Tala arranged for Furat and I to meet in a garden adjacent to the royal suite. They were closed to visitors and guarded besides, but Tala promised to make sure Furat could gain entry without being remarked on or remembered. Pathways through the garden were laid with green and white tile, and the whole of it was built around a central gazebo, its structure made of pale wood, its roof tiled in red and silver. From its apex hung a beautiful brass lamp with four glass sides.

Furat stood directly beneath the lamp, her red-brown hair gleaming in the light. I eased the hood from my hair when she turned around, bringing my face out of shadow, and she grinned as she recognized me. Furat, I realized as I hugged her, was one of my few true friends in the Ziyaana. My love of her was uncomplicated—she was a kind woman and a rebel, and I wished that I was not so limited in my ability to see her.

“You look well,” I said, pulling back.

“As do you,” she replied. “I worried when I heard we’d lost contact with you.”

I gave her a wan smile. “After the confirmation ceremony … Nadine punished my family. It seemed prudent to cut ties—to destroy any evidence that I was linked to the rebels—lest I be caught in a worse act.”

Her face twisted with horror. “I’m so sorry,” she said, and squeezed my hand. “They are alive?”

I nodded. “How is the dowager?” I asked.

“In good health,” she said. “Asking for you. I told her it was unlikely, now that Maram has married Idris—but I see not?”

“A longer and more complicated story than I wish to tell tonight,” I said.

She laughed. “Alright. Then what did you come for tonight?”

“Maybe I came to see you,” I protested.

“Come now. We don’t live in that world. At least not yet.”

I gestured to the bench. “I have a proposition for you and Arinaas.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

“Idris and I—really, Idris, Maram, and I … are trying to build an alliance between the houses of the makhzen to secure Maram’s rule as queen.”

Her eyes widened.

“I think it will work … but I don’t think either wants to admit that her rule may also need to be secured by force.” I looked at Furat. “She needs an army.”

“You can’t be suggesting—”

“I have done my research. Maram is the only legal heir to this planet—the only one who can request galactic aid. The only one the galactic senate will back if we need to push the Vath out by force. If she sides with her father, any galactic alliances will be made in their favor.”

“I know that,” she said quietly.

“And the rebellion would take that risk, that assassinating her alienates us from outside help?”

She frowned. “There has never been any other option.”