Chapter 4 #2
She shrieked, and Sonya held a hand to her heart, but the girl was grinning.
Azam flipped her in the air then caught her, plopping her down onto a chair.
Now that she had stopped moving, Sonya caught a good look at her; she looked just like Azam, the same dark brown hair and big eyes.
She was wearing a gingham dress in a bright yellow color.
The little girl giggled up at Azam, and he bopped her nose. ‘Good morning, bandri,’ he said. Little monkey. The girl laughed. ‘Dania, can you say hello to my friend?’
‘Friend?’ Dania looked confused, until Azam looked at Sonya. Dania followed his gaze, eyes landing on Sonya as well. Her mouth fell open as she gasped.
‘Hello,’ Sonya said, a bit nervous.
Dania rose to her feet on the chair. ‘Friend!’ She climbed onto the table and ran across, jumping.
Sonya’s heart lurched and she strode forward just in time to catch the little girl.
Dania was slight, but still, Sonya let out an ‘Oof!’ at the weight of her.
Sonya hadn’t actually been around children much.
None of her brothers were married, despite being older than her.
She’d brought this up when they had all begun planning her wedding.
‘But none of you are married,’ she had objected, ‘and you’re all much older than I am.’
‘Yes, but we are princes,’ Irfan had replied, as if she were being silly.
‘And I am a princess!’ she had replied.
‘Exactly,’ Mustafa said, as if that proved the point. She had made an exasperated sound, not understanding.
‘We can take care of ourselves,’ Shahmir explained, voice gentle. ‘You, my dearest, cannot.’
‘You a friend,’ Dania said now, putting both her hands on Sonya’s face and pulling her from the memory. Sonya laughed. Children were so chaotic and surprising.
‘Yes, I am your friend,’ she said. ‘I’m Sonya.’
‘Dania! Sonya, Dania, they sound the same!’ Dania felt around Sonya’s face, pinching her cheeks. Sonya cast a glance at Azam, who was smiling fondly.
‘I think that’s enough, little monkey,’ another voice said, and Sonya turned with Dania still in her arms to see a round woman with short gray hair and a shawl around her shoulders entering the room.
As Sonya took in her features—caramel brown eyes and freckles—she noted that the woman didn’t look anything like Azam or Dania.
‘Gramma, I have a new friend!’ Dania jumped out of Sonya’s arms and ran to grab her grandmother’s hand, pulling her along.
‘Who is this?’ the old lady asked Azam.
‘Grandma Kiri, this is Sonya,’ Azam replied. ‘Come, let’s eat this beautiful breakfast Sonya has made us before it gets cold.’
‘Oh, how lovely,’ Kiri said, and they all sat down around the table. Sonya waited for them to take their usual seats before settling into an empty one; the empty seat was across from Azam, next to Kiri.
‘I hope everything came out alright,’ Sonya said, worried now.
‘I’m sure it did,’ Azam replied kindly, dividing the eggs between the plates while Kiri poured the tea.
‘Very hard to ruin breakfast,’ Kiri said with a smile.
‘It’s been some time since we’ve all had breakfast together like this,’ Azam said. ‘Usually, I’m running out.’
‘And I’m left to feed this heathen,’ Kiri said. Her expression was fond as she regarded Dania, who stabbed her eggs, trying to stack as much onto her fork as possible.
‘It’s nice for everyone to be together,’ Azam said, ‘and lovely to have a new friend join us.’ He smiled warmly at Sonya, then turned to Kiri. ‘Isn’t it, Grandma Kiri?’
‘It is,’ Kiri replied, stirring sugar into her tea. Sonya looked at Kiri closely as they ate, trying to find any trace of Azam or Dania in her but, try as she might, she couldn’t.
Kiri laughed as if she could read Sonya’s mind. ‘I can almost hear you wondering, dear, and no, I’m not their blood grandmother,’ she said.
Sonya’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean to stare.’
Azam laughed not unkindly, smearing butter onto a piece of bread.
‘I was a friend of Azam’s grandmother, as well as their neighbor,’ Kiri replied. ‘I saw his mother, Bunto, grow from a babe into a woman, into a wife, into a mother.’
‘When my parents died, Dania was only a year old,’ Azam said. ‘I had to leave school early and work, and Grandma Kiri graciously offered to watch Dania during the day.’
‘Until we realized it would make more sense for me to move in,’ Kiri finished. ‘So I could take care of this little monkey while Azam was at work.’
‘That’s so kind,’ Sonya said, though she didn’t entirely understand.
Kiri gave her a gentle look. ‘That’s what you do when you love someone. You make sacrifices and stretch yourself thin. And, besides, I don’t mind. I love them both as if they were my own.’
‘Do you have children of your own?’ Sonya asked, then cringed. Her curiosity was something she was often scolded for by the king’s advisor.
But Kiri didn’t seem to mind. ‘I don’t,’ she said. ‘I was married, and my husband and I shared a beautiful life together until he passed away about a decade ago now. Though we weren’t blessed with children, I am grateful to be blessed with these two.’
‘And we appreciate you so deeply,’ Azam said. He turned to Sonya. ‘Honestly, I don’t think we’d have survived without her.’
‘That’s so wonderful.’ Sonya could tell how much they cared for one another. The relationship she had with her father and brothers was much more distant.
‘What about you?’ Kiri asked. ‘Where is your family?’
Sonya nibbled on her lower lip. She did not wish to lie, but she could not tell the truth, either.
‘I have no one,’ she said, and in a way that was true, too.
Her father and brothers had forsaken her the moment they had begun discussing suitors.
‘My mother died during childbirth, and now my father and brothers would prefer to have me married off.’ She swallowed, looking down at her hands on her lap.
It was so strange to say those words out loud.
‘I ran away from home, hoping to start a new life.’
Kiri frowned. ‘You’re not from the Outskirts, are you, dear?’
Sonya shook her head. ‘I needed a disguise, and so I paid a stranger for this uniform.’ She glanced over at Azam, who was looking at her carefully, an intense expression on his face.
He looked aggrieved for her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he finally said.
‘Thank you,’ she replied, voice quiet. She took a deep breath, lifting her chin. They were nearly done with breakfast, now. Sonya forced a smile. ‘Thank you again for your kindness. If it is not too much trouble, might I ask for one last thing?’
‘Anything,’ Azam said, without hesitating.
‘Can you direct me to where I might find lodgings?’ She thought about it further. ‘And a job?’ She would be in need of both if she hoped to start a new life away from the castle.
Azam frowned, and guilt needled through her.
She had already asked for far too much from him.
Sonya stood. ‘I’m sorry to ask,’ she said.
‘If it’s too much, I’m sure I’ll find my own way.
’ As she walked out, entering the hall in front of the stairs, she heard Azam and Kiri talking in hushed tones behind her.
She reached for the front door’s handle.
‘Wait!’ Azam called. She turned and saw him rushing after her.
‘You could stay here. We could do with a housekeeper,’ he said, swallowing.
‘I can’t pay you, but you can have the room you slept in last night, and of course, eat whatever we eat.
’ He looked a bit embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.
‘I know it isn’t much … but just until you get on your feet. ’
‘Oh!’ She was surprised. Sonya thought about it, and Azam met her gaze, brown eyes warm.
‘So … will you?’ he asked, tone hopeful. ‘Stay, I mean?’
There really wasn’t much to think about.
She was safe here, and she liked all of them.
This was a home—the type of home she had only read about, never experienced.
And it wasn’t as though she had any other options, though even if she did, she had a sneaky suspicion she might choose to stay there anyway.
Sonya smiled. ‘Yes, I’ll stay.’