Their eyes met in an infinite moment. It felt like staring at the sunrise, like being outside of time. She felt a strange softness toward him, the hatred she knew she should feel already gone, and Durkhanai couldn’t help herself. She knew he could be her enemy, could be using her, or distracting her, or making a fool of her, but in the end, she just couldn’t help herself.

She wanted to know him. It was as simple as that: she wanted.

“Durkhanai!”

The moment shattered.

She turned to the sound of a familiar voice. Durkhanai grinned.

“Zarmina!”

Chapter Five

They were here!

As her cousins Zarmina and Saifulah grew closer, she saw they gave Asfandyar a strange look, glancing between the two of them. Durkhanai put on a smile, masking the slight panic that rose in her throat.

“Where have you been?” Saifullah said. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“Why did you stray so far?” Zarmina asked her.

“I didn’t realize,” Durkhanai replied. “But never mind that! Tell me about your journey!”

The twins whisked her away before she could realize she hadn’t said goodbye to Asfandyar. But when she turned around, he was already gone.

Almost like he’d never been there at all.

As they walked along the path, making their way back to the palace, they passed a small river. The water looked like a liquid moon, luminescent white and grey blue. It was beautiful but hazy; she couldn’t see what swam beneath the surface, couldn’t see anything but the current, pulling the water along.

As they made their way back, they passed a group of noblewomen speaking with Palwasha-sahiba, the ambassador from B’rung, Durkhanai caught a snippet of conversation.

“I do appreciate ho-how beautifully managed your lands are,” Palwasha-sahiba said. She spoke slowly, with a mild stutter. “B’rung, too, has many . . .”

Durkhanai slowed her pace, straining to listen further, but she could not hear.

“What is it?” Zarmina asked, slowing beside her.

“I’m not sure,” Durkhanai replied. “But we’re about to find out.”

It would be too conspicuous to turn around and follow Palwahsa-sahiba, but Durkhanai knew these trails intimately. Saifullah and Zarmina followed her wordlessly as she made a sharp turn, then sidestepped down the steep trail edge. There was a parallel path that ran below the trail the ambassadors were walking, built into the mountainside.

“Come on,” Durkhanai whispered. She quickened her pace, holding onto her jewelry so that it would not jingle. Zarmina did the same, and they slipped along until the voices grew louder above them.

This side trail was designed precisely for this purpose.

“Ambassador from B’rung,” Durkhanai whispered to her cousins. They listened closely.

“. . . I find it mo-most agreeable!” Palwasha-sahiba said, her voice high with enthusiasm.

That did not sound like an ambassador who believed Marghazar to be guilty of attacking her wali.