by Lucy Tempest
“If you couldn’t afford to collect the others, why did you go get Loujaïne of all people?” I asked them.
“That’s the second part of our escape,” he said with a grimace. “I rounded as many of the staff as I could in my path, did try to find Cherine’s father and brother, but the light didn’t help me with that…or against the guards. We were ambushed twice, each time by a dozen of them. I ordered them to stand down, but they were clearly enthralled. Having to protect Cherine and her mother hampered me a great deal. At one point, Lady Nazaryan ran off and I lost sight of her.”
It was incredibly impressive he’d held his own against so many armed and compelled guards, with so little damage. But then I knew him to be a warrior of the highest caliber. I’d seen him plow through dozens of ghouls, after all.
“It was Master Farouk who ended up helping me.” He stopped, swallowed, as if mentioning the man I believed he viewed as a beloved uncle physically hurt. “Nariman kept the staff, especially the higher officials she needed to run the palace on a longer leash, so he wasn’t confined to his quarters. He intercepted us, told me he had a diversion plan, but insisted we released my aunt first, as he feared Nariman would soon execute her. He wouldn’t listen when I said she wouldn’t do that, not even to her, so we broke her out of her quarters. But as we ran he went the opposite way. His plan was to cover for us, not escape with us.”
As one of Cahraman’s major ministers, Master Farouk resided at court, and had had a major role in Cyrus’s Bride Search. He’d been the only judge who’d been invested in me and the only one besides Cyrus who’d defended me against the king’s rejection.
The thought that he was still up there, at Nariman’s mercy, especially now she’d find out he’d helped Cyrus, and especially Loujaïne, escape, made my blood run cold.
“I knew my way through the tunnels after the light got me out of my quarters, but it still led me to the train. It wasn’t running, but there were still guards stationed there and I got into another fight with them.” Cyrus waved around his head to encompass his cuts and bruises, focusing on the one across his arched eyebrow. “The light got the train running, and I didn’t waste a second driving it down the mountain. But the guards chased us and I couldn’t ward them off efficiently while driving. It was a matter of time before we were boarded. I thought Master Farouk’s diversion plan has failed and I’ve only managed to earn everyone harsher punishments when we were caught. Then the explosions went off. Master Farouk came through and our pursuers left us and stormed back to the palace. You know the rest of the story.”
I squeezed his arm tightly, remembering all the times I’d thought the worst, eyes filling again. “Did you ask Farouk about your father?”
He shook his head as he glanced out of the window where the tower was still belching smoke in the distance. “We didn’t have time.”
“He could be executed for treason for helping us escape,” Cherine said, voice smothered in what sounded like tears. Strange that she showed more emotion for Farouk than for her family. I hadn’t even realized she liked the man. “He chose to stay behind so we could.”
It got oppressively quiet, as we all absorbed the possibility that Farouk could pay the ultimate price for his heroism. I knew Cyrus didn’t believe Nariman capable of killing, but he no longer knew what to think, and confusion could sometimes be worse than certainty.
I inhaled a steadying breath. “What happened to the red light?”
He rolled his shoulders as if to shrug off the unbearable thoughts. “It vanished as soon as the explosions went off, as if it knew I no longer needed its help.”
“Can you describe it?” I said.
“It was oval, and a faded shade of red, looked like…” He paused, suddenly gripping my hand off his forearm, raising it to point at my ring. “It looked like that!”
The carnelian stone of my ancient ring gleamed innocently, a shade darker than usual. Then it pulsed, emitting a faint halo of red light.
He reared back, alertness gripping his body. “Did you see that?”
“Yes,” I choked. It was the first time it had displayed any response since it had helped us get Ayman here.
Before I could say anything more, the girls rising voices interrupted the moment as they fell back into their old pattern of bickering.
“I don’t care that you’re hungry,” Cora gritted at Cherine, shaking her wooden spoon. “I guarantee you I’m hungrier. I’m bigger, I need more food more often, and I’ve been starving since the witch turned the world inside out.”
“And I haven’t had a proper sit-down meal since either,” Cherine protested, seeming to be regaining her previous energy now she was around us.
“You got food delivered to your rooms, you brat!” Cora hissed. “And I made food to barely last Ada and I two days, not for you lot to finish it in one meal.”
Cherine blinked. “Didn’t you always say you farmers make do with what you have? Feed us, then!”
“Typical rich girl,” Cora grumbled, stirring the rice. “You look down your nose at us until you remember we’re the gateway to your full stomachs.”
Cyrus stood abruptly, diffusing their argument. “I’ll go get us more supplies.”
“Do you have money?” When he frowned and shook his head, Cora sneered, “Do you even understand the concept of buying stuff? You probably don’t. You’re too used to everyone handing you everything, when they’re not too busy swaying to your every other whim.”
Cyrus was not amused. “Funny, I always thought I looked nothing like my aunt and yet here you are confusing me with Fairuza.”
Cora made a snorting noise, what I’d come to understand was Campanian shorthand for every kind of insult.
