“I should have realized something was amiss when Imad didn’t mention finding the collar,” Loulie mumbled. “But I never thought Qadir would be…” She trailed off, gaze blank.
Aisha eyed the dagger in Loulie’s hands. “So your bodyguard was a jinn.”
Was. Mazen did not miss the way the merchant’s eyes flashed at the word. But she said nothing, only glared silently, knife gripped between trembling fingers.
“It sounds as if you knew Qadir even before we recovered your relic from the ruins.” Mazen found his gaze straying to Aisha’s darker eye when he spoke. If there was any piece of her that belonged to the jinn, it was that eye.
Aisha’s lips quirked. It was nothing but a twitch, there one moment and gone the next, but Mazen experienced the disconcerting feeling of being judged by not one, but two women. “Yes,” she said. “But I cannot tell that story without his permission.” She stood and stretched, then began to walk away.
“Wait!” Mazen stood and followed her. “Where are you going? You can’t just—”
She turned to face him. “When was the last time you ate?”
The question took him by surprise. His stomach, which had been tight with nerves, suddenly churned with hunger. How long had it been?
“Exactly. We can continue this discussion after I hunt.” Mazen eyed her blood-drenched clothing. As far as he could see, she had no weapons. She must have read the question on his face. “Humans use falcons to hunt.” She gestured outside with a thumb. “I have ghouls.”
Mazen edged his way to the entrance. The moment he saw the six ghouls standing sentinel outside, he fell back with a cry.
Aisha sighed. “How do you think I got out of the ruins? Ghouls are very good at digging.” When he simply stared at her, she added, “Imad forced them to do his bidding with a relic he stole”—her voice dripped with disgust—“but I can summon and dismiss them with my magic, so long as they are nearby.”
“But—” He had so many buts, he didn’t even know where to begin. He glanced helplessly at Loulie, but she was not looking at him. Her attention was fixed on the dagger. He realized, with some shock, that there were tears on her cheeks.
Aisha slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Join me, Prince.”
“But,” he said again. He was not keen on being alone with a deadly jinn.
Caution battled with guilt. In the ruins, Aisha had saved him. He wanted to trust her. Wanted to believe that if she was strong enough to circumvent death, she was strong enough to keep her mind intact. He cast another nervous look over his shoulder at Loulie.
“The ghouls will be standing outside,” Aisha said. She’ll be fine was the unspoken claim, but Mazen was still worried.
Aisha gave him no chance to reconsider; she pulled him out of the cave before he could protest again.
49
LOULIE
Once she was alone, Loulie raised the dagger and murmured, “Qadir?”
There was no response.
In the ruins, he had returned for her. He had been smoke and fire and shadow, but he’d been alive. Now even his reflection was gone.
“You sank ruins to save me.” She rubbed furiously at her cheeks, despising her tears but unable to stop them from falling. “And now, what, you’re just going to fade away? I thought you were stronger than that.” The tears came quicker, shaking her body and making her vision blur.
You are the weak one, said a small voice inside her head.
And it was that confession, that truth, that finally broke her. All these years she’d been trying to distance herself from her past failures. Layla had been too young and helpless to save everyone she loved. So as Loulie, she’d vowed to become stronger, wiser. Someone who, unbeholden to anyone, would be able to rescue herself without worrying about losing others.
But she had failed—to save both herself and Qadir.
She did not know how long she sat there crying, only that by the time her tears had dried, the prince and the thief had not returned. She didn’t care.
The emptiness was a chasm inside her, and it grew deeper and deeper until it swallowed her whole, pulling her into a dismal, fragmented sleep. When the nightmares continued to wake her, she gave up on slumber and decided to search for the missing prince and thief. She moved to stand—and cried out when excruciating pain shot through her ankles.
Her legs. She had forgotten.
She looked up at the sound of footsteps. They were soft, so faint she could barely hear them. She saw a hazy shape. A man-shaped shadow.