#jalal al-khoury

[fish-champ16]

idc what y’all say i blame Tariq for Rahim’s death 100%

bro wants to act on his own impulse? fine, go ahead, but don’t risk others while you go pull that stupid shit. 

[vesperascorpio]

“I will personally beat senseless the first person to speak ill of you.”

Despina arched a dubious brow.

“Don’t sneer at me. I may be small, but, when pushed, I can strike out with a surprising amount of force.” Shahrzad sniffed. “If you don’t believe me, ask Jalal.”

“You struck Jalal?” Despina frowned.

Shahrzad shook her head, a smile playing at the edges of her lips. “Khalid.”

“What?” Despina gasped. “You . . . struck the caliph?”

“Across the face.”

Despina’s hand shot to her mouth, and a bubble of laughter burst from her lips.

[babyfairybaekhyun]

He wagged his eyebrows, appreciating the challenge, as he pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to the string. When he drew it back, the edges of the unyielding longbow barely shifted. Jalal was an excellent archer.

[baileysbabbles]

I’m almost done with The Wrath and the Dawn and it’s definitely growing on me a lot. I think I was so annoyed and confused with the beginning that I let that stop me from enjoying the rest of the book but once I kind of let that go I’ve been able to feel more emotion towards the story. There are still things that really annoy me though.

I’ve really started to feel a lot more emotion from Shahrzad. In the beginning I didn’t feel a lot from her and she was kind of hard for me to understand because of that. I really like her because she’s so witty and clever and sort of sneakily, but not really, rude. She’s very passionate about what she believes and feels and I feel like we don’t always get that from female YA protagonists.

I still really don’t like Khalid that much but I guess he’s grown on me a little bit. Some of his layers have kind of peeled back and we’ve gotten to see more of his thoughts and feelings and secrets but he’s still too stubborn and uncooperative and secretive. He’s just kind of a flat character and most of the things he does annoy me. The only thing about him that feels real to me is how much he loves Shahrzad but he can’t just clearly show it or say it. He always skirts around it. The way he treats Shahrzad just kind of annoys me too. He can’t just completely be himself with her but he still feels like Shahrzad should be truthful and kind to him and she should be presented like his queen. That probably doesn’t make any sense but I don’t really know how else to describe why he annoys me. I do feel like their relationship isn’t nearly as forced anymore. I feel like Shahrzad and Khalid do truly care about each other but I still don’t ship them. They are too much alike and it is unhealthy for them. They are both stubborn and prideful and secretive. Anytime they are fighting in any way they seem to be able to talk for two minutes and their feelings for each other just make the situation magically better and what the other person did doesn’t matter anymore.

One relationship that does feel forced to me is Despina and Shahrzad’s friendship. They share nothing in common and show no real care for each other to make me believe that they are really friends.

I really like Jalal. He’s a good friend and ally for Shahrzad and Khalid to have in their side. He is very wise and loyal.

I still kind of like Tariq but he is worrying me because I feel like he is going to do something very reckless and it will end very badly for someone I like. I don’t really ship him and Shahrzad anymore because she doesn’t truly love him anymore and he deserves someone who does.

Something else that really annoys me is the plot. A few times now we have been given a few pages from Jahandar’s point of view. I really like these few pages because I like Jahandar and whatever he’s doing is very intriguing but once those few pages are over his storyline is completely forgotten about and we are just left with a bunch of questions until the next random few pages from his point of view. I also feel like we were introduced to this grand plan of Tariq and Rahim’s and now we don’t know anything more about it or if it’s going according to plan. I just feel like there are some things that were introduced and then forgotten about that left me with a lot of questions.

