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September 6 - September 21, 2023
Much as they might decry being related to someone as unsuccessful as Ali, they feared the situation could grow even worse. Neither of them wanted the humiliation of such a close relative descending into abject poverty.
One of the animals brayed loudly, as if sensing Nyla’s disgust, and her look of dislike deepened.
Nyla would never forget I had been recommended for a place in her household by one of the palace viziers. She had given me a position only because she thought I would provide an ongoing connection to the palace—an assumption that had turned out to be false. I was fairly certain she kept me all this time later because she enjoyed having someone to punish for her disappointment. Other servants had a habit of resigning after too much exposure to her ill tempers.
his voice still carried the same whiplash of command, delivered instinctively with every word he spoke.
And that was before I became a servant, and he convinced Adara they could no longer associate with me.
In the dark days after my father’s death, I had let my pain color backward and poison the years before. But enough time had passed for me to see everything more clearly.
“Open sesame!” The captain barked the nonsense words as if they were of great import.
More minutes passed. If we’d left immediately, we could have escaped by now. Maybe it was foolish to continue waiting. And yet, so much time had now passed that the thieves must be about to reappear. Surely it was wiser to wait just a little longer.
“And yet,” I said, “the only people who know about its existence are thieves—thieves who apparently leave it here, unseen and unspent. Thieves who actually bring more gold to swell this unimaginable hoard.” “Some people are never satisfied.” Ali’s attention was back on the shining expanse before us, disappearing off into darkness beyond the reach of the lantern. “Look at my own brother, the worthy Kasim. He started with nothing, as did I, and then had the good fortune to marry a woman who inherited great wealth. And yet has it left either of them satisfied?”
“There is plenty of room for disaster even before considering the possibility of an enchantment. And just because it was not readily apparent doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
For some unknown reason he wanted to talk as if we were still friends. But while my mind might understand the gulf of station between us now, my emotions weren’t as compliant. His abandonment had hurt, and I didn’t intend to pretend otherwise.
If Kasim and Nyla knew anything of honor, they would have us as part of their household, as do other families in their position. But we must not let their lack of honor sully our own.”
He chuckled. “How can I mind being eclipsed by such a noble lady as this?” He gave the mare an affectionate pat before looking back at me.
A gang of forty cutthroat thieves would be frightening enough, but I couldn’t shake the certainty there was something strange about their behavior. Did they steal—despite all the risks—just for the joy of it? What possible reason could there be for someone with access to such riches to resort to thievery?
Azzam had hurried me out of the palace while I was still in shock and consumed by grief. I hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to my friends. He had assured me he had informed the royals of his actions on my behalf, and that they would contact me in the following days. But what if he hadn’t told them at all? What if he’d told them something entirely different? It was incomprehensible. What possible reason could he have to lie?
If Azzam was another Nyla, my father would have privately held him in contempt, but he wouldn’t have thought to warn me.
I wasn’t foolhardy enough to give my message directly to the guards. I could only imagine how they would respond if I turned up and announced I had information about the thieves. I had no desire to find myself on the wrong end of a guard interrogation.
It was hard to discipline myself to quietly return to bed and seek my overdue sleep. I had always preferred action to patient waiting.
“What have you got there? Are you stealing something?” I stopped, holding out the scales for her inspection. “No, of course not.” I restrained my anger. “I would never steal.
“So much gold it needs to be weighed instead of counted,” he said softly. “It does seem too good to be true.” “Precisely,” I said grimly,
“Prince Tarek is just here to—” I broke off, suddenly realizing I didn’t know why Rek had come. I didn’t dare assume it was purely because of our old friendship. My eyes flicked to the prince, but he was focused on Navid, his gaze assessing. “A little late, aren’t you?” Navid crossed his arms. “By three years or so.” I stared at him, astonished.
He looked more dazed than anything, his eyes fixed on Adara. I turned back to her, trying to view the princess through his eyes. Her long, sheer chemise was silk with golden embroidery around the neckline, and her ankle-length outer robe fell in soft, expensive folds. Combined with the thin golden chains that wound through the piles of dark hair on her head, she looked the picture of a beautiful, unapproachable royal. But her face was animated, emotions flitting rapidly across it as she sparred with her brother. Her manner softened the picture, transforming her classical beauty into something
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“Ooh!” Adara sounded eager enough to make me eye her with misgiving. “So you’re not going to tell Father straight away? Bad crown prince!”
“Didn’t I tell you he was desperate to be the one to uncover the traitor?” She looked at Rek. “Or are you afraid Father will decide the gold is more important and seize the cave before you have your chance to catch the gang?” Rek was silent, making me think both were true.
In a strange way, I felt as if I were getting part of my father back. The palace and my friends there had been the backdrop of my life with him. And while I could never feel his strong arms around me again or hear his even voice, the part of my life that had included him no longer felt so distant. A chiding voice reminded me that I should be strong enough by now not to care—strong enough to let go—but it wasn’t able to stop the waves of joy that washed over me.
I turned back to face the empty air. “Open sesame.” “Seriously?” Adara asked with a giggle. “That’s what opens the cave?”
