When she first learned of Mustafa’s death, grief had run through her body with electrical force. She felt it drill deep into the earth beneath her feet, so deep she thought she’d never move from that spot again. But Hanan was different. If she left now, perhaps she could have a chance at true happiness.

“Forgive me,” said Ally, interrupting Rania’s reverie. “Baghdad is your home, not London. That was a stupid question.”

“No, it wasn’t,” blurted Rania. She imagined Hanan exploring London’s cobbled lanes, far from Uday, far from Saddam. Free from fear.

“I’m too old to start again.” Rania words rushed out like it was their one last chance. “But for a young woman, perhaps it would be different. If she’s smart and hardworking, a young woman could make a good life in London. What do you think, Ally? Am I wrong?”

“It’s true,” she said. “London is one of the world’s great cities.”

Rania’s mind lurched into overdrive. In a year or so, Hanan would turn sixteen. Rania had a cousin in London, as well as friends from her college days. Surely, they’d take Hanan under their wing. And it didn’t have to be forever. One day, God willing, it would be safe for Hanan to return.

A gust of wind raced through the garden. It plucked leaves from the eucalypt and sent them spiraling toward the grass. Rania saw nothing of this. Instead, she did math in her head—it would take at least a year to pay the bribes for a passport. Rania eyed the dinar in Ally’s hand. For a moment, she felt like a starving woman hovering over a warm loaf of bread.

When her mother arrived this weekend, Rania decided to ask if she had any jewels hidden away, sequestered for an emergency like this. But she suspected they were already in the hands of Basra’s moneylenders. Her mother had expensive tastes, and the moneylenders never said no to the sheikha. She eyed the wad of bills in Ally’s hand again.

“Did I tell you, my dear, I’m staging a new exhibition? But I must warn you, the works are more expensive than usual. The inspiration is Scheherazade. You know her?”

“Of course,” said Ally. “She’s the narrator of One Thousand and One Nights: ‘Aladdin’s Magic Carpet,’ ‘Sinbad’s Adventures,’ ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,’ all those great tales.”

Rania shot her a sideways glance.