Hazan prevaricated. “Now that your people know you are home, I expect he will ask you to do your duty.”
“Which is?”
“To host a ball.”
“Indeed.” Kamran’s jaw clenched. “I’m certain I would rather set myself on fire. If that is all?”
“He’s quite serious, Your Highness. I’ve heard rumors that the announcement for a ball has already been—”
“Good. You will take this”—Kamran retrieved the handkerchief from his jacket, pinching it between thumb and forefinger—“and have it examined.”
Hazan quickly pocketed the white handkerchief. “Shall I have it examined for anything in particular, Your Highness?”
“Blood.”
At Hazan’s blank look, the prince went on: “It belonged to the servant girl whose neck was nearly slit by the Fesht boy. I think she might be Jinn.”
Now Hazan frowned. “I see.”
“I fear you do not.”
“Forgive me, Your Highness, but in what way does her blood concern us? As you know, the Fire Accords give Jinn the right to w—”
“I am well acquainted with our laws, Hazan. My concern is not merely with her blood, but with her character.”
Hazan raised his eyebrows.
“I don’t trust her,” Kamran said sharply.
“Need you trust her, sire?”
“There’s something false about the girl. She was too refined in her manners.”
“Ah.” Hazan’s eyebrows lifted higher, comprehension dawning. “And in light of all our recent friendliness from Tulan—”
“I want to know who she is.”
“You think her a spy.”
It was the way he said it, as if he thought Kamran delusional, that soured the prince’s expression. “You did not see her the way I did, Hazan. She disarmed the boy in a single motion. Dislocated his shoulder. You know as well as I do how the Tulanians covet the Jinn for their strength and fleet-footedness.”
“Indeed,” Hazan said carefully. “Though I should remind you, sire, that the child she disarmed was weak from hunger to the point of death. His bones might’ve been unhinged by a strong gust of wind. An ailing rat might’ve bested him.”
“Just the same. You will have her found out.”
“The servant girl.”
“Yes, the servant girl,” Kamran said irritably. “She fled the scene when she saw me. She looked at me as if she knew me.”
“Forgive me, sire—but I thought you could not see her face?”
Kamran took a sharp breath. “Perhaps you will thank me, minister, for employing you with such a task? Unless, of course, you would rather I seek your replacement.”
Hazan’s lips twitched; he bowed. “It is a pleasure, as always, to be at your service.”
“You will tell the king I must bathe before our meeting.”
“But, sire—”
Kamran strode away, his retreating footfalls ringing out once more through the cavernous hall. His anger had again begun to percolate, bringing with it a humidity that seemed to fog his vision, dim the sounds around him.
It was a shame, then, that Kamran did not dissect himself. He did not stare out of windows wondering what other emotions might be lurking beneath the veneer of his ever-present anger. It did not occur to him that he might be experiencing a muddied sort of grief, so it did not strike him as unusual that he was fantasizing, just then, about driving a sword through a man’s heart. In fact, he was so consumed by his imaginings that he did not hear his mother calling his name, her bejeweled robes dragging, sapphires scoring the marble floors as she went.
No, Kamran seldom heard his mother’s voice until it was too late.
Six
ALIZEH’S MORNING HAD BEEN, AMONG other things, disappointing. She’d sacrificed an hour of sleep, braved the winter dawn, narrowly escaped an attempt on her life, and eventually returned to Baz House with only regret to report, wishing her pockets weighed as heavy as her mind.
She’d carried the unwieldy parcel through several snowdrifts before arriving at the servants’ entrance of the Lojjan ambassador’s estate, and, after forcing her frozen lips to stammer out an explanation for her appearance at the threshold, the bespectacled housekeeper had handed Alizeh a purse with her pay. Alizeh, shivering and fatigued, had made the mistake of counting the coin only after relinquishing her commission, and then, forgetting herself entirely, dared to say aloud that she thought there’d been some kind of mistake.