[elliepassmore]

The Wrath and the Dawn Review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: fantasy, Arabic folklore, magic, 1001 Arabian Nights, enemies to lovers, POC characters, revenge, fairytale retellings, strong female characters I waited a while to read Wrath for the first time. I'd heard a lot of good things about it, but I was hesitant to pick it up, believing a lot of the hype to be false. Boy was I wrong. This has turned into on of my favorite series. Based on 1,001 Nights, the premise is that the Caliph of Khorasan, Khalid, is marrying girls and then killing them at dawn with no explanation. There have been 72 girls before Shahrzad. Including her best friend. Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid, determined to use the one night she has left to kill him. She lures him in by telling stories that don't end at dawn, determined to live long enough to find his weaknesses and exploit them. Shahrzad 'Shazi' has such a strong voice, resolute and unique. The book is told mostly from her 3rd POV, so we get to see her thought process as she navigates the palace and the people Khalid has tasked with watching her. As determined as she is, she's also very much aware of the fact that she could die at any dawn. She's also not completely consumed by her mission. She allows herself to care about the people around her--Jalal, Despina, even the Rajput--showing an interesting depth to her character. This provides an ironic foil by one of the other narrators, Shazi's childhood love Tariq, who cannot find the capacity to care for anyone under Khalid's roof other than Shazi. On the flip, Khalid also provides an interesting voice in his chapters. There is a burden he's carrying that Ahdieh cleverly talks around during his narrations. There's obviously something wrong, but we only get bits and pieces of what it is. Despite mostly seeing him from Shazi's point of view, it's hard to hate him even when she does. We never actually see him kill anybody until later in the book, when it's in defense of someone else, and we don't see him being cruel either--not to Shazi and not to anyone else in the palace. Ahdieh has written him as the 'villian' in such a way that he has done bad things without creating a problematic character/relationship. It can be a tricky balance (hello, Grisha Trilogy). Tariq is another narrator, though we only get a few chapters from his point of view. I can honestly say that I liked him at first, but the more we got to see inside his head as the story progressed, knowing what I did from Khalid and Shazi, the less I liked him. He's so desperate to get Shahrzad out of the palace, away from Khalid, that he is willing to go to war for it. When he does get in contact with Shazi, he doesn't listen to what she's saying, just continues on in his blind arrogance that he's doing what's right. The final narrators, who barely have any chapters at all, are Shazi's father, Jahandar, and her sister, Irsa. Jahandar is ashamed he let her marry the caliph for revenge when she could so easily die, and a lot of his narrative is about doing anything in her power to gain her back. Irsa only has one chapter, I believe, though she plays a larger narrative part in the Rose, which gives background for her and Jahandar escaping the city after Shazi marries Khalid. As it is based on 1001 Nights, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Shazi and Khalid fall in love. At first, it feels like the relationship is going too fast, but Ahdieh is quick to remedy that, including time jumps of weeks that turn into months, ensuring that, while it is, at first, the typical "we've known each other two days and are so in love" to, "we've known each other several months now and are in love." It's still quick, but it's a better timeline than a lot of YA fiction I saw published around the same time or earlier. The plot largely centers around Shazi trying to kill Khalid, then around the big reveal we get in the last third. The second plot is Tariq's as he gathers allies to make a move against Khalid. The Big Reveal plot and Tariq's plot carry into the next book as two of the main plots. There are also drops of subplots that Ahdieh gives in Wrath that, if you're paying attention, you can pick up and start figuring out how they'll come into play in Rose. The plots blend together well, coming off as appropriate for the story and timeline, each relating to the other in some way. Further, the plots are transferable into the next book so we don't have to worry about being introduced to some new, random threat. A fabulous book overall, strong characters, strong plot. It's especially a good book to read if you like retellings or Arabic folklore.

[emjenenla]

Holy shit, I just started the Moth and the Flame (Renee Ahdieh’s novella about Despina and Jalal) and AVA’S STILL ALIVE. I knew this novella was set before the books but I didn’t realize it was that far before the books. I also didn’t realize that living!Ava was something I wanted until this moment. All in all, I’m happy.

[nate-macauley]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THE DESPINA PLOT TWOST IN THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER FUCKED ME UP BADLY

[themarvelousbunch]

The Warth and the Dawn - My Dream Cast

I've heard rumors of that fabulous book being adapted to a movie so here's my fan cast

Younes Bendjima as Khalid İbn al-Rashid

Imaan Hammam as Shahrzad al Khayzuran

Rami Malek as Jalal al-Khoury

Sophie Turner as Despina

Assaad Bouad as Tariq al-Ziyad

Mayan el Sayed as Shiva bin-Latief

Yasmine Sabry as Yasmine al-Sharif

Essam Ferris as Khalid's uncle Salim Al-Sharif

[vesperascorpio]

It was a bedraggled band of souls that trudged through the sands toward the Caliph of Khorasan’s encampment.

