“I don’t understand,” I said faintly. My dress felt too tight now, and Idris’s grip tightened on me as I felt myself sway. I was not some damsel, but I had endured much in the last few weeks, and it seemed that this, here, was where I would break.

I sat and braced my hands on the couch cushions, waiting for my mother to continue.

“You,” I started, then stopped. “You’re—the dowager’s—are you her niece?”

My mother laughed. “Yes. I was not always as you knew me, yabnati.”

A princess, I thought wonderingly. I had known many princesses in the last year. My mother reminded me of some. But general seemed to fit her very well. It was not a surprise that she’d hidden this—the Ziyadis had been hunted nearly into extinction, until the dowager, Najat, and Maram were all who were left. There was no sense in or reason for telling her children, who in turn might tell someone else.

“I will not tell you all of it,” she said, sitting beside me. “We were exiled after my father lost. And then the Vath came, and they hunted us down. I escaped their search by chance. And then they came again and took you away.”

My eyes widened. “Maram knew,” I thought.

“She saw me before you did—apparently Najat kept pictures of the two of us together at her hunting estate. She was here to greet us while you were at the souk and recognized me.”

“You conquered half the world?” I said, on the verge of laughter.

“The important thing to remember, Amani,” she said, patting my knee, “is I did not conquer all of it.”

I tried to still my thoughts. We still had contract negotiations ahead of us—and my mother arriving as the long-lost daughter of the Ziyadis would send a ripple through the palace. Dihya.

“Should we cancel—” I began, and Idris knelt in front of me before I could finish.

“Our wedding—our marriage—is a new beginning for everyone,” he said. “And our elders will behave accordingly.”

“My future son-in-law is right,” my mother said. “This is a chance to heal old wounds, not take up old wars. It will be good to see my aunt again. Besides—it will be much more fun to extract a city from the Salihis for my daughter, instead of conquering one for my father in war.”