CHAPTER 31
C HAPTER 31
T HIS TIME, RAIDER was able to appreciate the full magnificence of the roc as it glided toward them through the sky. Nasrin let out a sharp cry and even Seth cursed under his breath as the huge tawny bird swept down, its wings fanning wide. Air whooshed their way as the roc beat its wings to control its descent. It alighted on the rocky edge of the cliff and lowered its pale breast to the ground.
At a wave of Tarjan’s blue hand, a huge, bulbous palanquin of brilliant red appeared atop the roc’s back. A shimmering ladder rolled down from the palanquin’s opening to the ground.
“She will take you to Kastari.”
Raider gaped at Tarjan. “You’re not coming with us?”
The djinn shook his head. “I would only be tempted to break my oath, as I was tempted today. I’m sorry, but I can do no more than this.”
Raider shoved down his disappointment. He still had questions that he hadn’t yet found the courage to ask.
But he didn’t really need answers. He only needed Seth.
“You’ve done more than enough,” Raider said. “Thank you, Tarjan.”
Tarjan’s golden eyes searched him. His lips parted like he wanted to say something. But then his mouth closed, and he nodded in farewell.
Raider turned from him and walked to the shimmering ladder. Seth and Nasrin followed him, both clearly wary. But the great golden talons were relaxed, the dark eye soft.
As Raider climbed the ladder, which felt like silk in his hands, his fingers and toes brushed the smooth tawny feathers. At the top, Raider glanced back at the others. Seth was leaning toward Tarjan, frowning as Tarjan whispered something into his ear. Nasrin was waiting at the bottom of the ladder—and looking very unsure.
“Would you rather stay here?” Raider teased her.
“Hasa, no,” Nasrin grumbled and set her foot on the first soft rung of the shimmering ladder.
Raider ducked through the opening into the palanquin. He halted abruptly, marveling at the interior. The space was larger than even the huge bird’s back could possibly have accommodated. The floor, which was softened by a large blue and green carpet, was also flatter than should have been possible. Even more shocking, a low table held numerous platters and pitchers. Plump cushions surrounded it. From little openings in the roof, light filtered in.
“Holy Kasha,” Nasrin marveled, elbowing past Raider where he’d stalled in the doorway.
“More like Great Fire Mother,” Raider said as he went to sit on one of the cushions. “The djinn honor the sun, not the arcane.”
“This is absolutely—oh,” Nasrin muttered apologetically as Seth had to elbow around her just as she had elbowed around Raider.
“Holy Kasha,” Seth marveled, stalling where everyone else had.
“Great Fire Mother, apparently,” Nasrin told him as she came to sit across the table from Raider.
There was a whoosh of air as the roc lifted into the sky. Seth clutched at the doorway, startled, even though the interior of the palanquin remained stable. Looking out, he said, “Raider, you should see this view.”
“I like the view I already have.”
Seth glanced over his shoulder. There was a look of confusion on his face, then his eyebrows jumped as he realized that Raider’s view was of him. A smile tugged at Seth’s lips. (Oh, yeah, Raider’s view was perfect.) Seth looked out again, taking in the sight for another moment. Then he pulled the flap shut and walked across the carpeted floor to sit beside Raider.
The wind whistled outside the palanquin’s red walls and filtered in through the pierced roof. When the sense of marvel had abated, the three of them found themselves in a rather uncomfortable silence.
Raider knew very well that neither Seth nor Nasrin were going to initiate any peacemaking, so he took it upon himself to survey the drink options, choose a wine—gods, he missed raaki—and pour a chilled white into three glass cups.
He slid one cup to Seth and held out another toward Nasrin.
Her gray eyes hardened. “Should I forgive you over a glass of wine?”
Before Raider could get a word in, Seth demanded, “For what, escaping your blackmail? Should we forgive you ? Besides, who’s really at fault here?”
“Seth,” Raider chided as Nasrin flinched.
Seth said, “The last person this falls on is you. The first person it falls on—”
“Is Fadesh,” Raider cut in. “Or Kahzir.”
Seth’s nostrils flared like he very much wanted to continue laying into Nasrin. Instead, he snatched up his wine cup and drained it. Raider felt the other cup lift from his hand. He glanced at Nasrin and watched her drain it as Seth had. Her hand was shaky.
“I’m sorry about your men,” Raider said as he refilled both emptied cups.
