I watched as Nadine began to understand what she had believed to be impossible. To her mind, securing Vathek approval, rising in their ranks—it was all she’d ever wanted. It had not occurred to her that one might turn from that legacy. That Maram, who stood to inherit the highest standing in the empire, might instead choose to side with her mother’s people.

“You,” she breathed. “You can’t.”

Maram tilted her head to the side. “What can’t I do?”

“I raised you, Your Grace,” she insisted, frantic. “Loved you as my own. Please.”

The memories of all the things I had suffered under Nadine, that my family had suffered under her, surged to the forefront of my mind. I never thought to see her like this—frightened, pale, on the verge of shaking.

Maram gestured to one of the guards, and he stood back then drew his sidearm.

“You Grace, I beg of you—”

I remembered another girl, a different girl, on her knees, begging to keep her heritage. And the advice someone had given her.

“Oh,” I breathed out. “You should never beg.”

Look away, a voice said inside me. But I could not show weakness before the makhzen.

The shot cracked through the air like thunder. Blood pooled down from a hole in the center of her forehead between her eyes and over the bridge of her nose. She was perfectly still, her mouth still open, for a heartbeat, before her body fell backward.

The guard returned his sidearm to its holster and stood at attention once more.

“How long?”

“How long?” Maram echoed.

“Has your body double been among us?” Khulood clarified.

“Amani has been with me for a year,” she said. “She has stood in my place when it was too dangerous, or I was—when I believed I was unequal to the task before me.”

Her eyes roved across the room, and she laid a hand on my arm.

“Understand this,” she said. “I have welcomed Amani into my family as a Ziyadi. She is, as far as I’m concerned, as a cousin to me. You will treat her as you would treat me.”

The makhzen and wizaraa’ murmured their ascent.

“You owe her a great debt,” Maram said, softening her tone. “Without her we wouldn’t be here, together.”

My head jerked up and I caught Maram’s eye, and her small smile.

“To the future,” she cried.

“To the future!”

“Now,” Maram continued. “The work begins. Have Nadine’s body burned. I want reports from every province and the generals as well. Bring the holocasts in here.”