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

said, “but I can’t promise Ahmed and Karim will honor it once my father is gone.”

“I understand,” she replied. “All the same, I want to stay with you. And if I die, I want your word that you will kill Karim in my place.”

“You have it,” I assured her, taking her hands in mine. “I have no intention whatsoever of being Karim’s wife. I will kill him and kill myself before that ever happens.”

“Then we have an agreement,” Hina said. “But you’re sure this is how you want things to play out? We have the troops now to just kill them and be done with it.”

“They would kill us too,” I reminded her. “And then Ahmed Shah would have free rein in Zindh, and possibly in large swaths of Nizam too. Is that what you want? For Mahisagar to rule Zindh for all time?”

She scowled. “It’s just hard to surrender now, when we have weapons and zahhaks, and to believe that things will be different once we’re under Karim’s thumb . . .”

I nodded my agreement. I was terrified that this plan would fail, terrified that I was making a miscalculation. But Karim had outmaneuvered me, loath as I was to admit it. My love for my sisters prevented me from ordering my soldiers to fire with the same callous cruelty my father and Karim himself would have shown. Did that make me weak? Unfit to rule? My father would have said so.

“If you don’t believe I can succeed, then I urge you to go with Arjun, or to find some other prince who will protect you,” I told her. “There is no shame in living to fight another day.”

Hina didn’t even consider it. “No, I will stay close to Karim. You may have managed to overturn fate and find yourself in a position of power, but such things are so rare as to be unheard of. I would be a fool to believe that life would offer me the same chance.”

“Then I will speak with my father, and with Karim,” I said. “I want you to go and pass a message to Sunil Kalani telling him all of this. I don’t care how you do it, but do it now. Speak to a workman, a soldier who won’t be missed, anyone.”

“I’ll get on it,” she agreed. She gave me a pat on the shoulder. “Courage, your highness.”

“Thanks . . .” I whispered, forcing myself to smile until she was gone. Then I let my shoulders slump, let myself give in to the dread, if only for a moment. I was going to have to agree to marry Karim Shah. God, I wasn’t sure I had the strength to do it, even with the plans I had put in place. Hina was right. I had soldiers and zahhaks now, but I would have nothing at all once I surrendered. Did I really think I would be better placed to fight back once I was stripped of everything than I was at this moment?

No. That was the truth of it. I wouldn’t be better placed to fight, but I would have the opportunity to move my sisters out of the cross fire. That was what I needed to do to regain my freedom; I needed to get them out of the way, someplace safe, where Karim and my father couldn’t use them as hostages to guarantee my behavior. Sending them away with Arjun seemed the smartest option. If I could manage that, I could fight with a freer hand.

I stood up from my bed and staggered to the door, my legs feeling like lead, my heart pounding from all the nervous tension that was coiled up inside my chest. My father and Karim were outside, sitting in the shade of a banyan tree, waiting. Sikander was still standing with the men near the baradari. Arjun had been standing opposite him, but now he made his way back toward me, leaving Arvind in charge of the Bikampuri and Zindhi soldiers, while Hina conferred with some of her men, no doubt relaying the information to as many soldiers as possible so that at least one could get the message out. That was smart.

“Finished plotting?” Karim asked, his dark eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“I was making arrangements to end all of this without bloodshed, your highness,” I whispered, keeping my voice soft and my eyes downcast and trying to make myself look as small and helpless as possible.

“Spare me the delicate maiden act,” Karim snapped. “I’ve seen you kill a man, and I won’t forget that you tried to have your father murder me half an hour ago.”

I shrugged. “You want me to forget what you did to me in the past, but you won’t extend to me the same courtesy?”

“What I did to you was six years ago, not half an hour,” he retorted.

“And what I did to you didn’t hurt you, your highness,” I reminded him. “If it made you feel afraid then consider how I must feel at this moment, knowing what comes next.”

He scowled, but there was enough uncertainty on his face to tell me that my words had hit home. I didn’t know if that would spare me his wrath, but I thought if I conducted myself like a frightened princess for the remainder of these negotiations, it might tip the scales in my favor.

“Do you need anything, Razia?” Arjun asked me, having arrived at my side.

So many things sprang to mind. I wanted to embrace him again, I wanted to make love to him again. But we couldn’t touch each other, not now, not with Karim watching, not if I wanted him to honor the agreements I would force him to make.

“No,” I said, my voice too tight, but I wasn’t crying, so that was something. I looked to my father. “I’m ready to discuss the terms of this arrangement, Father.”

He glanced up at me, his green eyes peering from beneath dark, hooded brows. His mouth was a hard line of worry. I didn’t know