Vikram cleared his throat with a cough.
Though it had taken on a thoughtful bent, Despina held fast to her smirk. “You have to understand. When you’ve spent most of your childhood not knowing your father, only to discover him to be a charming, handsome king with wealth beyond your wildest dreams, there is little you would not do to win his affection.” She lingered in a remembrance colored by anger. “He promised he would claim me as his own if I would help him learn the secrets of Rey’s court. First it was to help Yasmine secure a husband. Then it was to usurp Khalid Ibn al-Rashid’s throne. He found a slaver who would buy me and bring me to the palace in Rey, where I first started cleaning the queen’s chambers. After Khalid Ibn al-Rashid became caliph, he freed me and offered me a position as a handmaiden. I rose in the ranks soon after. The rest you can surmise.”
That Shahrzad certainly could. Despina had done her duty well.
Had served her father’s purpose well.
“It’s all a grand story,” Shahrzad said, sidestepping a new trickle of questionable liquid. “But I still don’t trust you.”
“Fine.” Despina sighed loudly, her frustrations coming to heel. “Then trust in this, Shahrzad al-Khayzuran: I would rather be a handmaiden in Rey than a princess of Parthia. As a handmaiden in Rey, I always knew who I was. I had pride in myself. In Parthia, I was denied my place time and again. Denied and denounced by my own father. In fact, if I had my way, no one would know of my lineage. All I want in life is to raise my child in the city I’ve come to love as my own. With the people I’ve come to love as my own. With the family I’ve come to love as my own.” Her eyes flashed with an undeniable fervency.
Shahrzad swallowed. Then looked away.
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?”
“We make our way through the lovely sewers. These particular drains lead to a part of the city near the bazaar. I’ve paid men a great deal of money to wait for us there with horses.”
Shahrzad nodded. “The only thing left to accomplish is finding my sister.”
“Your sister?” Despina’s perfect eyebrows gathered at the bridge of her nose.
“My younger sister, Irsa, was brought to the palace as well.”
Despina’s confusion intensified. “No. I would have heard as much. No one was brought to Amardha, save for you and your father.”
Shahrzad paused in thought. Paused to remember how her father would not meet her gaze whenever she asked after her sister. Paused to recall his guilt.
Is that why no one would tell me anything about Irsa?
“Are you quite certain of this?” she said.