I stand and pull him to his feet. He comes reluctantly, wrapping an arm around my waist. We stroll into the palace to find a panicking Nessa.
“There you are!” She rushes toward us. “I’ve been looking everywhere!” Stopping short, she takes in our flushed faces and rolls her eyes. “You’ve been kissing in the bushes again.”
Aladdin plucks a book from the satchel over her shoulder. “And you’ve been reading again. We all have our vices, Nessa.”
She snatches the book back. “Hurry! They’re about to start!”
? ? ?
It’s well past midnight when I’m summoned to the queen’s side. Aladdin is asleep in his old chambers, which are kept for him as a part of his new office, and when he stays at the palace I often join him. But though many of my jinn attributes are gone, I still do not sleep. Often I wander, through the palace and the city, marveling at how far I can go without worrying about the lamp pulling me back. Tonight, though, when Khavar comes to tell me Caspida wants to talk, I am sitting against one of the columns by the courtyard, feeding bits of bread to a stray goose that wandered into the yard a week ago and has since lain eggs beneath one of the fig trees.
Khavar is quiet as we walk through the palace, which has finally gone to bed after a long night of feasting in celebration of Caspida’s coronation—a ceremony long overdue, but in which she refused to indulge until the city’s restoration was complete. “What precedent does it set for my reign,” she had put it, “if I put my desire for the crown before the needs of my people?” So though she became a queen in everyone’s minds the day of the Invasion, tonight it was official, and the name of Caspida the First was inked into the great annals of the Amulen monarchy, the same annals where your name was written so long ago, Habiba.
The queen kept her old rooms. Whatever Malek’s chambers are now used for, I don’t know. Perhaps she auctioned them off to the clamoring nobles. Perhaps they were sealed off, as Sulifer’s rooms were. A search of the former vizier’s chambers brought to light many secrets into his dark magic, including various symbols of power carved into the walls and floor. He was greedy for magic, exploring dangerous arts that should never be touched, even attempting to summon jinn. Caspida, after a brief look, had ordered the entire set of rooms walled off completely. Darian’s rooms were spared and given to a new occupant, since the prince left the city weeks ago, after choosing exile over imprisonment. Where he went, no one knows, but few regretted his departure.
Khavar steps out again after I am inside the queen’s chamber. A single lantern burns by the bed, but the queen is nowhere to be seen. I walk through the rooms until I come to the courtyard, and she is where I expected her to be: on the grassy island at the center of the shallow pool, standing beside your statue, Habiba, where we first talked weeks ago.
Leaving my shoes behind, I wade through the water and onto the grass. The queen watches me approach, one hand resting on the base of the statue. When I stand in front of it, one stone wing blocks the full moon, making the sculpture seem to glow around the edges.
“Your Majesty.” I bow. “What can I do for you?”
“Good evening, Zahra.” Caspida looks up at the statue and runs a finger down your stone foot. “You know, Aladdin told me who you were, before you were turned into a jinni.” She turns and regards me with a hint of fascination in her eyes. “You ruled one of the greatest cities in history. A queen in your own right.”
I meet her gaze steadily and say nothing; that part of my past will always hold a measure of pain.
“I will be brief. I know the hour is late, but I won’t put this off any longer.” She looks at me directly. “I’ve asked you here because I want to invite you to join the Watchmaidens. I want you at my side. I want your counsel as you counseled Roshana. You have seen so much of the world, lived through so much history—I need you.”
“No,” I reply. “You don’t.”
She blinks. “What?”
“Caspida, you don’t need me. You were ready to marry Aladdin to secure your throne. You probably would have married Darian for the same reason. All your life, people have told you that you can’t do it on your own, that you need this person or that person to support you. But I have seen you rule. I have seen you battle for your people and rebuild their homes.” I take her hands in mine and look her in the eye. “You don’t need anyone to give you permission. Stop thinking like a princess and be a queen.”
She stares for a long moment, and even without my sixth sense, I can see something giving way in her eyes.
“Thank you, Zahra,” she whispers, embracing me. “You are truly a friend.” She pulls away and clears her throat. “Well, I’m glad we understand one another. But you will be one of my Watchmaidens? I talked it over with the other girls, and they all want you. Even Khavar.”