Soraya let out a frustrated sigh, looking at the thorns around her with envy. But her disappointment didn’t last long, because through the thorns, she could make out the shape of the garden door.
Escape. Not from Golvahar—she would never make it that far, and she couldn’t abandon her family to their fates. But if she could make it to the dungeon without being seen …
Soraya returned to her room and quickly dressed. It was still early—too early for Azad to send someone with food for her, she hoped. She didn’t have much time, but she had to be slow and careful as she moved aside the thorns and roses blocking the door. A few of the thorns snagged on her sleeves, but they didn’t touch her skin. When the door was clear enough to open, she tried the handle, relieved when it gave way.
She opened the door only a little, peeking through to make sure no divs were patrolling the grounds. She wedged a rock into the doorway so that she wouldn’t be locked out and slipped through the door, ignoring the temptation to run as fast as she could. Instead, she stayed close to the garden wall, moving alongside it until she had come all the way around to the palace walls. Even then, she moved slowly and deliberately, thankful for all her years of slinking through shadows. There were divs patrolling the grounds—she saw one pass by in the opposite direction—but divs’ senses were keener at night, and tucked away as she was, making no sudden movements, the divs didn’t look her way or notice her.
Only when she had painstakingly edged her way to the dungeon steps did she allow herself to move quickly. She had no worry of divs here—she could already smell the esfand as she went down the steps—and so she tore through the dungeon, following the smoke to Parvaneh’s cell.
The cavern was thick with smoke, and as she had seen in her dream, five braziers filled with coals were set out in a row in front of the bars. This time, though, Soraya could kick them over, scattering the hot coals over the ground. She waved some of the smoke away and saw the outline of bars, finding the two bent ones. She stepped into the gap between them, and as the smoke began to clear, she found Parvaneh’s sleeping form on the floor. Soraya knelt beside her and waited for her to awaken.
Parvaneh’s eyelashes were the first things to move, twitching against her cheeks. And then her eyes slowly opened, liquid amber glowing in the darkness. She blinked a few times and started to cough.
Soraya had wanted to keep her distance, unsure if Parvaneh would still be furious with her, but now she helped Parvaneh sit up as she finished coughing the smoke out of her lungs. When Parvaneh looked at her in surprise, Soraya quickly removed her hand from Parvaneh’s back. Her wings were still intact, Soraya noticed with relief.
Parvaneh pushed herself up to her feet. “Soraya?” she said, her voice still scratchy.
“Please listen,” Soraya said with urgency as she rose as well. Since the dream, she had wondered what she would say to Parvaneh, how she would explain her actions, but the words spilled out of her now with no plan or preparation, a torrent of remorse. “I never meant to betray you, but I misspoke and Azad figured out that I had seen you, and he wouldn’t believe me when I said I didn’t know where you were, and I didn’t want him to know I was working against him the entire time, and then he threatened my family and I had no choice, but I would never have given you to him otherwise, I’m still with you, I’m still your—”
“Soraya,” Parvaneh interrupted, silencing Soraya with a hand on her arm. “I know.”
“What?”
“I know you didn’t mean to betray me. I was already in your room when the two of you entered. I heard what he said to you, that if he didn’t capture me that night, he would start killing off your family. I knew it was a trap.”
Soraya was stunned. “All those things you said to me about knowing I would choose him, about deserving each other—”
“Those were all for his benefit, not yours. I wanted him to believe that you were loyal to him, that he should keep you close so you could finish your mission.”
“But if you knew it was a trap…” Soraya shook her head. “You were his prisoner for so long. Why didn’t you fly away unseen? Why show yourself at all?”
Parvaneh hesitated, like she was trying to find the right words. Her voice solemn, her eyes full, she said, “I told you before. I have my loyalties.”
Soraya absorbed the words and their meaning—both spoken and unspoken—and then she stopped thinking at all and threw her arms around Parvaneh’s neck, finding her lips with her own.
Parvaneh made a muffled sound of surprise as Soraya crashed into her, but it didn’t take her long to respond. Soraya had never initiated a kiss before, and so she was happy to let Parvaneh take control, one of her hands twisting in Soraya’s hair while the other guided her backward until Soraya’s back thudded against the cell bars. Soraya wrapped her arms around Parvaneh more tightly, as if she could absorb everything that was fearless about her into herself. She ran her thumb along the nape of Parvaneh’s neck, moving down to the space between her shoulder blades, that patch of skin she found so tempting.
They were pressed so tightly against each other that when Parvaneh withdrew, Soraya felt like a piece of her had been peeled away. But Parvaneh remained within the circle of Soraya’s arms, her own hands gripping the bars on either side of her, and she whispered into the crook of Soraya’s neck, “What were you going to say before?”
“When?” Soraya asked, breathless.
“Before I interrupted you. You said you were still with me, that you were still my … my what?”
It seemed ridiculous that she could still blush in her current position, and yet she felt an unmistakable heat warm her face. “I don’t remember,” she said.
Parvaneh lifted her head, eyes sparkling. “Liar. You’re still my friend? My ally? Tell me. We have no secrets in this dungeon.”
“Yours,” Soraya said, looking Parvaneh in the eye, as if the word were a challenge. “I was going to say I’m still yours.”
Parvaneh arched an eyebrow. “Interesting,” she said. She leaned in again, brushing her lips against Soraya’s shoulder. “And how long have you been mine?”
Soraya tugged lightly on Parvaneh’s hair, making Parvaneh look up. “It was when I healed your wings,” she said, “when I touched you for the first time.”
Parvaneh smiled in response, but the memory of using the feather made Soraya think of the captive simorgh.
“What’s wrong?” Parvaneh said, drawing away as she noticed Soraya’s suddenly rigid posture.
Soraya shook her head. “It’s always so easy to forget the rest of the world, or the passage of time, when I’m here with you. I have to go back before I’m discovered, but first I have to tell you what I’ve found.” She told Parvaneh everything then, from her discovery of the simorgh to her failed attempt at restoring her curse.
Parvaneh listened in rapt attention, and when Soraya was finished, she said, “I can do it. I can free the simorgh and return with her.”
“Not just her,” Soraya said. “The pariks, too—we need them all.”