Khalid would break every bone in your body for what you’ve done.
Shahrzad stared up at him coolly. “If you think Roya would condone your actions in this moment, nothing I can do or say will matter.” She choked back the rising bile. “But I can’t imagine any girl with real love in her heart would ever approve of such a thing.”
His hold on her neck flagged as his face fell to despair. Each of his features wilted into the next. In that instant, Shahrzad saw how much Teymur had loved Roya.
How much he’d lost of himself when he’d lost her.
But it was no excuse. There would never be an excuse for this.
Successful in achieving a distraction, Shahrzad now sought to disarm him.
Ever so cautiously, she shifted one hand from around his wrist. While Teymur contended with his inner demons, Shahrzad let her hand drop to search the ground for a potential weapon. A rock, a tumbler, a bowl, a stick, anything . . .
As her fingers scrabbled for purchase, they fell upon—
A piece of dried meat?
Teymur remained lost in thought, his fingers loose at her throat, so Shahrzad let her gaze drift sidelong in one quick pass of the tent.
Even in the dim light, she could see that several strips of dried meat had been slid under the bottom of the tent in her direction.
They were the type of dried meat Tariq usually fed to Zoraya.
Tariq can’t want me to bait his falcon . . .
This did not seem at all like something Tariq would have devised. If Tariq knew what was transpiring within the tent’s walls, he would have ripped it from the ground and used its ropes to hang Teymur in the wind. Tariq—brash at every turn—would have been loath to drum up a stealth attack of any sort. And definitely not one involving Zoraya.
If not Tariq, then who devised such a harebrained scheme?
Shahrzad’s eyes combed the walls of the tent.
And where is that accursed falcon?
One thing was for certain: if this plan was intended to provide a distraction, it would prove to be an interesting one.
Shahrzad curled her fingers around the strip of dried meat.
Like a mongoose to a cobra, her hand shot up to the collar of Teymur’s qamis. She lodged the strip in the hollow behind his neck. Momentarily stunned, he released the dagger and slapped both his hands to his nape as though he were trying to quash a marauding insect.
In a flurry of feathers and flashing talons, Zoraya came screeching through the entrance of the tent, straight for Teymur’s collar. He screamed and toppled sideways off Shahrzad. The falcon continued attacking him, her wings spread wide. Shahrzad seized another piece of dried meat while Teymur tried in vain to fend off Zoraya’s onslaught.
Before Shahrzad had a chance to form a coherent thought, Rahim al-Din Walad burst into the tent with Irsa on his heels. Strips of dried meat were clasped in Irsa’s fists. Rahim grabbed Shahrzad by the arm and hauled her to her feet.
“Go! Both of you.” He ripped his scimitar from its scabbard, his expression stern.
“I will not,” Irsa replied, her voice surprisingly strong and steady. “Not until I know you and Shazi are safe.”
Shahrzad, too, refused with a pointed glance. When Rahim began to protest, she turned a deaf ear his way. He muttered a curse and moved to one side, his scimitar held at the ready.
“Zoraya. Stop this, at once!” The falcon ignored the command, so Shahrzad whistled softly.
Zoraya squawked in reply, but ceased her assault. Stooping to collect her discarded dagger, Shahrzad stepped before a cowering Teymur. His neck and hands were scratched bloody, and the front of his trowsers was soaked. An acrid tang filled the air. Utterly indifferent, Shahrzad held the piece of dried meat before her. The falcon took it in her talons and landed beside Shahrzad’s feet, her blue-grey feathers spread in protective shadow.
Shahrzad glowered down at Teymur. “If you ever touch me again, I’ll rip off your sorry excuse for manhood and feed it to the falcon.”
Then she stepped closer, brandishing her unsheathed dagger.
“But if you even look at my sister again, I’ll kill you outright.”
A GATEWAY BETWEEN WORLDS
SHAHRZAD KNEW SHE WAS DREAMING.
Knew it and did not care.