Before she followed it up with airing her grievances against royalty and their entitlement and uselessness, and Cyrus in particular for being the reason she’d come to Cahraman in the first place, I heaved up to my feet. “Alright, you two, after all we’ve been through together, you should never forget you’re on the same side.” I waited until they sheepishly nodded, then added, “Now sit back and get reacquainted while I make another food run before the market closes.”
Cyrus blocked my way out the kitchen. “You think I’ll let you go out stealing food and risk the guards’ mindless pursuit by yourself?”
I shrugged dismissively. “It’s what I’ve been doing for two months.”
“Not anymore,” he said adamantly. “I just got you back, and I’m never leaving your side again…”
He suddenly stopped, stared down at me, confusion filling his eyes.
And it hit me. What he was confused about.
When his father had rejected me, Cyrus had insisted we’d leave together, get married. Knowing he’d never give me up willingly, I’d used the ring to compel him to leave me. I’d hated tampering with his free will, but I’d thought I was doing the only thing to save his future, and Cahraman.
He now remembered he’d let me go, but couldn’t understand how he had. And it clearly troubled him deeply.
Now I was also certain what the red light that had guided him out had been.
After I’d almost died escaping the guards, with my defenses in tatters, I’d wished with an intensity that had burned my soul that I could see Cyrus again.
It seemed that had triggered the dormant ring, made it give Cyrus the means to escape his prison, so I could do just that.
I had no idea if it would function again, or if from now on it would only take true desperation for it to answer my wishes. But I didn’t care. What it had done was enough.
I caressed the stone, thanking the ring silently for the incomparable gift of Cyrus.
In answer, it pulsed softly, like discreet embers in a night breeze.
Chapter Five
To avoid an argument with Cyrus, I rushed to the door. He remained closer than my shadow that he bumped into me when I was forced to stop and turn to him.
I reached up and tucked a thick lock behind his ear. “You c
an’t go out, Cyrus. Guards will be on the lookout for you.”
He frowned. “I haven’t thought of that.”
“I bet you didn’t think of anything beyond running and not looking back.”
He cupped my chin, stroking my cheek lovingly. “You have the survivalist routine all figured out, don’t you? You amaze me yet again, Lady Ada of Rose Isle.”
“I’m pretty amazing, huh?” I quipped, but my voice trembled with another stab of guilt at my persisting subterfuge, spoiling the humorous effect. “But you need to lie low until they give up on looking for you.”
“How long do you think that’s going to take?”
“Depends on how competent they think you are,” I said. “If they think you’re like Cherine, they’ll think the sheer inability to fend for yourself will have you turning yourself in to them within the week. If they know what you’re really like, they’ll keep looking indefinitely.”
“I’m flattered by your confidence in my survival skills. But I’m not staying indoors.”
“Maybe only for today? Give yourself time to let everything sink in? You’ve been a hostage for weeks, and your kingdom has been usurped. That can’t be easy to think about.”
“It’s exactly why I don’t want to think.” He picked my hooded cloak and scarf off Ayman with a look of deep contrition before putting them on. “No one will know me now.” When I still hesitated, he tugged at me. “Come on. It will be like last time.”
A warm effervescence bubbled in my chest as I remembered our day in the market, when I’d still thought he was a thief like me. It had been the best day of my life as I’d basked in his company while we’d strolled through the crowds, with him giving me his arm to hang on and shading me with a parasol. We’d laughed and traded quips and confidences as he’d helped me haggle over my purchases for the third test and search for the lamp.
The lamp. Just the thought of it, and that Cyrus would find out why I’d wanted it, and what I’d caused with it, felt like an ice-cold downpour.
He wrapped the scarf tighter around his face, concealing it save for his eyes. To me, they were a dead giveaway—shining gems that put all the jewels in his family treasure vault and the stars to shame. Hopefully, it was just me who found them unique, could spot them a mile away.
“Do you even have any idea how to steal things?” I asked. All the things I’d thought he’d stolen had turned out to be his.
“I think I can manage.” My lips were starting to spread at the returning mischief in his tone when he suddenly asked, “How do you know so much about being searched for anyway?”
As a runaway orphan, shaped by evading capture and stealing to survive, I’d become an expert at dodging authorities. Life on the run made for sharpened instincts.
One day, I would be able to tell him all that. But for now, I smirked at him. “You know I learn fast.” As his eyes crinkled back at me, I raised my hand, showing him the ring’s persistent glow. “Did I mention this does grant wishes?”
He tore his scarf down, eyes widening. “It was the right ring after all? I’d almost given up that a wish-granting ring even existed.” He grabbed my hand, brought it to his lips for a fervent kiss. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in ages. Perhaps we could use it to fix our situation?”
“As in wish for groceries?”
“As in wish for everything to go back as it was before.”
My mood dropped like a rock in a puddle. “The most it can do is grant specific wishes. Apparently at its own whim, too. It hasn’t worked at all since it helped us get Ayman here.” Disappointment filled his eyes and I rushed to add, “But I do believe it was granting my wish when it showed you the way out and got the train working.”
Enthusiasm sparked in his eyes again. “If it could do that, maybe it’s capable of more than you think. Maybe it’s in the way you make the wish.”
