“Are you deaf? How dare you touch me? Do you know who I am?” A note of panic entered her voice. Not knowing what else to do, she locked upon her enemy. The tiger-eyes were . . . torn. Wary. And then? Calm. “General al-Khoury?” “Yes, sayyidi.” “I’d like to introduce you to the Mountain of Adamant.” The shahrban stared back and forth between the caliph and Shahrzad. “But, sayyidi . . . I don’t understand. You cannot—” The caliph swiveled to face the shahrban. “You’re right, General. You do not understand. And you may never understand. Regardless, I’d like to introduce you to the Mountain of
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