Page 26 of A Filling of Fables and Firelight

“I just meant—” Rana began, trying to salvage the conversation.

“You meant how on earth could someone like me possibly be given the authority of a Sultan,” Kamaran finished for her, jumping up and shoving his hand through his hair as he paced. “Why would they put the crown on the head of someone so irresponsible and unqualified? Why would they trust the future of the empire in the hands of a man who couldn’t possibly appreciate what it takes to be a leader?”

Rana’s emotions rose at the accusations he was hurling, and she shot to her own feet, eager to defend herself. “I never said that!”

“You didn’t have to! Your story said all that I needed to know.”

“Well, maybe if you actually made it a priority to do things like attend meetings and, I don’t know, act like a Sultan, people wouldn’t wish for more.”

Kamaran rounded on her. “You think it’s a surprise to me that everyone thinks I’m a disappointment? My own father didn’t even think I was ready to be Sultan. But guess what? He’s not here.” His voice cracked, and he swallowed thickly before adding, “He’s not here, and I am, and unless some assassin gets lucky, I’m what Adhavi has—a pathetic lizard masquerading as a Sultan.”

“Then maybe you should do something about that,” she answered evenly, blinking away the angry tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes.

His responding laughter was humorless. “Right. I’ll go find some unsuspecting citizen and beg them to share a meal with me.” He turned on his heel and stalked toward the door.

“Kamaran…” she began weakly, holding out a hand as if she could somehow draw him back. He continued without answering, and her arm dropped limply to her side as his footsteps receded down the hall.

She sank back down to the divan. Regret and sorrow quickly took over the space in her body where the frustration and adrenaline of the moment had lived, and she dropped her head in her hands. Zade padded over, booping her leg with his tiny snout.

She sighed as she transferred her chin to one hand and reached the other down to run a finger through the soft fur on the top of Zade’s head. “Well. So much for a happily ever after to that story.”

Chapter Fourteen

RANA

There was something comforting about the marketplace in El-Huram—the colored canopies hanging over merchant stands, the vendors hawking their wares by shouting over one another, the milling crowd that was equal parts shopping and socializing. The morning air was still cool, though the cloudless sky promised that the sun would win before the noon hour.

“I’m glad you dragged me out here,” Rana said to Aida as they stopped in front of a fruit stand. She picked up a mango and held it to her nose, inhaling the fresh, sweet scent.

“You didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t about to let you spend another day in that palace moping around.” Aida selected a small bunch of bananas and exchanged money with the fruit seller before putting them in her basket.

Rana replaced the mango and looped her arm through Aida’s as they continued their slow, meandering walk. “I wasn’t moping.”

Jasper appeared on her other side with Spot following at his heels. “You were moping. Or we could call it sulking, if you like. Brooding? Languishing?”

She rolled her eyes. “Why are you even here? Don’t you have work to do?”

“Can I not spend time with my favorite sister and her friend?” He blinked at them with overexaggerated innocence.

“Not when it’s interrupting our peaceful morning.” Rana spotted one of her favorite cloth merchants and gently steered Aida in the direction of his stand.

“How am I interrupting? I’m providing helpful commentary on your emotional state—a subject that Aida brought up, not me.”

“I didn’t ask for your commentary, which makes it an interruption.”

“A wise man once said that sometimes the things we need most are the last things we ask for.”

Rana smiled sweetly. “And a wise woman once answered that little brothers who don’t want to find their pants hemmed two inches too high should mind their own business.”

“Is there anything you need while we’re here, Jas?” Aida inserted, steering their conversation to more peaceful ground.

“Nothing here.” His arms swung easily at his sides as he walked. “One of the palace gardeners has a question for Teta. There’s a rose bush in the gardens by the main fountain that suddenly died, and he wants to get her opinion on the best way to replace it.”

“Shouldn’t he already know that? He’s a gardener.”

“But she’s Teta.”

Rana conceded the point with a tilt of her head as they reached the cloth merchant’s stand. She released Aida’s arm to explore the fabrics with both hands.