I shook my head, stopping his hopes from soaring. It was very painful when they plummeted. “I tried everything, trust me. Even when it worked, it didn’t conjure or transport or change anything. That’s why I’ve been stealing everything we needed to survive. I think it only responded this time because I almost got caught, and in the aftermath of the near-death experience, my wish to see you again was truly desperate.”
He groaned as he reached for me, crushing me in trembling arms. “And you wanted to go out alone? You’re never leaving my sight again.”
I burrowed into his broad chest, nodding. I couldn’t let him out of mine, either.
He finally pulled away, held both my arms, looking down into my eyes as if with a pledge. “Now, we’ll do this together. We’ll figure everything out together.”
My heart convulsed. That was what he’d told me before I’d compelled him to walk away from me. He’d insisted we’d solve everything, as long as we had each other.
Before my now-near tears started flowing again, I pushed away from him and said, “Before we embark on our heist, a word of advice. Vendors in the produce corner may sic the guards on you, but butchers have cleavers.”
He pushed away his cloak, lips quirking. “And I have a scimitar.” I began to exclaim, and he caressed my arm soothingly. “Not that I’ll be using it. We’re going to be stealthy and be back before Cora gets dangerously hungry. We don’t want her biting any of our heads off for real.”
I giggled. I couldn’t believe I giggled.
Smiling that special smile he only had for me, he opened the door, bowing me out.
Once in the street, I had us sticking to the slanted afternoon shadows. Whenever we spotted a regiment, and that was too many times, with guards searching buildings and questioning bystanders, we hid until they passed. I only risked walking out in the open when we were in much busier areas.
At one point, Cyrus spoke, and his voice had lost any lightness, was deep and ragged. “I still can’t imagine how she did this. Could she have had this kind of power all along?”
What seemed to distress him most was what used to be the majestic river flowing through Sunstone. During the genie’s transformation, it had turned to lava that had scorched its bed and spilled on its banks in a trail of destruction. Now it was an endless serpent of igneous rock. It contributed to the city’s isolation from the rest of Cahraman, keeping out boats that carried travelers and trade. Not that anyone wanted to come here anymore. Anyone who had a place to escape to was long gone.
His gaze grew more pained at every ruin we passed. “I know she must have wanted revenge for being banished by my father—but this?”
Foul, oily guilt slid down my throat. I swallowed. “I guess she proved him right.”
Cyrus exhaled, reluctant to condemn her even now. I thought he’d say nothing more when he suddenly added, “Remember the day I first took you through the tunnels, when I told you I was busy working on a project because its manager has vanished?”
I nodded. It had been the day before the second test, when I’d been sure I’d be eliminated. He’d appeared outside the chamber Cherine had used for dance practice after days of silence, telling me he hadn’t forgotten about his promise to help me but had been detained against his will—an excuse I’d one day give Bonnie.
“That project was the Bride Search,” he said. “As I once told you, its original manager was Lady Rostam. She was the one who suggested the idea when I refused to bow down to tradition and convenience and marry Fairuza. Then she argued with my father for it, and helped me set everything up.”
He’d told me some of that during the Final Five tests, that once she’d been banished Loujaïne had taken over her role. He’d also reinforced Nariman’s claim that she’d practically raised him. I still wondered how someone that cunning and ruthless could have helped shape someone as noble and benevolent as him. Unless she hadn’t always been like this.
I’d also considered that before. But it didn’t matter what she’d been. It only mattered what she’d become. What she’d done, to me, to him, to the whole kingdom.
But while he’d barely
told me the basics of their history before, he seemed bound on expanding on it now. “We spent months working together. She’d chosen most of the girls, studied their backgrounds, prepared their invitations and quarters. But the hardest part was creating the tests.”
It was no wonder she’d known how to forge an invitation and send me into Sunstone to infiltrate the competition and get her the lamp. But as she’d later told me, she couldn’t have coached me on the tests. Wards against tampering with them had been placed to assure no one got unfair help passing them. Which had left me floundering and struggling to survive Elimination for five whole weeks.
I’d ended up winning, only for everything to go wrong, for the king to reject me, and for me to provide her with what she’d needed to exact her terrible vengeance on Cahraman.
Cyrus went on, “The first test was designed to weed out the lazy actresses, those who were trained to say and do what was supposed to get them chosen, with no self-determined thought in their heads. Asking you to make and pour the tea was to test levels of entitlement and humility. Seeing how you’d use the book was to gauge passion for knowledge or lack thereof. Breaking the cane investigated your problem-solving abilities.”
“And choosing one of the gold, silver or lead boxes? What was that for?”
“That was to test your decision-making and reveal your priorities. That’s why each box had a warning on it.”
“Those notes were warnings?”
The note on the gold box had said: Whoever chooses me will get what they desire the most. On the silver: Whoever chooses me will get what they deserve. And on the lead: Whoever chooses me must gamble all they have. I’d chosen the lead one.
“They certainly weren’t assurances,” he said, that hint of his sense of humor resurfacing.
“My friends chose gold and silver, got responses that were both funny and awful.” I remembered them vividly, partly because I’d been impressed that our then-unknown prince was sharp enough to pen something so witty yet scathing, and partly because I’d gotten none myself. “My box was empty.”