She closed her eyes. “How could I have been so stupid?”
Guilt assailed Raider. “I’m sorry I didn’t remember Fadesh earlier. If I’d—”
“Don’t apologize for that,” Seth interrupted. “Especially not to her. Besides, he’d been hiding from you, Raider, obviously because he feared you might recognize him. I should have understood that earlier. And so should she.”
Raider glared at Seth. “Maybe you should get out of those wet clothes, so you’re not damn cranky. And both of you, take off your weapons. You look ridiculous sitting at this table, bristling like porcupines.”
Seth and Nasrin shared a look. Then they both yielded and started removing their weapons. Seth took off his wet vest and boots but was apparently willing to endure his soaked pants. Nasrin divested herself of her armor but not her breastplate or skirt.
“Prudes,” Raider teased. Seth grunted. Nasrin’s cheeks flamed. She reached for her wine again.
Seeing that his peacemaking job was not over, Raider said, “Seth, Nasrin loves Zarina. Nasrin, Seth loves me. That should be enough explanation for everyone.”
Seth’s fingers gripped Raider’s knee. “I do love you,” he said.
Gods, Seth’s face was so different when he softened like that. Yes, Raider loved seeing the burning intensity in his eyes sometimes, loved the aggression in his broad, handsome face—but he loved this too, maybe even more. The gentleness. The warmth.
Raider felt tension wash away from him. He covered Seth’s hand with his own. Seth’s palm turned upward to meet it.
Nasrin said, seemingly to herself, “I can’t believe I never saw through him. Zarina never did either. We should’ve realized. He was so … steady. Good enough, intelligent certainly, but otherwise unremarkable.”
Seth said, “That’s probably why Kahzir chose him. Good enough to be useful but not enough to be threatening—and willing to serve another.”
“But why not serve Zarina? Why serve Kahzir?” Nasrin demanded angrily, then she shook her head and gave a bitter laugh. “Because he’s a man. No fate worse than serving a woman, is there?” She shook her head again and said wearily, “Never mind. It’s nothing new. It’s why I choose to demand respect as a woman in the first place. But I have to think about Kastari. What we’ll do moving forward. Fadesh will presumably reach the city ahead of us.”
At the bleakness in Nasrin’s eyes, Raider said, “She’s not helpless, Nasrin. And not everyone objects to serving a woman.”
“At least we’ll see, once and for all, who’s loyal and who’s not. Since I’m apparently too stupid to tell the difference.”
Seth, seeming to relent in his anger with Nasrin, said, “People can be very good at playing a role. How do you think I feel, knowing how many years I worked for Kahzir at the Arcanum? Sometimes I lie awake at night, sick to my stomach, at the thought of that.”
Raider frowned. He hadn’t realized that. “Seth, no. That’s not your fault.”
“Doesn’t change the fact.”
“We’ll deal with Kahzir,” Nasrin promised, steel returning to her voice. “We’ll deal with every single traitor, murderer, and abuser. The djinn can say all they like about peace, but sometimes you need justice.”
***
The roc alighted to the sound of shouts. Raider and Seth scrambled up from their cushions. Nasrin, however, was clearly prepared because she practically dove through the slitted opening of the palanquin, skimmed down the ladder, and started barking orders.
Raider blocked the ladder, keeping Seth back while Nasrin got things under control. When the guards stood down, backing away from the roc as it waited serenely, Raider descended the shimmering ladder and stepped down into the grass.
They had flown through the night and into the morning, and the light lay golden through the empress’s east-facing garden. It looked so tame after Jannat. Each tree and bush was in its place, carefully trimmed. Its small pool lay clear and quiet. There were no waterfalls. No wildly rambling vines.
After Raider and Seth were clear of the ladder, which vanished along with the bulbous palanquin, the roc hopped to the little pool. It dipped its beak to the water. When it lifted its head, the pool was half drained and several shining fish flipped their tails at the edge of the roc’s yellow beak before vanishing within it.
Then the giant bird sprang into the air, huge wings lifting it high. Its bold shape glided over Kastari and away into the desert, leaving them to deal with their human troubles.
The guards stood aside as Empress Zarina emerged from a grand, open doorway. Wearing another stiff blue gown that hid her figure, she walked out to meet them. In place of her gold sunburst headdress, she wore a simpler gold crown, and her dark hair was styled high atop her head. Her pace was measured, her expression carefully neutral, but Raider could see the strain. He could feel how desperately she wanted to run to her lover.
