by Anna Kashina
He shrugged and turned away.
Ellah felt an urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, but with everything she knew about his skill and his temper she really didn’t think it was a good idea.
“Kara is uncomfortable around men,” she said. “She told me herself once. She hides it well, but surely, you of all people should know this about her. Don’t you?”
He hesitated, his eyes for the first time in this conversation acquiring just a touch of reason.
“I know that she really resents the way all the consorts here have been eyeing her since we arrived,” Ellah went on. “So, while she may indeed be staying in the Queen’s chambers by choice right now, I think with how long it has been, with everything both you and I know about her, it wouldn’t hurt to check, would it?”
“Check?”
Ellah felt a pang of pity when she saw the way he looked up at her, hesitant and hopeful like a child.
“You do still remember that I can detect whether people are telling the truth, do you?” she asked.
Mai raised his eyebrows. “Is this a trick question?”
“No. It’s just that with the way you looked at me right now, I wasn’t sure your mind is truly in this conversation.”
He leaned back. “Point taken. And yes, I do remember. So what?”
“Let’s go to the Queen’s chambers,” Ellah said, “and ask about Kara.”
“At this hour of the night?”
Ellah sighed. “Look. You made no secret of the way you feel about her, or the kind of relationship you have. If you disturb anyone, they would just assume you are being possessive and jealous, right?”
“Right.” His side glance held only partial embarrassment about it.
“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked.
He lifted his gaze to her. “No. That’s what I am, isn’t it?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. You’re being protective. And, for all we know, you might have a very good reason for it.”
Mai looked at her thoughtfully. Ellah was relieved to see reason back in his eyes, but she also ached at the vulnerability she saw. Losing Kara would break his heart. If nothing else, this knowledge alone was worth doing everything possible to make sure she was safe.
The royal guards stationed outside their suite sprang to attention as they saw Ellah and Mai emerge from their quarters. Their demeanor suggested that they had originally planned to go for their weapons, but paused at the sight of Mai’s determined look.
“Anything we can help you with, Aghat Mai?” one of the guards asked.
Mai lifted his chin. “I wish to go to the Queen’s quarters.”
The guard frowned. “At this late hour?”
Something in his tone of voice stirred Ellah to attention. It wasn’t exactly a lie, especially because the guard’s words weren’t even a statement, but her truthsense told her this guard knew more than he wanted them to believe, and that Mai’s wish to find the Queen’s quarters had alarmed him. She held out two fingers to indicate a lie.
Mai’s hand unfolded with a dagger that seemed to have instantly sprouted off his wrist. Ellah blinked, watching the razor-sharp blade press against the guard’s throat, forcing the man into stillness. She edged away. With the amount of time she spent with the Majat she should be used to these kinds of displays by now, but Mai just had a way to take her by surprise every time.
The other guard glanced at Ellah, but before he could move, two Emeralds stepped up to his sides. He froze, his darting eyes taking in the scene in the obvious realization that he and his comrade were badly outnumbered. He turned to Mai, his face folding into a semblance of a friendly smile.
“Are you worried about your woman?”
Mai’s eyes flared. “Don’t push it.”
The guard swallowed nervously. “She is fine, I am sure. The Queen’s consorts are, um, very experienced at entertainment, if you know what I mean.” He winked. “Why don’t you go back to your quarters and wait until morning?”
Mai’s eyes flicked to Ellah’s hand, still holding out two fingers. She saw a brief acknowledgement in his gaze as he reached forward in a gesture that would have seemed lazy and drawn if it wasn’t so fast. His fingers briefly connected with the guard’s neck. Ellah watched, wide-eyed, as the large man folded down to the floor, slowly and gently, as if curling up to sleep. She glanced at Mai, still holding the other guard at blade point without as much as a glance at his fallen opponent.
“Now,” Mai said. “Let me repeat my original request. I wish to go to the Queen’s quarters.”
