Her mouth hung agape in shock for a moment, and then to my horror I saw a glimmer of tears. None of them fell, but I remembered a different girl who had come to me, desperate to do right by her mother’s legacy. Who had been terrified of all the things that were expected of her, of the two worlds she had to straddle to avoid death.

She swallowed. “I didn’t do that.”

“Someone did.”

“And so I should pay the price?”

“Someone should,” I snapped, then took a deep breath.

“I liked things before,” she said softly. Here again was the girl I’d come to know in the last days before her coronation, peeking out at me again. Not gentle-hearted, but frightened and in need of an ally.

“Before I made things difficult with my split loyalties?”

“Yes.”

“But they aren’t split at all,” I told her. If the girl I’d known for an instant would come back. If she would trust me again. “I risked my life for you, Maram. That is where my loyalty lies.”

“If that’s true, why won’t you do this for me?” She looked so frightened, and I knew it wasn’t of the marriage bed. I knew her, though she wanted to pretend I didn’t. Something else was at play here. If this had been about her marital duties, she would have sent Nadine in her place—what an easy thing it would have been to do, and for Maram in particular. I will not bed down with savages.

I took another breath and closed my eyes. It was an unfair thing she asked of me, but she didn’t know the half of it. But I knew her well enough to know that she would not show this side of herself to me unless her need were truly dire. What that need could be, I could not begin to imagine. But Maram showed the softest, most vulnerable parts of herself to no one.

“I will not sleep with him. Not even for you,” I said to her. “And if he asks me why you are missing, I shall send him to you.”

Relief washed away her fear and doubt and brought forth the girl I’d known briefly, bright-eyed, beautiful, and happy. Her head dropped and she braced her hands against the bench as if to get herself under control. When she came to her feet she didn’t look at me. Instead she walked to the glittering outfit hanging off the wardrobe. She raised a ringed hand to it and trailed a touch down its center.