 Three young women—all dressed in torn finery, two of them smelling of sewage—made their way before the guards tasked with keeping watch over the camp’s entrance at night. When a hulking warrior with skin of burnished copper came into view, the soldiers drew their swords. Two came to stand before him.

The smallest of the three girls spoke first.

 “I’d like to speak to the caliph.” She tucked a poorly shorn wave of hair behind an ear, smudging even more dirt across her face in the process.  At that, the leader of the night guard began laughing. “And I’d like a harem and a flagon of wine, while we’re at it.”  The girl’s eyes flashed through a myriad of colors before settling on green. “Don’t be a fool.”  “Don’t presume to lecture me, you filthy little—”  The brute of a warrior moved to strike. But was stayed by the smallest girl before he could proceed.  “Watch your words, soldier,” the plump girl with the disheveled crown of curls said in an imperious tone. “That’s the Calipha of Khorasan.”  The soldier’s sense of humor began to fade. “And I’m the Shahrban of Rey.”  “I’m afraid you’re not,” the imperious girl replied. “He’s older. And not nearly as stupid.”  The other soldiers could not help but laugh at her rejoinder.  “Enough!” The last girl—the most striking one—finally stepped forward. “My name is Yasmine el-Sharif, and I demand to speak with—”  “And I demand a moment alone with you.” The soldier in charge grinned before reaching to pull her in for a kiss.  Before the hulking warrior could stop her, the tiny girl with the badly shorn hair leapt onto him with the fury of a crazed monkey. She began pummeling him in the head and neck with both fists.  His soldiers laughed uproariously.  “It was just a kiss!” the soldier protested. When he failed to pull her off immediately, several other soldiers came to his aid.  In a blur of movement, the barrel-chested man accompanying them disarmed the soldiers. He blew onto one of their swords, setting it aflame. Then he held the burning weapon before their leader’s face.  “Wait . . .” One of the soldiers staggered back.  Another tripped onto the sand in his haste to flee. “That—that’s the Rajput!”  “Get the captain of the guard,” the wielder of fire said. “Now.”

[kingmakings]

The Wrath and the Dawn, Renée Ahdieh

[thewrathintheashes]

I know love is fragile. And loving someone like you is near impossible. Like holding something shattered through a raging sandstorm. If you want her to love you, shelter her from that storm...And make certain that storm isn't you.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

[emjenenla]

Miles to go before I sleep [A the Wrath and the Dawn Fanfic]

Khalid realizes that this sleeplessness thing has officially gotten out of hand the day that he walks into his chambers and sees Ava standing in the center of the room. Or the one where Khalid hallucinates his dead first wife. She's not happy.

Warnings: Suicide

I don't own the Wrath and the Dawn. Title is from "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost.

I've wanted to write something for this duology for years but never got around to it. The beginning of this scene was intended as part of a larger work and has been sitting in my Google Docs for a while, yesterday I decided to just finish the scene and leave it at that. I'd like to continue exploring this, because the effects of Khalid's sleeping curse are often overlooked in the books, especially in tRatD, but who knows if that will actually happen.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

--from “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

Khalid realizes that this sleeplessness thing has officially gotten out of hand the day that he walks into his chambers and sees Ava standing in the center of the room.

He imagines that some people might panic upon seeing their dead first wife standing in the middle of their room, but Khalid barely allows himself to react. He knows she’s not actually there, that this is just the madness that the faqir has been going on about. The episode with the shadows the night Shahrzad shared his bedchambers has taught him to be wary of his own senses, and Ava showing up is considerably less believable than those shadows were. He reminds himself that he found this woman’s body hanging in her chambers almost a year ago, and heads for his desk without another look at her.

