choice without you. What makes us different, Hasan?”
He recoiled. “Because the personIchose to back doesn’t have a history of violence against us!”
“So, personal opinion.” Zeyar’s dark brow lifted, the twin to Hasan’s scar standing in stark relief. “Your personal opinion on the matter is what makes it okay for you to act on your own, whereas if I do the same, I’m the bad guy?”
Hasan’s head throbbed, though it had little to do with the wound on the back of his head. He couldn’t find the words to describewhywhat Zeyar had done was so wrong when it so closely resembled his own actions. He’d known supporting Poppy meant breaking his promise. He’d chosen to ask forgiveness over asking permission.
But in that moment, he found it hard to get down and beg forgiveness at the feet of the same man who had planted a knife in his back.
“You could have told me your plan. At least I was honest about where I stood on supporting Poppy.”
“And I was always honest aboutnotsupporting her,” Zeyar retorted. “I told you she was the weaker choice. You don’t listen, Hasan. Even if I’d told you what I was planning, you wouldn’t have listened. All you care about is what’s morally correct. You don’t understand how the world works.”
“It doesn’t matter what’s morally correct,” Rohini said. “You secured a political role for yourself before you secured your own brother’s freedom. What kind of man are you?”
