The Bodyguard
Murmurs of gratitude erupted as assistants filed in around Zeki.
Esana lifted her hands as she thanked the Almighty.
Omid’s face brightened, and he watched closely as Ustaad Saf took the roots from Zeki and began preparing a tonic for Delara.
Zeki looked worse for wear—dirt coated his face and sweat dribbled down his cheeks—but a blinding white smile cut through the grime.
Bazmara rushed into the chamber, circles under her lids from lack of sleep.
Her clothes were a mess, and her chadar was hastily wrapped.
“Please tell me you found it,” she pleaded, only seeing Zeki.
He nodded, his grin growing wider. “We found it.”
I followed Zeki out of the room. Dayyan’s men stood in the corridor, their gazes lowering as soon as I stepped out. I scanned their features, but none were the face I was searching for.
“Zeki,” I called.
He turned back. “Shah Jihangir has summoned me. What is it you wish?”
I glanced over his shoulder, hoping to see a tall, broad-shouldered shahzadeh appear. If something had befallen him, surely Zeki wouldn’t be smiling. But what if . . .
“What happened to your face?” Zeki said suddenly, his eyes narrowing on my swelling cheek.
“Where is he?” I asked instead of answering him.
“Who are you asking of?”
A gleam flitted in his gaze. He was goading me. I gritted my teeth.
“The man you are supposed to be guarding with your life.”
“I will inform him of your insistence on learning about his well-being.” A smile slipped free.
“Zeki!” I seethed, stepping nearer and darting a glance at the guards.
“He is well.”
Relief swept over me, and the tension in my shoulders relented.
“He will return soon. He is procuring a gift for a special woman of his.”
I frowned. My mind spun with questions, but before I could ask any of them, Zeki turned serious.
“We were able to obtain the roots thanks to you. You may not be who you say, but none shall hear it from me.” He nodded once, a finality to his words, before he disappeared down the hall.
I stayed with Bazmara and Omid in the healing chamber, waiting for Delara to awaken.
“Del!” Omid exclaimed at the sight of his sister’s opening eyes.
Bazmara and her younger brother raced to their sister’s side.
“Do not overwhelm her,” Ustaad Saf called.
“Did you find the dessert?”
Laughter bubbled in my throat. The princess’s first thought was of the game Zeki had made for them in the garden.
Omid shook his head. “We decided to wait for you.”
She smiled, her lids heavy. “Good.”
Bazmara brushed back her sister’s curls. “Of course, jaanam. How could we do it without you?”
Omid scooted his chair closer to the bed. “You missed a lot. A battle happened in this very chamber.”
Delara’s eyes opened wider, her curiosity sufficient to keep her awake. Omid proceeded to demonstrate my moves during my fight with Mahnaz. I sank into another seat, smiling as I covered my face. Bazmara watched her brother in amazement before shifting her astonished look to me.
“And then Jawahar Mahnaz’s face turned sour as a spoiled apple.” Omid puckered his lips.
Bazmara burst into laughter.
Delara turned adoring eyes on me. “Can you teach me?”
Bazmara touched the girl’s shoulder gently. “Delara . . .”
I tapped her nose. “You must fully recover first.”
“I will!” Delara said with renewed energy.
“But until then, you will rest and not move a muscle,” Bazmara chided her sister.
“Tell us a story,” Omid suggested, leaning in.
“Yes, I want to hear a story. Tell us one, Bazmara,” Delara demanded.
Bazmara shook her head. “But I’ve already told you all the stories I know.”
“Perhaps Farani knows of one!” Delara turned toward me. “Please, Farani, tell us.”
I surrendered to their whims, and they watched me with wide smiles as I leaned forward. Even Bazmara seemed thrilled at the prospect.
“There once was a young girl who loved the stars. Her father told her about the sky and about heaven, which lay high above. Where her mother was. Her father protected the girl as well as he could on his own and loved her to his last breath. But after he left, the girl was alone against the world.”
Delara pouted. “That’s sad.”
“Eventually, the girl was forced to marry a beast.”
Delara gasped, and Omid questioned, “Like an actual beast?”
I chuckled. “Well, he was a man, but everyone called him a beast because of his savageness. He killed without flinching. The sight of blood filled him with joy.”
Bazmara raised a brow at my description, though a smile tugged at her lips.
“The girl feared he would kill her. She shook in terror as he led her to their chamber after the wedding ceremony. His face was shadowed. His teeth appeared sharp. Everything about him seemed dark and menacing.”
“Did he kill her?” Delara asked.
“No. The first night, he left her alone. As the girl roamed the castle in the days to come, she learned of a curse that bound the beast to darkness. She longed to break it—if not to free him, to free herself. Every night, he would come to her room, say her full name, and ask if she loved him.”
Delara sighed. “How sweet.”
“The girl didn’t think so. The mere thought horrified her. How could he believe she could love him, a murderous monster?”
