He came back with a small book, slimmer than her little finger. “A personal favorite. Words are easy enough, but you can chew on them for days. Come back when you can read one. Tell me what you think.”
She handed him a couple of silver sovereigns, well more than the books were worth.
“I know this isn’t yours, so I’ll take it.” The silver glinted in his palm. He wouldn’t stop smiling. “My name is Sa?d. The dāyiein are welcome here.”
The Shālan word reminded her too much of the Brigāni and the woman with the boots for her to accept the welcome with more than a terse nod and quick thanks.
“Idris Yassir was his name. Jaghotai’s brother.”
It felt like a kick out the door, and Touraine stumbled into the street.
The dāyiein. The Lost Ones. She was halfway up the street, skirting the curious glances of the Qazāli, when she remembered what, exactly, the word meant.
She’d never considered herself lost before, but every day since she’d stepped into this sky-falling city, the path she’d expected to walk crumbled beneath her boots.
Idris Yassir. A mother. An uncle. A whole language.
She didn’t want any of it.
She paged through the poetry book as she walked. Nothing she could read. She shouldn’t have bothered. She’d tell the princess it was to gain his confidence, but what if she considered it as good as treason?
“Ya, sister!”
She slowed at the bookseller’s deep voice behind her. He beckoned for her to come back.
“I was just closing my shop to meet some friends. Would you like to come?”
The big man spoke softly, not as if he intended to go carousing. Not as if he intended to extend a welcoming hand to a lonely stranger. It was one conspirator to another, and his face was deathly serious.
Touraine thought of Luca in her study, planning. Luca in her bedroom, laughing over apples and tea.
“All right.”
CHAPTER 15
REBELLIONS
Sa?d the bookseller blindfolded her and banished any lingering ideas that he was taking Touraine to an elaborate drinking party. Sa?d guided her with a hand on the small of her back on a dizzying, circuitous walk. Finally, he untied the scarf.
They were in a different building than she remembered from her captivity. No crumbling railing, no bloodstained corridor.
“We also rotate locations,” Sa?d said. A warning: if you look to betray us, you will not find us here.
“If you’re so worried, why did you bring me?”
“Hope,” he said simply. “But I’m not naive.”
He led her upstairs, following the sounds of heated voices. They went silent as Touraine and Sa?d grew closer. He knocked once and said a short phrase in Shālan. The door opened.
Touraine recognized the woman at the door immediately, even with the frayed deep-red scarf around her face. More accurately, she recognized the boots. The woman had escaped the Sands’ attack, then.
Touraine’s hand went to the knife at her side. She heard the echo of Luca’s warnings—how a Balladairan representative conducts herself and all—but this wasn’t Luca’s realm. Her grip tightened on the handle. Touraine would bet her teeth that this was the woman who had framed her for killing a blackcoat, too. She’d ruined Touraine’s life in more ways than one.
But this wasn’t Touraine’s realm, either. She was used to rank and file, the open sky above, and clear enemies. Not mazes of close buildings and secret alliances.
“What in Shāl’s name is she doing here, Sa?d?” the woman asked.
Sa?d used his bulk to usher Touraine through the door so he could close it. Trapping her in.
“Easy, Jackal. Today, she’s a friend.”
“A friend my ass. She’s one of their tools. You just compromised all of us for your stupid dream of reconciliation. It’s not going to happen, Sa?d.”
Touraine was inclined to agree and started to say so when Sa?d held his hands up and stood between Touraine and the woman he’d called Jackal.
“She’s here now,” he said. “Give her a chance.”
Touraine scowled at them both as they talked over her. “Give me a chance to what?”
Sa?d smiled back at her. “We’ve all had bad first impressions. Let’s start over.” He turned back to the Jackal. “She has the foreign princess’s ear.”
The Jackal glared at Touraine, her snarl baring teeth. Touraine thought the woman would stab her rather than let her stay, but finally she stepped aside. Sa?d ushered Touraine forward.
Princess Luca wanted to open peace talks with these people.