Nasrin dropped to one knee in deference and bowed her head in shame. She said nothing though. She wouldn’t speak in front of the guard, but she was communicating the mission’s failure.
Demonstrating nothing of her feelings, the empress ordered, “Come, all of you. We will speak.”
Zarina turned and proceeded toward the doorway. Nasrin climbed to her feet, forced her chin up, and followed.
The empress led them through the garden and into an opulent sitting room. Raider recognized it at once. How many times had he been here with Hassan? Twenty? Fifty?
Why did he feel oppressed by it? Not frightened or sad or guilty. Oppressed.
Maybe he’d always felt oppressed here but hadn’t noticed it amid his relief at being rescued from the streets. After all, he’d been well accustomed to being called a street rat. At least Hassan had said it with something like affection. That had seemed to him quite significant at the time. And yet, when Raider had described himself to Seth with those words, that morning in the kahve shop, Seth had been furious. He hadn’t allowed it.
“Are we alone?” Raider asked as Zarina turned to face them. “Truly?”
“We are,” she said.
“Then stop holding back—and kiss your damn woman.”
Zarina gave a sudden, teary huff of laughter and flung her arms wide. Face twisting, Nasrin hurried into the embrace. She was so damn careful not to smash her lover’s delicate belly with the golden filigree of her armor.
That belly was fully given away even by the gentle press of their bodies. And their love was even more apparent. As Nasrin bent low, trembling in Zarina’s embrace, Zarina ran a shaky hand over Nasrin’s uncharacteristically messy braids. They kissed with a sweet desperation. They would have known they might not see each other again, and they had both been willing to risk it. For the child.
When the two parted reluctantly, Zarina clearly realized what had been exposed. She gasped and placed a hand over her belly.
“It was already obvious, darling,” Raider said.
Zarina lifted a dark eyebrow. “I see you’re back to being comfortable with me.”
“We’re all in a damn mess together, so”—Raider shrugged—“might as well be.” He gentled his tone. “We would never hurt you or your baby.”
Zarina’s eyes hardened. “Some would. That I know all too well.”
Nasrin confessed, “I told Raider of what happened to our beautiful girl, since he had already guessed about your condition. I wanted him to understand why we need the Stone, but … oh, Zarina.” Nasrin bowed her head.
“Before we get into all that,” Seth interrupted. “Do we need to worry about the father? He could very well be involved—”
“Um, Seth?” At Raider’s interruption, Seth looked him with an obliviousness that had Raider covering his mouth to hide his amusement.
“ I am the father,” Nasrin declared. “So to speak.” Her face was red, but her jaw was firm. Her gray eyes glinted with challenge. Zarina took her hand.
Seth blinked.
Raider addressed Nasrin in a wry tone, “He’s lived a more … conventional life than some of us.”
She raised a dark eyebrow. Some of the tension broke.
Seth blinked again. “You’re …”
“Both,” she said, still with a hint of challenge. “Are you having trouble with this, Curator?”
“I … no.” Seth cleared his throat. “Not at all. Wait a second.” Seth pinned Raider with a glare. “How did you know?”
“Like I said, Seth, some of us have lived less conventional lives than you.”
“I’m not really that conventional. I just didn’t pick up on, well, the clues, I guess.”
“I’m sure every Curator misses a few,” Raider said, patting Seth’s arm as though to reassure him. But Seth seemed to have turned his attention to something else.
“That day we were sitting on the steps outside Atri’s temple. You mentioned stories in which she takes a dual form and you said you found that intrig—”
Raider cut in, “Can we focus on the problems at hand, now that you know that both the child’s parents are fully committed to protecting it?”
“Protecting him,” Nasrin interjected.
Zarina snorted. “You’re so sure it’s a boy.”
Nasrin shrugged. “I can tell.”
“Oh, please, you cannot.”
Nasrin leaned in and pecked her cheek. “You’ll see. Then you’ll look at me and laugh and say, ‘You were right.’”
“You do love to hear that.”
“I wasn’t right this time,” Nasrin said, her face falling as her brief joy at reuniting with Zarina faded in the face of their present troubles. “I was blind to treachery.”
Zarina sobered. “You have bad news. That much was clear from the manner of your return. I have bad news too. We should sit.”