“So, you’re just going to ignore me?” Ava asks, her voice stronger than it had been in life. “You ignored me when I was alive and now you’re going to ignore me when I’m dead too?”

He fights back a wince and reminds himself that this is not Ava. Ava is dead, nothing he does or doesn’t do will affect her now.

“I really mean that little to you?” Ava demands.

The painful thing is that he’s really not sure how he feels about Ava. He knows he wasn’t in love with her, and he suspects he never could have been, at least not the way he’s in love with Shahrzad. However, he did care about her, and he suspects that if they’d met as friends with a talkative third person to fill in the silences, they might have grown to like each other. He and Ava saw the world too much alike, and it’s only in these last few months that he’s realized just how alike that is.

He pushes that thought away before it can completely form. He’s been doing a good job of not thinking about that since the night when he tried to convince Shahrzad to take her revenge for Shiva and kill him. They never had a chance to talk about it, and that’s something Khalid is deeply thankful for; he is fully aware that mentally healthy people do not try to convince their loved ones to kill them. He does not want to have that conversation with anyone, especially since once Shazi decides to talk about that it’s only a matter of time before Uncle Aref finds out and that is something Khalid would rather never have to face.

“You are pathetic,” Ava snarls. “Contemptible. You really think that you can be forgiven for what you’ve done? You killed me, and you killed seventy-one other women, and you really think you can come back from that? That trying to save one girl makes everything better?”

“She loves me,” Khalid whispers, fully aware that answering a figment of his sleep deprived subconscious is probably a terrible idea.

“Why is that what matters?” Ava shoots back, she circles the room so she is standing in Khalid’s peripheral vision. He doesn’t turn away again. “You’ve killed seventy-two other wives why is the one moronic and deluded enough to want you the only one who deserves to be saved?”

“I don’t know…” Khalid whispers. She’s right. Why didn’t he save Ava or Shiva or any one of the other innocent women forced to marry him? Why did all those women have to die for his failings but Shahrzad’s loss is too much to take? Is everything he has done for Shazi even more contemptible in the face of all the women he didn’t even attempt to save?

Ava steps in close to him. “You should have killed yourself the instant all this started,” she hisses in his ear. Her voice full of contempt she never had in life. He knows she’s not real, but his mind thinks it can feel her breath on his ear. He almost thinks he could reach out and touch her. “You don’t deserve to be alive. All you do is cause pain to good and innocent people. You corrupt everything you come into contact with.”

Again she is right. When has association with him not ended badly? His father was convinced Khalid wasn’t his son, and that destroyed his mother. His selfishness and inability to just love Ava the way he was supposed to killed her. His curse destroyed Uncle Aref’s life by putting him in the position of having to argue for the pointless murders of a hundred innocent girls. Khalid destroyed Jalal’s relationship with Despina. He murdered seventy-one young women and ruined their families. Over time the shear weight of his horribleness with eat away at Shahrzad and ruin her too. He is the plague, he is the one who destroys everything.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, pressing his palms to his eyes. His head throbs. He is so tired. He just wants this to all be over. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Ava continues talking, spewing vitriol. Khalid keeps his hands pressed to his eyes. He wants to cover his ears, but stops himself. He deserves to hear everything she has to say to him. He deserves to be reminded over and over again how horrible he is.

“Khalid!”

The voice makes him jump. It is not Ava’s. It is a man’s voice, familiar but not his own. Suddenly, hands are gripping his wrists and pulling them away from his face. The shahrban of Rey is staring at him with open concern. “Khalid-jan,” he says. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

The use of his name with a term of endearment tells Khalid how worried his uncle is. Aref al-Khoury does  not often fail to use the proper honorifics when addressing his nephew. He must be very scared.

I’m sorry, Khalid wants to tell him. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ve ruined everything and I know I can’t ever make it better. He holds himself back out of sheer force of will. The shahrban’s arrival has not dissipated the hallucination of Ava. She stands just inside his peripheral vision, quiet but watching with an expression of disdain. He fights to keep from turning his head to look at her fully. He reminds himself that looking at something no one else can see will not help make Uncle Aref less worried.

The shahrban studies Khalid’s face intently for a moment. “I’m calling the faqir,” he announces.

