Page 30 of A Filling of Fables and Firelight

“Never mind.” Kamaran waved the topic away. “Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Zamar was suddenly back to business. “Two things, actually. Before we get to that.” He nodded toward the papers. “There is an update on the young man who stabbed you.”

“Oh?” He looked up in interest. “Was Captain Haddad able to get any further information?”

“Unfortunately not. Shortly after he was apprehended, the boy experienced an episode of some kind and collapsed. He’s alive but unresponsive, and, given his sad physical state, the surgeon is doubtful that he will recover.”

Kamaran nodded slowly. “I see.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Jasper blurted. His face had turned a bright shade of red that was all the more noticeable due to his pale skin. “I should have sent Spot after him when we first saw him running, but, well, all I could think of was that I’d been in his shoes before, and what if he wasn’t actually guilty? But if I had just listened to Rana, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” He hung his head.

Kamaran and Zamar exchanged glances. From what he knew of the page’s history, Jasper had once been a street urchin framed for theft by a scheming treasure hunter. It made sense that he would have hesitated to act, given the situation. “You’re not responsible,” he said kindly, doing his best to channel the reassuring tone and smile that he had received so often from his father. “What’s done is done, and we have you to thank for catching the boy in the first place.”

Jasper nodded silently, his eyes still glued to the floor.

Zamar continued. “Even so, it seems rather unlikely that a child his age would have had the ability and foresight to carry out an assassination attempt. It was not widely known that you would be in the marketplace that day, which means it was likely either a crime of opportunity or else an unfortunate accident.”

“Ideally the latter. I’d like to think, for the sake of my ego, that I’m not quite so unpopular as to have adolescents jumping up to kill me at the spur of the moment.”

“I think your ego is safe. If nothing else, the people are quite invested in the outcome of the Queen’s Contest, which brings me to my next topic—your wedding.”

Kamaran nearly dropped the papers. “Isn’t it a little soon for that?”

“Not at all. The end of the contest is in just two weeks.”

“Right, but there’s nothing that says a wedding has to happen immediately.” His pulse spiked, and he felt the rush of adrenaline as panic raced through his body. “There’s still the planning and the organizing and the…whatever else needs to happen for a wedding.”

“Exactly, which is why the ladies will each be given a reasonable budget and the task of planning the event.” Zamar tapped the stack of papers in Kamaran’s hands. “Everything they need to know is in here, including the proposed guest list, approved vendors, and available locations and staff.”

He frowned. “Why are you giving it to me?”

“It’s your wedding, too, Your Majesty. Who else do you think is going to be on hand to answer any questions the contestants might have?”

Kamaran threw his head back and groaned.

“Think of it this way: what better way to get to know your prospective spouse than spending a few hours discussing a budget and deciding on cake and floral arrangements?”

Chapter Sixteen

RANA

If she didn’t hear an update from Jasper soon, Rana was going to need to restock her thread again. She pulled the last of the gold from the spool before tossing it to Zade, who lifted himself onto his hind legs and pounced on it with his front paws. Once he was satisfied that it was truly dead, he started batting it with his paw and chasing it around the room.

“You could at least pretend to be a little more concerned, Zade. After all, he’s your Sultan as much as mine.”

Her vision blurred as she tried unsuccessfully to thread her needle, and she blinked her dry, tired eyes. Between the sleepless nights full of tears and the countless hours she spent staring at tiny stitches while trying to get her mind to focus on anything but the memory of bloodstained fabric and Kamaran’s limp, unconscious form as he was transported back to the palace, her eyelids felt as if the insides were coated with sand, and a permanent headache seemed to have taken up residence at the base of her skull.

The spool skittered across the floor by her feet, and she had to lift them quickly out of Zade’s way as he zoomed past. “You’re right,” she said, squinting her eyes and finally forcing the end of the thread through the needle’s eye. “It was rather rude of him to go and get himself stabbed right in front of everyone. As if he doesn’t already get enough attention just for his handsome face, he had to try to gain the sympathy vote as well.”

“You’re so right. Next time, I’ll make sure that I get stabbed in the privacy of my own home, where no one will be able to see.”

Rana’s head whipped around at the familiar voice. “Kamaran!” She threw her sewing to the side and jumped to her feet and was halfway to the door in the space of a heartbeat. She remembered his injury just barely in time, stopping herself just as she was about to throw her arms around him. They fell awkwardly to her sides, and she shifted back a step as her heart directed her eyes to scan every inch of his face, reassuring herself that he was really there and alright as her words poured out faster than she could stop them.

“You’re walking! Are you supposed to be walking? Does Zamar know that you’re out of bed? Not that you need his permission or anything—you’re the Sultan, after all—but didn’t you almost die just a few days ago?”

A slow, satisfied smile spread across Kamaran’s face. “You care.”

Her jaw fell, astonishment giving back the control she normally had over her tongue. “Of course I care, you big oaf!” She barely refrained from punching him in the shoulder, and settled instead for fisting her hands and popping them on her hips. “I don’t just share my Adhavian Delight with anyone, and then you decided to get all offended and storm off, and before I could even apologize for what happened, someone tried to kill you.” Her eyes welled with tears and her voice shook as she forced the next words out, “I thought you were going to die.”