Nasrin related all that had happened, mincing no words about Seth and Raider’s escape, nor any about her own failure to anticipate Fadesh’s treachery. She spoke of the djinn that had shown himself to them as the vast oasis appeared in the desert like a mirage made real. She reported that the djinn had spoken privately with Fadesh, that Fadesh had explained to her that some arcane matters could only be shared with an arcanist. Nasrin scrubbed at her face, frustrated to not have seen through that deception.
Seth offered only the most pertinent details about his and Raider’s time in Jannat before speaking of the Alchemist and the Stone and how Fadesh had vanished with it.
Pale and drawn, Zarina said, “When my father died, I almost overturned all of the Hand, but I feared rebellion. I was young. Everything was in chaos, and many of the Hand—Fadesh especially—offered support. I leaned on him in those early days. I thought him a true blessing. What a fool I am. And now, in my desperation to be safe, I’ve brought a greater danger upon us than existed before.”
Nasrin looked ready to spring up from the couch she shared with the empress. “We must find Fadesh. Has there been no sign of him? I expected to return to a city in chaos, but everything is quiet.”
“Only on the outside,” Zarina said.
“What does that mean?” Seth asked.
Raider said, sure of it, “Kahzir has escaped.”
Seth and Nasrin both made exclamations of dismay and looked to Zarina to deny this. But she nodded.
“He arrived in chains, in secret. At least, I tried to keep it secret. Many know, I’m sure. Clearly, there are even more traitors among us than I thought. But he was brought in without trouble. He refused to speak to me. He only raised his chin and look down his nose at me. Like he always did. Even shackled, he looked as though he would rule me.
“He was taken to the dungeon. I, a thousand times the fool, thought it the most secure place in the world. And yet, he was gone within hours.”
“Who helped him?” Nasrin asked through gritted teeth.
“I don’t know. Six men were killed. There was dirt all over the floor. Two of the men killed were in the throne room, so it seems he got out through the escape door there. And yet, there was no commotion outside. How he vanished into the city, I have no idea. I’ve kept the search through the city quiet because I don’t how many would flock to support him.”
“Only because he’s a man,” Nasrin said angrily.
“And an arcanist,” Zarina pointed out. “A powerful one. He would undoubtedly make the Gold into something grander than I will. At least, that’s how some would see it.”
Nasrin argued, “The people, the actual people, love you, and they will love you all the more when they have an heir to celebrate. And with a boy, even the princes may be appeased. We will raise him to be a good man.”
Raider asked, “Will you acknowledge the child as Nasrin’s?”
Nasrin answered, “No. We decided long ago that Zarina would make of it a mystery. People can think what they want. Some may call him a bastard. Others may think him divine. Such is the way of mysteries.”
“But why hide your relationship? You could declare each other but still hide the child’s parentage, if you think that necessary. I think you’re making things hard for yourselves.”
Zarina shook her head. “A lover can be leveraged against someone, and can be hurt in the process. Who could know that better, Raider, than you?”
Raider’s throat tightened. “You want to protect Nasrin.”
“Yes. And myself. I would yield to save her, as Seth yielded to save you.”
“You should have told us the truth, Zarina. You didn’t need to blackmail us.”
“Oh, but I did. I could see in Seth’s eyes that his principles were too strong, that they would only bend for love. But even there, he found a way around me.”
Seth said, “I could not bring you the Alchemist’s Stone. That was as absolute as my love for Raider. So I accepted that you might have us hunted—because I thought you would not.”
Zarina’s lips twitched. “You called my bluff.”
“I could tell you cared about Raider. At first, I wasn’t sure. But when you allowed us leave the palace, I knew.”
“And yet, here you are,” Zarina noted, “back in the palace. To help me?”
Seth said dryly, “You don’t even have to blackmail us.”
Zarina sighed, “You must forgive me for that someday.”
“Hm. Maybe.”
Zarina’s eyes shifted to Raider. She said softly, “You must forgive me too. And not just for the present but for the past.”
Raider swallowed hard. “None of it was your fault.”
“You may face him, you know, if you help me.”
Him.
Kahzir.
“I know that, Zarina. I knew that coming back here.”
Seth’s hand clamped onto Raider’s knee. Raider took that hand and threaded their fingers together. He told Seth, “I need you with me. I need you there while I …”
Seth looked wary. “While you what?”
“Try to remember.”