Until the Sand Claims Us

Prologue

I was seven years of age when I realized my place in the world.

The day started as it always did. Farani was fitted in shimmering dresses while I sat and waited for her to finish.

She would catch my gaze as her mother, the malikeh, fussed around her, adjusting a pin here, moving a sash there.

Farani rolled her eyes when her mother wasn’t looking.

Though she despised the constant attention, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of my own mother every time.

The fitting continued. Farani’s pouting and grumbles increased with every passing moment.

When the malikeh stepped out of the room, Farani moved toward me and grabbed my hand.

“Let’s go to the tower,” she urged.

I hesitated. “But the sultan ordered you to be ready. There is a special guest arriving.”

“It’s probably some old boring tutor Peder wants me to meet. I can greet them another time. Come on!”

At her insistence, I relented, and we sprinted out of the dressing room in a fit of giggles.

The malikeh’s maids shouted after us, but they weren’t fast enough to catch us.

We reached the tower, and Farani lay down, pressing her back to the stone.

I could see the city below and the buildings far off, could glimpse the foreboding towers of the North, our enemy, across the wide sea of desert.

I was lost in the beauty of the view until Farani tugged me down beside her.

“Someone will see you,” she said.

“We are so high up. Besides, no one knows this is our refuge.”

The one place I could have Farani to myself. Where we could giggle and share stories to our hearts’ content. Farani nodded, though she still appeared uneasy.

“Yildiz,” Farani started.

I tore my head from the stars twinkling above and turned to look at her. She still gripped my hand, her face earnest.

“I know how the others treat you. Because of our ranks. And your father’s banishment. As lesser.”

I flinched. I didn’t want to discuss this. But Farani didn’t relent.

“I want you to know you are more than that for me. You are more than my cousin. You are my sister. I requested for you to be given a duty, so that we may remain together at all times.”

I blinked, my heart warming at her words.

“From today, you will never leave me again.”

She smiled, and I beamed in return. Footsteps thudded, and the malikeh emerged onto the tower. We sprung up, and I lowered my head to the queen. Farani’s mother scowled.

“Farani, what did I tell you?”

Farani’s expression was sheepish. “I will not return to the tower again, Madar.”

“Good,” the malikeh said. “Now go. Your father is awaiting you with his guest.”

I went to follow Farani down the stairs when the malikeh grasped my arm, yanking me back. She stared at me through kohl-lined eyes that highlighted the black of her irises.

“Not you. It is time for you to awaken. You are nothing more than the daughter of a disgraced thief of a shahzadeh and a lowborn common woman who couldn’t even survive giving birth to you.

It is only through your uncle’s mercy that you and your father have returned to the palace, nothing more.

So do not expect to be treated as a princess.

You are not the same level as Farani, girl.

At most, you are her servant. Do not value yourself so highly to take up space in her mind. Do you understand?”

My hands were shaking. Tears stung my eyes.

Fear and a bit of anger pulsated within me.

I wanted to scream at her, to tell her that my father was an honorable man who had saved his brother’s life, even after my uncle had banished him for taking one of the palace’s precious golden roots to cure my mother.

Despite everything, my father had still returned to the castle to save my uncle when he’d caught wind of an assassination attempt.

But I couldn’t summon enough bravery to go against the malikeh.

All my protests died in my throat, and I simply nodded instead.

She released me, though her fingers remained printed on my skin.

I found Farani sometime later and watched her from behind a curtain as she met the sultan’s guest, a long veil concealing her face from view.

She was unrecognizable save for the birthmark trickling over the inside of her wrist like a henna design.

A boy sat across from her. His eyes were ice blue, and his mouth formed a scowl.

There was cruelness in his gaze. Those cold eyes flicked toward me, and I gasped, nestling deeper behind the curtains.

I felt a presence behind me and turned. The malikeh stepped beside me.

I waited for another lecture, but she simply nodded her chin.

“Farani’s betrothed, the Northern shahzadeh.

Everything will be complete when the treaty is signed.

And on their wedding day, we shall have peace at last. You will go with her, Yildiz. ”

It was the first time she stared at me so intently. “You will be at her side at every moment.”

Then I knew her intention. I was a body shield. But for my dear cousin, my life was always forfeit.