Gifting Fire by Alina Boyden (read my book .TXT) 📕

“One of the reasons?” I asked. “The other reason being the life we both share?”

“And your reputation being the third,” she added.

“My reputation?” As a boy, I’d had a reputation of being a pathetic prince. I wondered what my reputation was now. Harlot? Deviant? I’d certainly heard those words hurled my way more than once.

“Everyone says you’re brilliant, and wise beyond your years, and kind,” Hina told me, her olive eyes looking earnestly into mine.

“And what arrangement would you like to make?” I asked her, though I thought I had a pretty good idea.

“If you will swear to punish Karim for killing my brother and to throw the Mahisagaris out of Kadiro, I will recognize you as Zindh’s rightful subahdar,” Hina replied.

“Why not simply make an alliance with Karim?” Sikander asked. “With his men, we won’t need the Zindhis, your highness.”

“I can think of half a dozen reasons,” I replied, my tone as measured as I could make it, but I was sure that everyone could hear the undercurrent of hate in it. “In the first place, Karim attacked my province, which cannot be permitted to stand. Secondly, he is a ruthless, cruel man with whom I would never ally myself except in the direst of circumstances. Thirdly, the Mahisagaris will have infuriated the Zindhi people by murdering their rightful prince, and so Karim has ensured unrest in this province until he is driven from it. Need I continue?”

“Your highness, we don’t even know if this . . . girl . . . is telling the truth,” Sikander said with a scowl.

“What reason has she for lying?” I demanded.

“Razia’s right,” said Arjun. “Hina has no reason to lie, and if she’s telling the truth, then not only has she done us a great service, but she has brought us the army we need at exactly the moment we need it.”

“Which is what worries me,” Sikander answered. “When things seem too good to be true, Prince Arjun, they usually are.”

“Usually,” Arjun and I said in unison, each gazing into the other’s eyes. Our cheeks blazed, as I don’t think either of us had intended on sounding like such lovesick children.

“Forgive me, your highness, but there is nothing good about my arrival here,” Hina said.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“My brother was a very kind, very thoughtful man.” She sounded like she was choking back tears as she spoke. “He would have made peace with you. We were planning to meet with you, to discuss a way forward, when Karim attacked. That’s why we weren’t prepared. We didn’t think there would really be war between us.”

I realized just then how devastating Ali Talpur’s loss really was. Now, not only did I not have the prospect of a quick peace with a reasonable man, I had the man I despised most in all the world holding Zindh’s most important port city, with an army and a navy that I’d never be able to match. If I was going to have a prayer of preventing him from conquering the whole province, I was going to have to win over the people of Zindh. Karim had given me some help there. He had made himself the evil outsider I needed, and he had killed Jam Ali, giving me the chance to present myself as a protector of Zindh and an avenger of its royal family. Even so, it was going to be an uphill battle.

“Well, I can’t promise you that driving Karim from Kadiro will be quick or easy, Hina,” I told her, “but I give you my word that if you are willing to serve me, then I will protect you and do everything in my power to punish Karim for the crimes he has committed against you and against Zindh. Is this acceptable?”

“It is, your highness,” Hina replied.

“Then have messengers sent to the people of Shikarpur and your men across the Zindhu that we have reached an agreement. Once that is done, I will host the emirs here in the palace, and we will determine a path forward together.”

Hina’s full lips stretched into the barest trace of a smile. “Thank you, your highness. You really are the woman everyone says you are.”

A year ago, I’d have been offended by those words, because I never would have been able to imagine a reputation for myself beyond being a disgrace and a courtesan, but today they filled me with pride. Saving Zindh from Karim wasn’t going to be easy, but with Hina’s army and the emirs of Zindh on my side, my prospects were already looking better than they had that morning.

CHAPTER 6

You look pretty, Akka!” Lakshmi exclaimed as one of Hina’s celas, a twelve-year-old girl named Nuri, draped a block-printed dupatta over my head and shoulders. It had taken me a few minutes to calm her down and explain to her that we would know more about the situation with Karim later, and, like most eleven-year-olds, she’d been quick to put such serious thoughts from her mind. Besides, the sight of Nuri had encouraged her, as it was rare she got to meet hijras her own age, let alone zahhak-riding ones.

“Her highness looks like Jama Sakina reborn,” Nuri agreed, offering Lakshmi a smile that helped to take some of the tension out of my heart. Hina and her celas were so kind, so easy to be around, that it was easy to forget I was going to have to fight a war against Karim and his father for control of my province.

“Who’s Jama Sakina?” Lakshmi asked.

“A very famous queen here in Zindh,” Hina said, wrapping her arms around Lakshmi’s shoulders, though her hazel eyes were fixed on me. “She was a Nizami princess, just like your akka.”

“Really?” Lakshmi asked, noting the way I was knitting my brow in skepticism.

“Really,” Hina assured her. “She was the daughter of Sultan Jahandar the Great. In those days, Nizami princesses rode thunder zahhaks just like their princes, and she