“Your Highness, I really don’t think this is—” “Your objections have been noted,” Rek said in authoritative tones, rendering his guard silent.
Adara had been raised alongside the twins—always striving to prove she could keep up with her brothers. And although Rek had seemed to turn serious and responsible as he neared eighteen, it was now obvious that the old captain of our mischievous adventures still lurked beneath his crown prince exterior.
The poor donkeys were braying and flicking their tails, more than sick of the dark cave, but Kasim ignored them. He had been muttering happily to himself for some time, and he now stood back and rubbed his hands together. I could almost see him plotting to come back as soon as possible. Was there no end to the man’s greed?
“You have personal reason to want them brought to justice, so I shan’t try to deny you have a right to get involved.” Navid thanked him, but a glance my way showed his feelings were more complicated than he was letting on. He wouldn’t miss Kasim at all, and he probably felt guilt at being assigned the role of grieving relative. A stab of true sorrow hit me. Who would miss Kasim as a person rather than a provider of employment? Would anyone? Certainly Nyla wouldn’t.
How truly sad to live a life surrounded by people but connected to no one by either love or respect. It put my own desire to cling to those I had loved in perspective.
Looking around the kitchen, her lip curled. “He didn’t even get any of the gold, did he? I should have gone myself.” Hiding my own disgust at her coldness, I looked her directly in the eyes.
“Do you see them?” Navid asked, revealing his thoughts closely mirrored my own. “You’re the one who can see over heads. I can’t see a thing.” He looked down at me with a grin. “It must be hard to be so short.” I turned my nose up at him, spinning away with a satisfying flick of my skirts.
It was her cunning and skill that built their merchant empire, and it’s only expanded since she was widowed and is now unencumbered by a husband.”
“So have you both been enjoying being eighteen? All that freedom you always longed for!” “Actually.” Xavier frowned. “It’s all turned out to be a big scam. We’ve been meaning to talk to someone about it, but no one seems willing to take responsibility.”
“We believed in the mirage of freedom once we turned eighteen. But it turns out that now we’re of age, there are all these responsibilities and expectations. It’s not free, at all!”
“So many memories here,” I said softly, mostly to myself. Rek turned to me, his brows drawn. “You seem to have taken up residence inside my mind.”
His words trailed away, and the space between us shrank. Where had all the air gone?
I hid a grin. Nothing distracted Rowan like the arrival of an unknown animal. No doubt by tomorrow morning, he’d have these two mammoth horses eating out of his hands just like every other creature on the property.
“You stole his gang from under his nose?” Rek sounded awed. “I just climbed onto the wagon and drove away,” I said. “It wasn’t much.” “Just climbed on and drove away—with thirty-eight thieves in jars.” Rek shook his head, a laugh in his voice.
“The four of you were like a whirlwind,” I murmured. “You swept me up, and my feet didn’t touch ground again for ten years.
refuse to be like my father, so focused on ruling, he has no room in his life for love. I’m done choosing duty, or anger, or hate. I choose love. I choose you, Zaria.”
“You can fool yourself, but you can’t fool your best friend,” she said with satisfaction.
“And is that older brother as unaware of your movements as your father?” I asked before giving a theatrical start and staring down the hallway behind them. “Because that looks like Rek now, just over—” “What?” Xavier swung around to stare behind him, his tone alarmed. “Rek, here?” Xander peered in the same direction, his brow creasing before he slowly turned back to me, his eyes narrowing. I gave him a beaming smile while Navid snorted a suppressed laugh beside me. “Sorry, I was mistaken. It wasn’t him after all.”
“Navid!” Xavier slung an arm around my friend’s shoulder, fixing him with a wounded look. “The real question is what you’re doing here with Zaria! I’m not sure which of my siblings I should be offended on behalf of.” “Xavier!” I cried before frowning. His words had revealed more than his knowledge of an attachment between Rek and me.
“Could you at least keep your distance from them for the rest of the night?” The two exchanged lightning fast looks before Xavier gave me an elaborate bow. “For our dearest childhood friend—“ “—and the woman who holds our brother’s heart—” “—we will do our best in all things,” Xavier finished. I sighed. It was the closest to an agreement I was going to get.
“Of course I don’t want to see her hurt.” His voice turned stern. “But I’m not going to try to protect her by keeping secrets from her. Adara is no longer the child you remember. She’s been involved with this since the start, and she deserves to be here tonight just as much as the rest of us.” “I—” I stopped, the protest that had leaped to my lips dropping away. “Actually I have no response to that. You’re completely right.”
“Based on their apparent ages,” I said, “I would say she’s the older sister.” I looked at her. “Did it always enrage you that the gang should have been yours? That if you hadn’t been born a woman, you would have been their leader, sharing in the wonders of the cave, instead of being forced to seek a life as a dancer?”
With difficulty, I pulled myself together, willing strength back into my legs. I would process the news later. For now, nothing had actually changed. My father was dead, as he had been for years, and the truth about his passing didn’t bring him back.
I had thought it childish to cling to my past, but my naïveté had been thinking you needed to move on from losing the people you loved and who had loved you. Those people formed you as a person—you didn’t grow past them, you built up from the foundations they’d given you.
