He sighed, running a hand through his curls. “A few years ago, Abu died in the war against the Kebzus, and Ammi died shortly after from grief,” he said. “I never knew somebody could die from grief, you know, but after Ammi—I understood.”

Durkhanai gasped. “I’m sorry.” He was an orphan as well, and while she’d never known her parents, making their absence perhaps a little more bearable, it seemed he had lost his parents after years of love.

Asfandyar shrugged, but his voice was cloudy when he said, “It was a long time ago.” He cleared his throat, confident and easygoing once more. “Now, will you tell me why you’re Princess Pouty today?”

Her lips quirked. “There is some sort of sickness spreading through the villages. I’ve visited a few in the past weeks, and the people are falling ill in a manner most alarming, especially considering it’s near summer.”

“You have medicine here in the palace, don’t you?” he asked. “Why not distribute it?”

“I asked, but we do not have much.”

“Perhaps what you are looking for is hidden from you.”

“I have access to everything,” she said, voice icy. “So if you are trying to imply my grandparents are hiding something from me, you are wrong.”

“Perhaps you aren’t looking in the right places,” he said, unbothered by her thorns. “The palace is huge, after all. I doubt you’ve searched every nook and cranny.”

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“I would check a cupboard in the corridor east of the infirmary,” he replied casually.

“And how, exactly, would you know that?”

“You’ve been busy, so have I,” he said with a shrug.

She wanted to pout, then remembered how he had said not let every emotion show. It made her want to pout even more. “Why are you here?” she asked instead. “Hoping to manipulate information out of me?”

“I doubt you have any,” he replied easily. “I’m here to find evidence of my own, and truth be told, the more I see, the less I am convinced Marghazar was behind the summit attack.”

The way he said it made it seem like an insult.

“Don’t think we are cunning enough?”

“Precisely. The attack was immensely nuanced and had to have been carried out by somebody who knew the area meticulously—your lot never leave your lands.”

Not that she needed Asfandyar’s approval or his help, but Durkhanai was glad he believed in Marghazar’s innocence as well. Besides, he made a good point.

Plus, he had been at the summit—he had witnessed the attack. She had been racking her brain for the past month for ways to find proof of her people’s innocence but had come up with nothing.