“It’s all right. These are things I’m sure you’re usually kept from seeing.”
It was a strangely worded response, delivered with a hint of chiding that Ali had never heard from his mild-mannered secretary. But before he could dwell on it, they reached a large room fronting an uncovered courtyard. Tattered curtains, patched where possible, were all that separated it from the chilly rain falling in the yard.
Rashid pressed a finger to his lips and pulled back one of the curtains. The floor was crowded with sleeping children, dozens of boys and girls wrapped in blankets and bedrolls, packed close for both warmth and lack of space, Ali imagined. He took a step closer.
They were shafit children. And curled under a quilt, her hair already starting to grow out, was the girl from Turan’s tavern.
Ali stepped back so quickly he stumbled. We have a safe house in the Tukharistani Quarter . . . Horrified realization swept over him.
Rashid’s hand landed heavy on his shoulder. Ali jumped, half-expecting a blade.
“Easy, brother,” Rashid said softly. “You wouldn’t want to startle the children . . .” He clapped his other hand over Ali’s as Ali reached for his zulfiqar. “. . . nor run from this place covered in another’s blood. Not when you’re so easily recognized.”
“You bastard,” Ali whispered, stunned by how easily he’d walked into a trap so obvious in hindsight. He wasn’t usually one for swearing, but the words tumbled out. “You fucking trait—”
Rashid’s fingers dug a little deeper. “That’s enough.” He pushed Ali down the hall, gesturing to the next room. “We just want to talk.”
Ali hesitated. He could take Rashid in a fight, of that he was certain. But it would be bloody, and it would be loud. Their location was intentional. A single shout, and he’d awaken dozens of innocent witnesses. He had no good options, and so Ali steeled himself and walked through the door. His heart immediately sank.
“If it isn’t the new Qaid,” Hanno said, greeting him coolly. The shapeshifter’s hand dropped to the long knife tucked in his belt, and his copper eyes flashed. “I hope that red turban of yours was worth Anas’s life.”
Ali tensed, but before he could reply, a fourth person—the older woman from the corridor—joined them at the door.
She waved Hanno off. “Now, brother, surely that’s no way to treat our guest.” Despite the circumstances, her voice was oddly cheerful. “Make some use of yourself, you old pirate, and pull me up a seat.”
The shapeshifter grumbled, but did as he was told, laying a cushion upon a wooden crate. The woman made her way in, helped by a black wooden cane.
Rashid touched his brow. “Peace be upon you, Sister Fatumai.”
“And upon you, Brother Rashid.” She settled onto the cushion. She was shafit, that much Ali could tell from her dark brown eyes and rounded ears. Her hair was gray, half-covered by a white cotton shawl. She looked up at him. “My, you are tall. You must be Alizayd al Qahtani then.” The slightest of amused smiles lit her pale face. “We meet at last.”
Ali shifted uncomfortably on his feet. It was far easier to rage at the Tanzeem men than this grandmotherly figure. “Am I supposed to know you?”
“Not yet, no. Though I suppose these times call for flexibility.” She inclined her head. “My name is Hui Fatumai. I am . . .” Her smiled faded. “Rather, I was one of Sheikh Anas’s associates. I run the orphanage here and many of the Tanzeem’s charitable works. For which I should thank you. It was only through your generosity that we were able to do so much good.”
Ali raised an eyebrow. “That’s apparently not all you were doing with my ‘generosity.’ I saw the weapons.”
“And what of it?” She nodded to the zulfiqar at his waist. “You wear a weapon to protect yourself. Why should my people not have the same right?”
“Because it’s against the law. Shafit aren’t allowed to carry weapons.”
“They’re also forbidden medical care,” Rashid cut in, giving Ali a knowing look. “Tell me, brother, whose idea was the clinic on Maadi Street? Who paid for that clinic and stole medical books from the royal library to train its providers?”
Ali flushed. “That’s different.”
“Not in the eyes of the law,” Rashid rebuked. “Both preserve the lives of shafit, and thus both are forbidden.”
Ali had no response for that. Fatumai was still studying him. Something that might have been pity flickered in her brown eyes. “How young you are,” she remarked quietly. “Far nearer in age to the children sleeping in the next room than to any of us, I imagine.” She clucked her tongue. “I am almost sorry for you, Alizayd al Qahtani.”
Ali didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you want with me?” he asked. His nerves were starting to get the better of him, and his voice shook.
Fatumai smiled. “We want you to help save the shafit, of course. Ideally by resuming our funding as soon as possible.”
He was incredulous. “You must be joking. Anas was supposed to buy food and books with the money I gave him, not rifles and daggers. You can’t possibly think I’d give you a coin more.”
“Full bellies mean nothing if we can’t protect our children from slavers,” Hanno snapped.
“And we already educate our people, Prince Alizayd,” Fatumai added. “But to what end? Shafit are forbidden from skilled work; if our kind are lucky, they can find a job as a servant or bed slave. Do you have any idea how hopeless that makes life in Daevabad? There is no betterment save the promise of Paradise. We’re not allowed to leave, we’re not allowed to work, our women and children can be legally stolen by any pureblood claiming they’re related—”
“Anas gave me the speech,” Ali interrupted, his voice more cutting than he intended. But he had believed Anas’s words before, and the knowledge that his sheikh had lied to him still stung. “I’m sorry, but I’ve done everything in my power to help your people.” It was the truth. He’d given the Tanzeem a fortune and even now was quietly delaying the harsher measures his father wanted to put in place on the shafit. “I don’t know what else you expect.”
“Influence.” Rashid spoke up. “The sheikh did not recruit you for money alone. The shafit need a champion at the palace, a voice to speak for their rights. And you need us, Alizayd. I know you’re stalling those orders your father gave you. The new laws you’re supposed to be enforcing? Hunting down the traitor from the Royal Guard who stole zulfiqar training blades?” A slight grin played on his mouth at that. “Let us help you, Brother Alizayd. Let us help each other.”
Ali shook his head. “Absolutely not.”