“I’m alright,” Khalid argues weakly, still trying desperately not to look at Ava.

“Liar,” Ava snarls. “Nothing is fine and it’s all your fault. You’ve ruined everything.”

He can’t help it, he flinches and glances in her direction. He doesn’t say anything but that is still enough to tip Uncle Aref off about what’s going on.

“Khalid-jan,” He takes Khalid’s face between his hands and forces him to look away from Ava. “It’s not real,” he says. “Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not there. Focus on me: I’m really here.”

Ava snorts. “Sure, let one of your victims give you a reason to stop listening to me. Go right ahead.”

Khalid doesn’t know how to tell his uncle that he knows Ava’s not real but that everything she’s saying is. He doesn’t know how to explain that he can’t just ignore her as an untruth because that would be the same as ignoring the truth. He doesn’t know how to say anything at all. He fights back the sudden and pathetic urge to cry. What gives him the right to weep when he is the monster here?

The shahrban guides him over to his bed, whispering soothing nothings. Ava ghosts along behind them watching with open scorn. Khalid allows his uncle to ease him down until he’s lying on the bed. It feels good. Even though he can’t sleep it’s nice to put his head down and not have to focus so much attention on staying upright.

The shahrban gets a blanket from the dresser and drapes it over Khalid’s body. He hadn’t even realized that he was shivering until then. It’s odd. It’s the middle of the day and even inside it is far from cold. Uncle Aref presses a hand it to Khalid’s forehead and frowns. “You might be running a slight fever.”

“I’ll be fine, Uncle,” Khalid says because he needs to say something and that’s almost not a lie. He will be fine, probably. Maybe.

The shahrban purses his lips and Khalid knows what the man was thinking. Uncle Aref and the faqir have both given up on convincing Khalid to just go through with the terms of the curse, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t still have doubts about this course of action. If Khalid is honest with himself he is starting to have some too. Not that he wishes he hadn’t chosen to grant Shazi mercy, he will never wish that, but he is becoming increasingly aware that the current state of things is not sustainable. With every passing day without sleep the faqir’s magic becomes more and more ineffective. One day it may cease to work all together.

The human body is not meant to go for months without sleep and Khalid’s body is weakening by the day. The fact that he’s hallucinating his dead wife aside, the headaches are constant and only barely helped by the faqir’s treatments these days. His stomach has been giving him problems for months and the combination of that and stress has nearly completely stolen his appetite. The faqir has warned that his body’s defenses against illness are weakening which is no doubt why the shahrban is so worried about the possibility of him having a fever. Things are going downhill quickly; something needs to change.

The shahrban tucks the blanket tightly around Khalid’s body and looks into his face. “Will you be alright for a moment while I find a guard to send for the faqir?” He asks.

Khalid nods. The movement makes his head throb even more viciously.

The shahrban leaves the chamber to find a guard and Ava steps up alongside the bed. “You can use magic to get rid of me all you want, but you can’t escape the fact that I’m right,” she says.

“I know,” Khalid says huddling deeper under the blanket. “I know you’re right.” Despite knowing that he can do nothing but stare at the inside of his eyelids, he closes his eyes and allows the sheer weight of his exhaustion to overwhelm him for just a moment.

He is so incredibly tired of being awake.

[cinerotika]

It was a vain attempt at indifference, on both their parts. 

For Shahrzad bore silent witness to the truth. It was only for an instant, and they never glanced at each other. Yet, she wondered how anyone could miss it—the subtle shift in Jalal’s shoulders, and the telltale tilt to Despina’s head. 

Shahrzad smiled knowingly.

[vesperascorpio]

“By all that is holy, Khalid-jan—she is a vision.” Though Salim looked at her, he addressed Khalid, treating Shahrzad as little more than a tapestry hanging on his nephew’s wall. It rankled her. Shahrzad held firm to her smile. 

“A vision with eyes and ears, my lord.” Khalid continued staring ahead, but the ice set around his features thawed at her retort. Salim’s eyes widened, and something flared for an instant in their pools of contrived warmth. He laughed, and the sound was just as charming as his voice. Just as overdone. 

