Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
RANA
The days before the ball passed in a blur of activity.
Though Rana had spent the first few hours after Kamaran’s declaration feeling as if she were walking on air, as the week pressed on without more than a few passing meetings between her and her Sultan, the wonder and elation of the moment began to fade.
His duties both as Sultan and host to the many guests who were arriving for both the ball and his subsequent wedding claimed most of Kamaran’s time, keeping him away from their nightly meetings.
She worked late each night, sewing by firelight until the flames died into little more than embers, and his empty chair was a constant reminder of what the end of their story could be, should the council of judges insist on upholding tradition.
“He’s set aside the last dance for me, you know.” Yasmin preened in the mirror on the day of the ball as Rana made the final adjustments to her lilac gown. “He obviously wants me to be close by when the final announcement is made.”
Rana hummed in acknowledgement, fighting to keep her face neutral.
She stepped back, looking over her work with a clinical, professional eye.
The fit of the dress was perfect, highlighting Yasmin’s tall, statuesque figure and the cool undertones of her brown skin.
With her silky hair swept back and her cosmetics perfectly applied, she was stunning—exactly the mental image Rana would have conjured had she been asked to picture a queen.
“I suppose we’ll find out tonight,” Aliyah said diplomatically, joining Yasmin in front of the mirror. She touched her elaborately braided hair, turning her head this way and that before facing her competitor. “You look beautiful. That color suits you.”
“And your dress is gorgeous,” Yasmin answered graciously, though the expression on her face as she gave Aliyah a quick once-over was one of a warrior sizing up his opponent. “It’s amazing how many flaws the right color and fit can hide.”
Rana nearly snorted at the back-handed compliment. Aliyah’s dress, a deep ruby red silk that flowed like water as she moved, was a simpler pattern than Yasmin’s but just as flattering.
“Are you going to be there, Rana?” Yasmin continued conversationally. “Do they even allow the servants to come? Or perhaps there’s a designated room for you all to gather where you can still hear the music?”
Aliyah shook her head. “Yasmin! Don’t be rude.” She turned to Rana with a polite smile. “It would be lovely to see you there.”
Rana returned her smile as she gathered her tools. “That’s kind of you to say. I did receive an invitation, but I haven’t decided if I’m going or not.”
I don’t know if I can stand the idea of watching Yasmin fawn all over Kamaran all night, but I also don’t like the idea of leaving him to fend for himself.
Yasmin smirked. “I hope you can find something to wear.”
Her patience had finally run out. Rana gave her a fake smile. “I appreciate your concern, but it’s really not necessary. If I was able to make your dress in just a few weeks, imagine what I’ve been able to do with my own wardrobe over the years?”
With a wiggle of her fingers, she waved goodbye, escaping into the hallway before Yasmin was able to recover from her open-mouthed shock.
If the judges don’t listen to Kamaran and choose her as the winner of Queen’s Contest, I’m stealing Kamaran away and moving to Helyos. Surely their princess will put in a good word for me.
The next few hours seemed to move at a snail’s pace.
Rana dressed in her emerald gown, having finished the intricate embroidery the night before.
She pulled her hair back in a simple twist and added a delicate gold chain, not wanting to detract attention from the masterpiece of needlework she had poured so much time and effort into.
She had just finished feeding Zade his dinner when someone started hammering frantically at her door. Jasper’s panicked voice whisper-shouted her name. “Rana! Are you in there?”
She crossed the room and pulled the door open, immediately filled with concern at the sight of Jasper’s wide eyes and pale face. “Jasper, what’s—”
“She’s going to try to kill Kamaran!”
Rana’s heart immediately stopped working correctly. She pulled Jasper into her room and shut the door behind him, leaving it open just long enough for Spot to slip into the room. “What do you mean? Who’s trying to kill him?”
“Aliyah.” Jasper took a deep breath, regaining a bit of his usual confidence. “I was on my way back from delivering a message when I heard her talking in the hallway to someone. He said that he wouldn’t accept any more failures and this was her last chance.”
“What?” Her brain struggled to make sense of what he was saying. “Why would she want to kill him? Maybe you misunderstood.”
He gave his head a vehement shake. “I know what I heard. He asked her what her plan was, and she said not to worry about it, that everything was all worked out, and she would make sure that it happened tonight. And then I got to thinking,” he continued.
“He said he wouldn’t accept any more failures.
What if what happened at the marketplace wasn’t an accident?
And the night with the scorpion—Kamaran had just come from meeting with Aliyah. What if she put it on his shirt?”
Icy horror washed over her. “But why?”
“I don’t know. I just know that we have to do something. We have to tell someone.”
Rana slowly shook her head, trying to clear it of the million horrible possible scenarios that were running through her mind and focusing on determining the next steps.
The hazy outline of a plan began to form.
“We don’t actually have proof. We can’t accuse her of murder with nothing but what you overheard in a hallway. ”
“But I know what I heard!”
She placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “I know you did, and I believe you. But Aliyah comes from a pretty old and powerful family, and if it’s your word against hers, you’ll never win. We need to find something to prove it’s her.”
“What if we can’t?” His voice cracked with worry.
“Then we’ll go to the ball, and we won’t let Kamaran out of our sight.” Rana slipped a small sewing kit and an extra pair of scissors into her pocket. “Let’s go. If Aliyah’s not in her room, we’ll start there. Leave the tiger; he’s too noticeable.”
“Anything?” Jasper whispered from where he was carefully checking under every corner of the large, canopied bed.
Rana closed the doors to Aliyah’s wardrobe with a sigh. “Nothing. Either she hides her assassin tools in a cave somewhere, or she keeps them on her person.” She walked back to the middle of the room.
Jasper’s shoulders fell as he joined her. “Is there anywhere else we could look?”
“I don’t know,” she answered on an exhale.
“This is a little outside my normal realm of expertise. I could tell you far more about—” She looked around the room for a moment before pointing randomly at a fur-trimmed dressing gown hanging over a changing screen.
“—that than I could about how to catch a criminal. For example…”
Her words trailed off and she squinted at the garment. There was something about it that tickled the back of her mind as not quite right.
“For example what?” Jasper prodded.
“For example, the draping is off,” Rana murmured, speaking more to herself than to him.
“It’s hanging as if there’s something in a pocket, but there aren’t any pocket seams.” She walked up to the dressing gown and ran her hands first over the fabric, then around the fur trim.
She gave a gasp of surprise when her fingers discovered something small and hard underneath the fur. “Oh, that’s quite clever.”
Jasper peered over her shoulder. “What is it?”
She turned the garment over, examining the area of trim that would hit about where Aliyah’s chest would be.
A small section had been sewn shut, the stitches larger and more uneven than the rest of the dressing gown.
Rana reached into her pocket for her scissors and carefully cut through the stitches, revealing a tiny glass bottle of thick, straw-colored liquid and a tightly folded piece of parchment.
She handed the bottle to Jasper as she began skimming the parchment.
Fear and dread grew with every word she read.
“What do you think it is?”
Rana glanced over her shoulder just in time to see him fiddling with the cork that sealed the bottle. “Don’t open that!” she barked. “And don’t drop it.”
He hastily shoved it into his pocket. “What is it?”
She looked back at the parchment. “Viper venom. We need to get to the ball and find Kamaran now.”