“What happened next?” Bazmara was the one who asked this time. She seemed to understand the true story beneath the one I was telling. My story.
I shrugged. “The beast continued slaying innocent victims. The girl couldn’t forgive him for that. She grew even angrier after learning he’d lied to her, and she stabbed him.”
The children gasped, and Bazmara’s eyes widened.
“Did he die?”
“The healers peered into his chest for fear that the blade had punctured his heart. The beast admonished them, reminding them he didn’t have a heart.
Since the curse, there had been no beat inside his chest. But when the healers removed the blade, blood poured forth, surprising them all.
When they looked closer, it seemed the beast had regained a portion of his heart, a part of his conscience. ”
“And then?”
I hesitated. I didn’t know where the story ended myself.
“Did she ever return his love?”
I gasped at the new voice, a deep one. Dayyan leaned against the doorframe. His familiar stance, garbed entirely in black, filled the threshold. His turban was slightly askew, strands of dark hair escaping. My eyes were captive to his.
“Did she ever love the beast?”
My lips parted, but my answer stuck in my throat. No, she didn’t. She never could.
Omid sprung from his chair, sparing me from responding.
Dayyan crouched down to catch him. A deep chuckle erupted from his chest. He set Omid on his feet and ruffled his hair before striding forward.
Bazmara wrapped her arms about his waist. Dayyan greeted her and then moved to Delara.
She peered up at him with those large adoring eyes.
“And how is the little shahdokht?” Dayyan asked.
Delara crooked her finger at him, and he submitted, ducking his head down. She placed a loud kiss on his cheek and smiled. Dayyan’s eyes crinkled in response, and he tweaked her chin.
“The Almighty spared her,” Bazmara said.
“And Farani helped.” Delara beamed at me. “Ustaad Saf said.”
I had been standing a respectful distance away, giving them their moment of sibling privacy. But at Delara’s words, all eyes turned to me. Dayyan’s smile faded into something serious. He covered the ground between us in a few quick steps. His eyes searched mine, as though seeking permission.
I ducked my chin down in consent, and he drew me against him.
I found not a single bone in my body protested.
My muscles relaxed against him, and my head settled beneath his chin as though it belonged there.
My eyes fluttered shut, and I breathed in, drawing his scent close.
One of his arms snaked around my waist, and the other reached up, touching my face.
His fingers were cool, like the ice within him.
The ice that seemed to thaw at precious few moments.
Though I knew we could never be something more, I allowed myself to surrender to this moment.
Eventually, we would ruin each other. I was fire, and he was ice. We couldn’t coexist.
Dayyan tilted my head up, brushing his lips over my brow as if were the most natural thing in the world. “You aided us. Your assistance saved Delara.”
He stroked my cheek, his fingers moving absently to adjust my chadar when they stilled. His face turned stormy as he closed in on the swelling.
“Who did this?”
The three words were lethal, said in a dangerous whisper. A shiver raced over me at the protectiveness in his stance and stare. I had no doubt he would torture and murder the guard if informed of who he was.
“Jawahar Mahnaz attacked Farani,” Delara supplied.
“Farani beat her good,” Omid added.
Bazmara gave them both a reproachful look.
Some of Dayyan’s tension faded. “She did this? She paid for it, didn’t she?”
“Jawahar Mahnaz couldn’t lay a finger on Farani,” Omid said like a proud father. “It was her guard.”
“Omid!” Bazmara scolded.
I shook my head, but it was too late. The turbulence returned. I wouldn’t have been surprised if lightning struck the chamber. A muscle jumped in Dayyan’s cheek. He turned, intent in his every movement. I grabbed his arm.
“Please don’t.”
He stared over my head, not meeting my gaze. When he spoke, it was murderous. “He dared to mark your face. Dared to lay a finger on you. I do not deserve another breath if I do not separate his heart from his chest. No one harms my wife.”
He tried to move, but I gripped him tighter, staring up into his face. He continued avoiding my eyes, as if knowing he would relent the moment he met them.
“It will cause unnecessary conflict.”
His arm grew rigid. “Unnecessary? The fool harmed you. I will hang him from the highest tower until he dies of starvation!” Curses erupted from his mouth, detailing every way he planned to torture the guard.
“Dayyan.” His name slipped from my mouth as easily as I drew breath. His arm slackened, the rigid muscles relaxing. His eyes dropped to mine, and I knew I had him.
“Fine.” The word seemed to be torn out of him. “But he will be banished from the palace.”
I noticed Bazmara edging out of the chamber and ushering Omid out with her, casting me a wink as she closed the door behind them. Delara peered at us with wide glittering eyes, as though she saw something we couldn’t. Dayyan’s fingers entangled with mine.
“Come with me,” he whispered. “I want to show you something.”
And when he led me from the chamber, I didn’t resist. I worried at the ease with which I followed him. I didn’t even wonder where he was taking me. The realization that I could follow him even to the ends of the desert scared me the most.