The guard led them through a network of winding passages, some broad and well lit, some narrow and dark. It felt fortunate that at this hour of the night the palace stood empty. Ellah had no doubt that Mai, and his two Emerald guards that kept up their determined stride behind him, were easily up to the challenge of handling anyone in their way, but she was glad that for the moment it didn’t seem necessary. As she focused on keeping up, she briefly wondered if the royal guard was intentionally trying to lead them in circles, but the colors in her mind told her the man was at his wits’ end with fear, too scared to entertain any possibility of a deliberate plotting. She felt relieved. Mai seemed far enough on edge to break the guard’s neck at the merest of provocations. While she knew that Mai normally didn’t kill unless he really had to, she didn’t want to test his resolve right now.
When they finally arrived at an ornate set of double doors, Ellah felt winded. The Majat didn’t show any signs of tiredness, but the guard Mai was still holding at a blade point was panting too, from fear or exhaustion, she couldn’t tell. Either way, she didn’t envy his place right now.
After a lengthy knocking, a sleepy-looking young man swung the door open. Seeing Mai, he moved to slam it shut, but Mai stepped into the door frame with the speed that made Ellah blink. His free hand flicked to the neck of the guard he was holding in a brief gesture that sent the man tumbling backward, collapsing like a large sack. The Queen’s consort watched the scene with widening eyes.
“Where’s Kara?” Mai asked.
The man’s face lost some of its distracted expression as he looked up at Mai again. His face folding into a sneer. Ellah braced herself, preparing for the worst.
“She’s sleeping,” the young man said.
To her surprise, Ellah detected no lie in this statement. She saw Mai’s eyes briefly flick to the one finger she was holding out.
Mai receded a bit, sheathing his knife. “Is she all right?”
The man’s grin widened. “She’s fine. Just exhausted, after our men showed her a really good time. I’d say you shouldn’t be expecting her back any time soon.”
A complex set of colors flickered up in Ellah’s mind. The man wasn’t exactly lying, but his words certainly carried a double meaning. Worse, she detected pride in his voice at his own skill of skirting the truth.
She held two fingers up, to make sure Mai could see them well, but she didn’t need to bother. Mai’s face froze, the dagger instantly back in his hand as he lay the blade across the consort’s neck, pressing him against the door frame. He heaved a long breath, leaving Ellah to wonder how close he actually came to slitting the man’s throat.
“I want to see her,” Mai said, his voice terrifyingly quiet. “Now.”
The consort’s eyes darted around, trying and failing to find any possibility of escape.
Mai held his dagger in place as he kicked the door open, revealing a large room dominated by a pond at the far end. Ellah edged inside after him, glancing around. The room did look as if it recently housed a very large orgy, with overturned divans and pillows scattered among the serving trays and half-emptied goblets. She frowned. Was it truly an orgy that caused such ruckus? Or was it a fight?
“Where is she?” Mai asked.
The man’s voice came out broken, so different from the way he sounded just recently. “Not here.”
Mai pressed his blade tighter against the man’s skin, drawing blood. �
��I’m only going to ask you one last time.”
The man gasped. “I… I don’t know where she is. The Queen and Prince Jamal, they… they took her somewhere.”
Mai turned around to look at Ellah, holding out one finger. He glanced past her to his Emerald guards. Following his silent signal the men darted into the doorway leading from the large room presumably to the sleeping quarters.
“The consorts are all sleeping,” Mai’s captive said. “Your men are going to wake them up.”
“Bloody shame.”
The consort kept very still against Mai’s pressing blade.
Voices and screams carried in from the inner chamber, followed by half-naked men stumbling in through the doorway. Ellah counted more than two dozen, all of them tanned, muscular, and young. Some wore no more than a loin cloth. She hastily looked away.
“No sign of her, Aghat Mai,” one of the Emeralds said.
Mai’s captive raised his head. “I told you. She’s not here. The Queen ordered us all to stay quiet when they left with Kara.”
“Where did they take her?” Mai demanded.
The consort shivered. “Not sure. The Queen spoke about the secret dungeon…” He swallowed, words pouring out of him in a nervous clutter. “Lady Kara fought like a lion. Even half-drugged, Prince Jamal had to use all the help of his men to apprehend her.” The phrase ended in a yelp as Mai pressed his blade tighter against the man’s throat.
