“I want to hear it anyway.” I squinted at him. “I know you’ve practiced, so spit it out.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. "I would wish to gain the intrinsic, permanent, and uncorrupted ability to heal any injury, illness, poison, curse, or affliction in any living creature, including myself, by my own will and touch, without cost, consequence, or harm to myself, the recipient, or any other person, place, or object, and without diminishing the duration, quality, or natural span of their life. Such knowledge would be perfect, comprehensive, and unchanging knowledge of the human body, mind, and soul, as well as of all creatures natural and supernatural. Additionally, this knowledge would always be clear, accessible, and correct in my memory, without cost or madness.”
“That was a lot of words,” I told him with a smile, then tilted my head to the side. “So you’re going to all this effort of procuring a genie because you want to heal people?”
He turned his back to me and went to his desk. “I wouldn’t have spent years closeted in this study if I didn’t. Otherwise I would take beautiful women to fire carnivals and win their affection like Julian does.”
An unpleasant sensation lurched in my abdomen. “Zafir, about last night…”
“I don’t want to discuss it,” Zafir stated flatly. He sat at his desk, rigid at first, but then he softened. “I’m sorry. I know you were doing your part of the plan and I sabotaged you.”
I watched him scribbling away for some time. He had done so much for the plan, but it was becoming less and less likely to succeed, and if it failed, I didn’t know what else to do.
A knock came at the door and Zafir got up to answer it. I looked over his shoulder, wondering if Julian had come, but it was merely a messenger.
The messenger shot a nervous look at me, then lowered his voice to whisper with Zafir, keeping his hand up to his mouth and avoiding eye contact. Disjointed words like “suspicions” and “liability” floated over to me and my heart rate increased.
Zafir’s low voice answered the messenger, and they went back and forth for several minutes. I kept my ears strained to hear but wasn’t rewarded with any more tidbits.
It felt like a long time before the messenger finally left and Zafir closed the door, his brow knitted together in worry.
“What was that about?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
“Parliament received communication back from Brisden,” he answered tonelessly.
It felt like the bottom dropped out of my stomach. “So soon? It hasn’t been long.”
“It seems you aren’t the only one with a two-way mirror. There will be a meeting this evening with the tzar, some of the members of Parliament, and a few other officials. They’re trying to decide what to do, and they asked me to come give testimony.”
All of the air was vanishing from the room and my chest constricted. “So they know I’m not a duchess.”
“They have strong suspicions, yes.”
My jaw locked and I found it impossible to look at Zafir. Once my façade crumbled, Zafir would take the fall with me. I couldn’t let him risk his position. He’d worked too hard and for far too long to let it slip away. I was going to go to prison for the rest of my life. They would take away my mirror—my only link to my sister. I’d never escape.
“You know, the tzar’s wife, Azora, reminds me of you a little,” Zafir said. “She’ll be there tonight.” He went on to tell me about how she was part of the peace treaty that ended the war between Pyren and Termarth, but I stopped listening. How long did I have until guards here hunted me down, just as they were hunting down Nadia back in Brisden? If I was going to escape, it had to be now.
“Alia? Can you hear me?”
“I’m ready to take off the vow bond,” I told him quietly.
“What?”
I raised my hand tethered to the chain. “You can release me. I won’t stop you now.”
Zafir froze. The only movement was in his eyes, which darted back and forth between mine, as if waiting to catch one in a lie.
“What will you do if we take it off?”
“I’m not going to hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re planning to leave, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
He tensed. “Then no.”
“No…what?”