“Stunning and silver-tongued. What an interesting combination! I can see I will have quite a time getting to know you, my lady Shahrzad.” 

“Quite a time,” Shahrzad agreed. “I look forward to it, my lord.” Though his smile wavered for less than an instant, there was no mistaking it; she was irritating him.

“As do I,” he replied. Each word was like a spear soaked in sweet water.

. . . 

“Have  you  no  appetite,  nephew?”  Salim  raised  an  eyebrow  at  Khalid. “Perhaps it has mysteriously disappeared. That can happen when one is—troubled.” Khalid ignored Salim’s attempt to bait him, choosing instead to take a sip of wine.“Or . . . is it possible you are concerned your food seeks to lash out at you in response to some inexplicable offense?” Salim laughed at his own joke, winking at Shahrzad.

Hateful man.

Shahrzad reached over and snared an olive from Khalid’s plate. Holding Salim’s gaze, she popped the olive in her mouth and ate it. “His food seems fine to me, my lord. I’m not certain which inexplicable offense you might be referencing, but rest assured, his food is quite safe,” Shahrzad replied with a wink of her own. 

“Would you like me to taste your food as well, Uncle?” At that, Jalal began barking with laughter, and even the shahrban was forced to lower his grizzled chin. The suggestion of a smile tugged at Khalid’s lips. Across  the  way,  a  cup  was  set  down  on  the  table  with  unwarranted vehemence. Please, Tariq. Don’t make a scene. Don’t do anything. Salim grinned at Shahrzad. 

“Truly silver-tongued, my lady Shahrzad. I’d ask where you found her, Khalid-jan, but . . .” Khalid’s right hand clenched, and Shahrzad held back the desire to stab Salim in the eye with a utensil.

“Why would you be curious as to where he found me, my lord? Are you in the market?” Shahrzad asked in a nonchalant manner. 

Salim’s  brown  eyes  glittered.  “Perhaps  I  should  be.  Have  you  any relatives, my lady? Maybe a sister?” 

He knows I have a sister. Is he . . . threatening my family? 

Shahrzad tilted her head to one side, tamping down a flare of concern. “I do have a sister, my lord.” Salim  propped  his  elbows  onto  the  table,  studying  Shahrzad  with  an amused yet predatory gleam. Khalid’s full attention was fixed on the Sultan of Parthia, and a taut band of muscle flexed in his forearm. His hand shifted in Shahrzad’s direction. Conversation around them had all but ceased in recognition of the growing tension in the air.

“Am I not dangerous enough, Shahrzad?” Salim asked in a chillingly thoughtful  tone. “Perhaps  too forgiving  of  the  women  in  my  past? Too willing to let them live?” 

Several gasps emanated from around them, rippling across the hall like a rumor being passed through a square. Jalal released a pent-up breath followed by a low oath that garnered a look of warning from his father. 

Shahrzad swallowed her fury and then smiled with the brightness of the sun.“No, Uncle Salim. You are simply too old.”

The room was as silent as a tomb. And then the huge man with the collection of rings on his fingers began to laugh, his oiled mustache twitching all the while. Followed by the nobleman who had arrived on the black-and-white-striped steed. Soon, others started to join in until a chorus of amusement echoed throughout the space.

[vesperascorpio]

“Is this seat available?” Jalal grinned down at Shahrzad.

She looked up, blinking hard. “That depends. Is it for you?” He sat down next to her. “I did not give you per—”

“Good evening, sayyidi,” Jalal said in a loud tone.

Shahrzad wrinkled her nose at Jalal.

“Don’t do that, my lady. You ruin your face when you do that,” he teased.

“Good evening, Jalal. And I disagree,” Khalid retorted under his breath. Jalal laughed heartily. 

“My apologies, then. If you would permit me this indulgence in its place, sayyidi: I do believe every man here is currently reassessing his notion of beauty.” Despina was right. He is such a consummate flirt.

“Stop it.” Shahrzad flushed, glaring at Jalal’s arrogant mien.

“Now, that . . . ruins nothing,” Jalal said.