Prince Jamal. The reverence with which the consort mentioned his name didn’t escape Ellah. Apparently they all held his fighting skill in high regard, the fact she assumed Mai was now keeping in mind.
“What do they want with her?” Mai kept his eyes on Ellah when he asked the question. The consort may have guessed the game, because he looked at Ellah too, with a plea in his eyes.
“I… I don’t really know. They spoke of Aljahara, I heard them.”
Aljahara. That word again, the one the crowd had chanted as it followed them to the palace. Ellah kept one finger out, for Mai to see.
“What does it mean?” Mai asked.
The consort raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you know any of our history?”
Mai’s eyes flared. “Do I look like a bloody scholar?”
The consort whimpered as he pressed tighter against the wall. “It’s a legend. Of a rightful queen. Someone who would have ruled if Queen Jameera hadn’t died in childbirth nineteen years ago.”
“A legend.” Mai’s face contorted again and Ellah saw his hand holding the dagger clench briefly, as if he was finding trouble controlling it. She took a step back, praising her stars that she wasn’t the one he was holding at a dagger point right now.
“Can you please let me go?” the consort asked. “I really don’t know anything else.”
“You will take us to the dungeon.”
“I… I don’t know the way … Only the Queen and her few trusted advisors know where it is.”
Mai’s gaze slid over Ellah, holding out one finger, onward to one of his Emerald Guards. He flicked a quick hand sign. The man picked up one of the groveling consorts, holding him at knife point as he dragged him through the doorway. Ellah heard their muffled arguing as they sped away.
Mai exchanged a few words with the other Emerald in a strange language – the Majat dialect, Ellah assumed. She watched the Emerald grab another consort off the floor and rush outside.
“Now.” Mai turned to the rest of the men. “Go back to sleep. If anyone here runs off to raise an alarm, we’ll skin him alive and hang him by his toes in the palace gateway. I trust, with this knowledge, you can all enjoy a good rest until morning.” He turned to his captive. “Lead the way. We’re going back to our quarters.”
The consort stumbled forward. Mai signaled for Ellah to follow. Only now did she realize why each Emerald captured a consort. They all needed guides to navigate the meshwork of palace passages.
Her stomach clenched with worry. She had no idea why the Queen had turned on Kara after acting so friendly in the throne room, but she hoped Mai would be able to rescue her before it was too late.
32
The Secret Dungeon
As they approached their quarters, Ellah heard a strange sound coming from inside. She could have sworn it sounded like a woman’s scream, muffled by the distance and the thickness of the doors in between. She glanced at Mai, reassured by his lack of reaction. She must have imagined it. No way Mai would have remained so calm at the mere possibility of it.
By the time they reached the doors, she thoroughly convinced herself it was all in her head. Just then another, louder scream cut through the stillness. This time there was no mistake. Worse, the sound was definitely coming from the inside of the Majat quarters. Ellah stiffened, glancing from Mai to the calm face of the Emerald guard standing by the door.
Mai still seemed unperturbed as he dragged his captive consort inside, pressing the dagger to his neck tighter as the man tried to twist his head in search of the source of the screaming. Ellah followed them, ignoring the sudden weakness in her knees, trying to convince herself that whatever waited for them inside couldn’t possibly be that bad. These thoughts disappeared instantly as she stepped into the common room’s doorway.
A dozen scantily clad women huddled on the floor at the center of the room. Armed Majat formed a ring around them. It took Ellah a moment to put the two together, realizing that the Majat were mostly the ones who had been picked out from the throne room to entertain the court ladies, and the women were the ladies themselves, the noblewomen and officials of Shayil Yara. They all looked flustered and very under-dressed, as if dragged out of their beds and rushed away without a chance to even grab a suitable garment to cover themselves.
Ellah’s eyes trailed to Lance. The Diamond’s own clothes looked less neat than usual, as if donned in a hurry. The sight of the beautiful dark-skinned blonde shriveling at his feet sent her heart racing. Princess Nelimah. Dear Shal Addim. Ellah edged away, hoping that in the turmoil her shock wouldn’t be too noticeable.
