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

days, not more than a week,” Karim said. “I will make sure that Lakshmi is kept safe. You have my word on that.”

I managed a stiff nod. “Thank you, your highness. She means the world to me. You know that.”

“I do.” He hugged me, pulling my head against his chest like that was a comfort and not a horror. “I’m sorry that this is necessary, but I think once it’s over, we’ll be able to move forward with more trust.”

“I think so too, your highness,” I replied, because once this was over, I was going to be moving forward in a world without him or his filthy parents in it.

“Enough time wasted on the girl,” said Sultan Ahmed. “Let’s get moving. Safavia won’t wait for us to assemble before they attack.” He gestured for a guard to grab Lakshmi, but the man stepped right into the point of Sikander’s talwar, the sharp tip pressed up against the hollow of the man’s throat. The move had been so swift and so deft that nobody had seen it coming.

“You will not touch her,” Sikander growled, and the fear I saw in the Mahisagari guardsman’s face gave me some small satisfaction.

I went to Lakshmi and hugged her again, pulling her close to me in just such a way that I could feel her climbing shoes in her pockets, assuring me that they were there. “Do what Sikander tells you, okay?”

“Okay, Akka,” she agreed.

“I’ll see you soon.” I kissed her forehead, and breathed in the delicate aroma of coconut oil from her hair, my fury and my sorrow mingling together in a way that energized my limbs for a fight that was nowhere to be found. I settled for squeezing her tightly one last time before letting her go.

“Look on the bright side, Akka,” she told me. “I get to ride Mohini all day!”

“You do,” I agreed, and tears rolled down my cheeks. She had no idea how much danger she was in.

“She’ll be safe, your highness,” Sikander said, but he didn’t know how much danger they were in either. Still, it made me feel a bit better when the big man took Lakshmi by the hand and led her toward the stables, without any Mahisagari guardsmen harassing them.

I turned away, and found Karim standing close behind me. Bastard wanted a good-bye kiss. He reached down and took my tear-streaked cheeks in his hands, tilting my head up before planting his lips on mine. It lasted way too long. When he finally had the good grace to pull away, he wiped my tears with his thumbs and said, “I’ll be back with Lakshmi, and we’ll talk about your place here moving forward. You have my word.”

“Be safe, your highness,” I replied, like I didn’t want him dead.

“Always,” he said.

I was grateful when he finally let me go and walked off with his father toward the zahhak stables, though my emotions were still in far too much turmoil to feel relief. With Lakshmi in Ahura, and Arjun attacking tonight with Sunil Kalani and Sanghar Soomro, I wasn’t sure how on earth I was going to get there in time to save her. And that was if we even succeeded in our rebellion. Even with Karim and Ahmed gone, there was every chance we would fail, especially with two acid zahhak riders ready to attack any forces we brought into the lagoon.

“Guards!” Asma called, once Karim and Ahmed were out of sight and out of earshot.

I looked up, horrified that I hadn’t seen this coming, but she was grinning mercilessly. Sikander was gone. My other Nizami guards were close by, but there were just two of them, and there were close to thirty Mahisagari men already ringing the baradari. Even with Hina and her fifteen celas, we were badly outnumbered, and the women weren’t armed.

“Is taking my sister from me not enough?” I demanded.

“For a spiteful old hag like me?” she replied, arching a black eyebrow. “Not even close.”

I gritted my teeth, wishing I had kept a better guard over my emotions, but I hadn’t expected to lose Lakshmi like that, and my fear for her had overwhelmed everything else. I shrugged, because I knew that I had lost this round of things. The only question that remained was how badly.

“What will you do with me?” I asked, my mouth dry as I wondered if she was planning to just kill me and get it over with, or if she was going to imprison me so thoroughly that I would have no chance of fulfilling my promises to Sanghar Soomro and his men.

“Nothing,” she answered, still smirking. “I will keep you safe and under control until the men return from Ahura. But as I cannot trust you, I will be keeping you in your chambers until then. The guards will ensure that you do not leave them, and my handmaidens will ensure that you want for nothing.”

“And my sister and my handmaidens?” I asked, wondering whether she intended to keep us together or apart.

“They will stay with you,” she declared, “lest they get any ideas into their heads about sneaking off and trying to fan the flames of rebellion while my husband and my son are away.”

Idiot woman. Having them with me was just precisely what I needed, but I didn’t let that show on my face. I bowed my head. “Well, I’m not in any position to refuse.”

“No,” she agreed. “You are not. You will return to your chambers now, and you will take your sister and your handmaidens with you. If you remain there like a dutiful daughter-in-law, then there need be no violence, but if you attempt to leave, for any reason, we will revisit that decision.”

“Then I will go, and I will remain there, your majesty,” I replied, bowing to her.

She snorted derisively. “I was warned about you, you know. Everyone said you were so dangerous and so clever. But you’re really nothing more than a pretty whore who tricked a prince