“At last, we agree on something.” Khalid spoke to Jalal, though his eyes lingered on Shahrzad. And Jalal leaned back into the cushions with a satisfied smile, his hands laced across his stomach.

[vesperascorpio]

“She could have told Khalid everything,” Shahrzad repeated, though with decidedly less vehemence. “He would have believed her in time. After all, you believed her.”

“He would not have believed her in time.” His words boomed through the semidarkness. “And he would never have trusted her. Even I took some . . . convincing.” Vikram glanced over his shoulder. “And I swore if I caught her lying, I would slit her throat.”

“I still may,” Shahrzad retorted under her breath before nearly slamming into his broad back.

“Then I offer you that chance.” With that, he threw open the ancient, creaking door before him, leading into a passage of sewers. The warm stench clogged Shahrzad’s nostrils, curling in her throat and causing her to gag.

As did the sight of Despina waiting in the shadows.

Again, Shahrzad was possessed by the sudden urge to attack her.

The former handmaiden—now princess—stood wrapped in a dark cloak, with a crooked smile aimed Shahrzad’s way. “You look awful.” She leaned in close. “And you smell even worse.”

“And you can go straight to hell.”

Her smile widened. “As long as you’ll be there, I think I might like it.”

Shahrzad resisted the urge to scream. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Despina el-Sharif. First you are one thing, then you are another. At this point, my neck hurts from spinning about so fast. Just tell me this: Why have you been lying to me this entire time?”

Despina shrugged. “I was born to lie, Shahrzad. I ask you, how does one recover from such an inclination?”

“The same way one chooses to serve such a despicable father,” Shahrzad replied sardonically.

“I suppose you would want to know about that.” Despina cast her a thin smile. “Would you mind walking as we talk?”

Shahrzad crossed her arms and remained still.

I will go nowhere with her. Not until she convinces me otherwise.

“I can see these few weeks apart have not weathered your obstinance. Pity.” Despina smirked. “Very well, then. I knew this had to happen eventually.”

. . .

With an exasperated huff, Despina moved closer. She hesitated only an instant before reaching for Shahrzad’s hand. “The only family I know is the one I have in Rey. The friends I have. The love I have.” Her voice grew soft. “They are without equal.”

How well Shahrzad knew this. How well she had seen it. The wild look in Jalal’s eyes the night of the storm. The warmth in Despina’s now.

“Then why did you come back at all?”

“To preserve our family.” Despina squeezed her hand. “No matter the cost.”

Though a part of Shahrzad wanted to throw off Despina’s touch—to deny the touch of a girl tied in any way to Salim Ali el-Sharif—Shahrzad did not.

For it was the touch of a friend. Beneath it lay the strength of family.

“You deliberately provoked me at dinner, did you not?” Shahrzad asked quietly.

Despina tilted her head in rueful fashion. “Well, I did have to get you down into the palace prison somehow.”

“Somehow.” Shahrzad sniffed.

“I knew you had a wretched temper and a deeply loyal disposition. The rest was only a matter of time.”

Shahrzad paused in contemplation. “What you did was dangerous.”

“Trust that I put the fear of the gods into the soldiers when it came to your husband.” Despina snickered. “It’s true not all of them believed it, but that did not stop me. Oh, the stories I told . . .”

“I meant for you.”

Despina blinked. Her features softened. “Of course you did.”

“What of Salim?” Shahrzad asked in an even quieter tone. “He will know what you have done.”

“He will not realize it for a few days at least. He sent both Yasmine and me from Amardha earlier this afternoon in anticipation of what might occur.”

“What do you mean?”

Despina smiled broadly. “Ah, I nearly forgot! The Caliph of Khorasan has brought quite an army to the city gates.”

Shahrzad gripped Despina’s hand tight. “Khalid is here?”

“That’s what I’ve been wanting to tell you from the beginning.” She rolled her eyes. “I planned on taking you to him, Brat Calipha. That is if you’ll permit me. Finally.”

Another grunt from Vikram. One Shahrzad knew was meant to indicate agreement.

“Fine.” Shahrzad pushed off Despina’s hand. “What is your plan?”