Mai didn’t break his stride as he threw his captive consort into the group of women. Some of them screamed and leaned away, others held out their hands to steady the young man. Mai didn’t even glance at them as he swept past, headed toward Lance.
Belatedly, Ellah thought back to how Mai had sent away his Emerald guards from the Queen’s quarters, giving them orders in the Majat dialect. Her thoughts unraveled slowly, like poorly oiled gears, as she worked out the entire gambit, a devious plan that must have been obvious to Mai and his men right from the start. She had been so naïve thinking that the Majat went with the noble ladies solely for entertainment. The fact that this also enabled them to take hostages any time they pleased hadn’t even crossed her mind. And now, she was having serious trouble coming to terms with the idea.
She wondered how the Majat were able to bring their ladies here so quickly, ahead of her and Mai. She guessed they all had to run with all their might to get here on time.
Mai and Lance exchanged a few brisk phrases, then turned to Princess Nelimah, who shrank away, sobbing and pulling the light fabric of her night shift tightly around herself. A chill ran down Ellah’s spine. With the stakes they were facing, she was certain Mai was not going to show any mercy if the Princess didn’t cooperate.
She was debating with herself whether she should speak up and risk drawing Mai’s wrath onto herself, when a light rustle behind her announced the arrival of Egey Bashi. The Keeper stopped beside her, his jaw falling open at the sight. Mai spun around, his face relaxing as he recognized the newcomer.
“I found out something important, Aghat Mai,” Egey Bashi said. His voice was composed, but the way he kept his eyes on the women told Ellah how shocked he was. Still, she knew that even Egey Bashi wouldn’t be able to convince the Majat to change their tactics. They were witnessing Mai’s ruthless side, the one he normally hid so well under his dazzling façade.
Mai’s eyes briefly flickered to the scene. “More important than
this, Magister?”
“No, but potentially relevant to this situation. I think I know why they took Kara. It has to do with Aljahara, the word we heard on the streets this morning.”
Mai stiffened, his hand pointing to the consort he had dragged in earlier, now huddled between two women in the center of the room. “Our new friend, Lamar, just told me of this legend.”
Egey Bashi shook his head. “Not a legend, Aghat.”
Mai raised his eyebrows.
“Well, it is a legend, according to the official chronicles,” Egey Bashi went on hurriedly. “Fortunately, my experience with libraries taught me where to look for unofficial ones.”
Mai shifted his grip on the dagger. “Forgive me, Magister, but unless this is important, I have other things I need to do at the moment.”
“It is important, Aghat Mai. Please listen.”
Mai lowered his dagger. “Very well. But make it quick. We don’t have much time.”
The Keeper stepped forward. “When Queen Jameera, Rajmella’s older sister, died nineteen years ago, official chronicles recorded it as death in childbirth as she brought Prince Jamal into this world.”
Lamar leaned forward earnestly. “It was. My father was one of Queen Jameera’s personal guards. He felt shattered when it happened. She was the greatest Queen – and still so young when she died.”
Egey Bashi nodded. “True, this was a tragedy, even if perhaps a preventable one. Officially, Queen Jameera’s life did indeed end with the birth of her son. Unofficially, however, I was able to learn not only that her death was far from accidental, but that she also bore a daughter on that day. The Queen lived long enough to name her. Aljahara. If this daughter still lived, she would have been the rightful heir to the throne.”
Lamar shook his head, flinching and receding under Mai’s gaze. “It’s a legend, no more. There was no Aljahara.”
Egey Bashi turned back to Mai. “Well, my source says otherwise. The Queen’s death was part of a coup, aimed to destroy the entire royal line. Fortunately, the plot was discovered in time to save the rest of the royal family. The perpetrators were executed, and Rajmella, the Queen’s next of kin, was placed on the throne at the age of eleven. However, before all that, the conspirators were able to smuggle a newborn girl out of the palace. According to the chronicle, this girl was sent to the Majat Guild, and her past has been erased from Shayil Yara’s official documents, leaving only the legend of Aljahara.”