As if summoned, the doors to the suite opened and Aghraas walked through. I hadn’t seen her since our first meeting, and I was taken again with how tall she was. She seemed to take up all the space in the room simply by existing. The two of them seemed to conduct an entire conversation with expressions alone. At last, Aghraas’s jaw stiffened—an argument, then—and Maram turned to me.

“Shall we?”

The lower gardens in the palace were dilapidated and overgrown. They were built almost directly on top of the harbor, so that quiet conversation was obscured by the roar of waves and the cry of seagulls. Standing by the water, tendrils of her red hair caught up in the breeze, was Furat. When she turned and saw me a smile grew on her face and I didn’t resist the hug she drew me into.

“Well,” she said, pulling away from me and looking at Maram. “You certainly are a miracle worker. Your Highness.”

Maram watched her, eyes hard and flat, as she sank to her knees then rose to her feet.

“I don’t know if I should be more surprised that you are a rebel,” she ground out, “or that I have survived this long with you at their head.”

Furat maintained her pleasant expression as she spoke. “Oh, I’m not in charge. I am Amani’s point of contact, that’s all. You have been blessed, cousin. Amani’s love of you prevailed over the only evidence of your character that we had.”

“Evidence?” Maram said. The cold anger in her voice cut through me.

“Your father,” Furat replied.

“Enough,” I said, and laid a hand on Furat’s arm. “We are not here to argue. We’re here to at last achieve our goal.”

“If my dear cousin is not the leader of the rebellion, who is?” She watched Furat as one might watch a viper, tracking every single movement so that she might cut off its head before it struck. Furat held out a hand and a flat white disc rose up into the air above it, glowed silver, then descended to the spot next to her. A hologram of Arinaas flickered to life.

Maram made a choked noise, half laughter half disbelief.

“Your seduction to the rebellion begins to clarify itself, Amani,” she drawled.

Arinaas grinned. “Your Highness. I am told Amani has secured your alliance.”

Maram held up the tablet. “Do I have your knights?”

“You have our knights,” Arinaas confirmed.

“Good,” she said, and handed the tablet to me. “Let us plan, then.”

Furat’s eyebrows raised. “Plan?”

The look Maram leveled at her should have turned her to dust.

“Mathis’s assassination will be pointless if the Vathek military takes control of the planet in the ensuing chaos,” she said. “We will need to secure the imperial cities: Walili, Palalogea, and Tayfur, along with several others.”