“Yes,” Khepri said gravely. “But there’s more. There are rumors that some of the regional lords from upriver have joined forces to contest Lethia’s right to rule Herat.”

“So why haven’t they taken action yet?” Hassan asked.

“I don’t know,” Khepri replied. “Fear, probably. With no one else to sit on the throne if Lethia is deposed, Herat could fall into a bloody civil war. They don’t want Lethia, but … they don’t want that, either.”

Hassan nodded. “And Lethia knows that. She’ll use that fear to hold on to the throne. Khepri—”

She cut him off. “I’m going back to Nazirah. Tuva’s arranged everything for me—a boat to take down into the delta, and then a ship that will set sail from there.”

Hassan tried not to flinch. “All right.”

“I want you to come with me.”

She looked at him the same way she had the day she’d snuck inside Lethia’s villa and demanded an audience with Hassan. When she’d kissed him on the Cressida the night before their return to Nazirah. They’d both lost their way, more than once, since then. They’d made terrible choices. Done things they couldn’t take back.

But at the end of it, they were both still here.

Khepri’s expression softened. “Hassan, when you … when you got hurt, I was so terrified. All I could think about was that I never told you that I … I forgive you for what happened in Nazirah. I forgive you for trying to find another way to defeat Lethia. I know you, I know your heart, and like the compass your father gave you, I know where it points. And I know I’ve hurt you as well, lying to you about what Arash was planning at Lethia’s coronation, but—”

Hassan didn’t think. He just strode forward, took Khepri in his arms, and kissed her like he’d wanted to do for weeks. She let out a startled gasp and just as Hassan started to pull away, she melted against him, deepening the kiss. He had missed her, missed that earth and citrus scent she carried with her, missed her strong arms wrapped around him, the feeling of her hair in his hands.

Khepri slowed the kiss, the urgency fading, and then pulled back, just far enough to rest her forehead against his. “I’m not leaving without you. I don’t know if we can ever make things right between us, but I don’t care. I won’t go unless you’re there with me.”

“We’ll fix it,” Hassan promised, kissing the top of her head.

She pulled back slightly, looking him in the eye. “You’ll come with me, then?”