For she was home.
Her bare feet trod upon cool stone as they made their way down the cavernous corridors toward the doors of her chamber. With her heart in her throat, she took hold of one handle and pushed it open.
It was dark. A deep-blue dark. The kind that brought the cold with it, no matter the temperature.
The marble floor was covered in a gently curling fog. It pooled waist-deep, like thick white smoke, from wall to wall. As she took a slow step forward, it parted around her like a ghostly sea, cleaved by the prow of a haunted ship.
A warm light began to glow in the center of the chamber. It hung above her bower—a silent sentinel, surrounded by a veil of diaphanous silk.
In the middle of a platform of cushions sat a lone figure, shrouded in shadow.
“Khalid?”
Shahrzad moved through the fog at a quicker pace, her eyes squinting through the blue darkness and the gossamer veil—
Struggling to catch a glimpse of the face she so longed to see.
The figure shifted. Moved aside a swath of spider-silk.
“No, Shazi-jan. I am not he. But I hope you’ll forgive this intrusion.” The figure smiled at her with the knowing smile of secrets past, present, and future.
And Shahrzad stumbled, barely squelching a cry.
A bubble of laughter burst from the jewel-toned cushions, so familiar and so full of light that it tore at Shahrzad’s heartstrings.
How many times had she wished to hear that sound just once more?
She’d been willing to kill for it.
“Shiva?” Shahrzad whispered in disbelief as she rounded the foot of the bed and reached for the silk curtain.
“Come!” Shiva said, patting the space beside her.
Shahrzad’s hands shook as she pushed aside a pane of gossamer and knelt onto the cushions. As if in a trance, she stared at her best friend, waiting for her to disappear.
Waiting for the crushing emptiness that was sure to follow.
Shiva smiled, impish and full of life. A single dimple marred her left cheek, as perfectly imperfect as always.
The image tore at yet another heartstring. For just as Shahrzad knew this to be a dream, she knew she would have to wake at some point.
And face this for the lie that it was.
The dimple appeared again as Shiva hooked a fall of dark hair behind an ear. “Silly goose. Just because we’re in a dream doesn’t mean this is a lie.”
“So you’re in my head now?” Shahrzad retorted.
“Of course! I’ve always been here.” Shiva rested her chin on one knee. “I’ve just been waiting until you needed me.”
“But”—Shahrzad caught herself, surprised by a sudden wash of anger—“I’ve needed you so many times, Shiva.”
“No, you haven’t. I’ve watched you. You’ve done splendidly on your own.” The edges of Shiva’s eyes crinkled with pride.
“But I haven’t,” Shahrzad continued. “I’ve made so many mistakes. I fell in love with the boy responsible for your death!”
“You did. And that was difficult to watch, at times. Especially the morning you almost died.”
“I betrayed you.”
“No, you goose. You didn’t betray me. I told you; I was here the whole time. And I have a confession to make . . .” Shiva’s eyes drifted sideways, sparkling with sly awareness. Filled with vibrant light. “The moment I saw him running toward you that morning, I knew you were going to save him, just as he saved you.” When Shiva reached a hand toward hers, Shahrzad jumped at its warmth.
It felt so real. So achingly alive.
Again, Shiva smiled, her slender shoulders easing forward with lissome grace. “It feels real because you remember me this way. And it’s lovely to be remembered as warm and perfectly imperfect.” Shiva laced her fingers through Shahrzad’s and held tight.
For a moment, the tension in Shahrzad’s throat made it difficult to speak. “I’m—so sorry for loving him, Shiva-jan. So sorry for not being stronger.”
“What a ridiculous thing to apologize for!” Shiva’s fine-boned features looked doll-like in her outrage. “You should know better. Never apologize for such nonsense again. You of all people should know what happens when you disobey me.” She shook a fist, laughing teasingly as she brought to mind their many childhood squabbles. Shahrzad could not help but join in her laughter, until its chorus filled the space around them.