The sultan shook his head. We rode in silence for several heartbeats as the evening sun warmed my face and arms. A few lilac-colored clouds, tinged with gold, scudded across the sky, low against the horizon. Should I wait for him to speak again? Did Mother’s silly rules about royal customs and etiquette even matter now? I was already his betrothed.
“So, you like to ride,” he said, fixing me with an assessing gaze. “Is that usual for a princess in Khiridesh? Did your sister ride as well?”
My stomach dropped a little at the mention of Lalana, the nausea from the palanquin creeping back. I looked to the horizon and took a deep breath to steady myself. The sultan had just caught me off guard. That was all. It was perfectly normal for him to bring up my sister.
“No, just me,” I replied. “Lalana had no interest in horses. She liked painting and singing. More indoor pursuits.”
“And you don’t?” Kassim’s voice was sharp. His questioning seemed too intense for a casual conversation.
“I like some indoor activities,” I admitted, thinking about reading in particular. But Kassim’s cold tone suggested now might not be the time to bring that up. I wasn’t sure that being well read was something he looked for in a bride.
“So you’re very different from your sister.” Kassim looked into the distance, narrowing his eyes against the sun as he spoke. His brow furrowed.
It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “In some ways.”
Silence fell again as hooves slid through the sand. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with my betrothed. The comparisons with Lalana… We were in dangerous territory. Then again, you didn’t agree to marry the most legendary beauty in all the twelve kingdoms without fantasizing about your new bride a little. Perhaps he was just trying to figure out what would be different now that he was marrying her sister instead.
“I was thinking…” I spoke first this time, eager to move the conversation on and prove myself. “The trade agreement with my father… Did you agree on the use of the port yet?”
The sultan gave me an openly suspicious look. “We discussed options, but nothing has been confirmed. Why?”
“Because Khiridesh can provide quality goods to trade – horses, spices, and so on – that you don’t have in Astaran. I propose that now our kingdoms are united, we open the border crossings to traders and reduce the external taxes on ships with Khirideshi goods–”
“Zadie.” Kassim cut me off.
“Yes?”
“You can’t ride with me.”
I pressed my lips together in frustration. Had he been listening at all? “Why not?”
“A princess shouldn’t ride at the head of a convoy.” He gestured to my horse. “A princess shouldn’t ride at all.”
“But the palanquin was making me unwell,” I protested. Lalana would have pouted and fluttered her lashes to get her way, but that never seemed to work for me. I hoped to win the sultan around with reason alone. If he was the young, open-minded leader I’d heard he was, then he would surely understand. “Besides,” I continued, “I’m a good rider, we have plenty of chaperones, and this way, we can get to know each other a little bit.”
Kassim simply glowered at me, tightly gripping the reins of his black horse. “You can ride beside the palanquin until the next town. But don’t expect such leniency when we reach the palace.” His words were clipped and irritated, his handsome face cold, even in the rich light of the setting sun. “When we arrive in Kisrabah for the parade, my people will see their new sultanah displayed in a palanquin, not riding bareback like a barbarian.”
Barbarian?
Something twisted inside my stomach at his words. If I never saw another palanquin in my life, it would be too soon, but it was more than that. Kassim didn’t want me riding next to him as his equal. He wanted me at a distance, where I could be admired like an object.
“Where is the next town?” I asked in a quiet voice. Hopefully it was still leagues away.
Kassim pointed to a smudge of gray haze on the horizon. “That’s Persylis, the first town over the Astaran border.” He paused, blowing out a breath, as if just realizing what he’d said. “We’ve just crossed the border. I’m home.” A smile lit his face.
That made sense. The border between Astaran and Khiridesh ran right through the middle of the Tigrib Desert. We’d left most of my father’s soldiers behind in the last Khirideshi town we passed through before entering the desert. Only a handful of familiar red-turbaned guards remained in the convoy now. He was home, but that meant I had just left my land behind me for the first time.
“The rest of my soldiers will meet us in Persylis,” he continued, not turning to look at me. “You’ll be back in the palanquin by then.”
Kassim suddenly pulled his horse to a stop with a frown. The whole procession ground to a halt behind him, turning to follow their sultan’s gaze. Something glinted at the top of a dune on the horizon, much closer than the distant town. It was the same flash of light I’d seen from the palanquin.
“What is that?” I followed his gaze. “Ifrits? Or ghuls?” Mother’s warnings about the spirits that stalked the sands raced through my mind.
“I don’t know.” He pulled a spyglass from his belt and trained it in that direction. “It could be nothing.”
I raised a hand to shield my eyes and squinted in the same direction.
Perhaps it was someone else with a spyglass… No, that didn’t make sense. The sun had started to set ahead of us, sparkling from Kassim’s spyglass. Someone facing us would have to purposefully make it flash like that.
Perhaps someone who was signaling? But why–
Icy fear rushing through me, I twisted around on the horse’s back.
“Kassim!” I reached out to grab his arm and almost slid clean off my horse. My voice was high with panic. “The other side!”
“Bandits!” Kassim roared, not missing a beat.
They poured over the top of the northern dune, some mounted, some running, their shining weapons drawn and raised. They wore desert dress, only their eyes visible through their scarves.
Up until now, they had moved silently so as not to attract attention, but when they saw Kassim’s guards turning their horses to face them, they bellowed and ran faster, kicking up clouds of dust in their wake.
“Form a line!” Kassim hollered, and his orders were echoed down the length of the convoy. Scimitars grated as they were unsheathed. Horses scraped their hooves on the ground and jostled with fear – except mine. Khirideshi stallions were made of sterner stuff. Kassim moved in front of me.
“What do they want?” I blurted.
“The gold, the horses, a princess… Take your pick,” he replied through gritted teeth. He gripped his own scimitar tightly. “Get back to the palanquin, now.”
“But–”
He spun to face me, his amber eyes blazing. “Zadie, that’s an order.”
He turned back to his soldiers. “Vanguard cavalry, with me. We ride to meet them. The rest of you, hold the line. Protect what’s ours!” He raised his scimitar and dug his heels into his horse’s flanks. With a cry, they charged forward to meet the oncoming bandits.
My heart thumped in my chest as Kassim’s black horse led the charge. Surely, as the sultan, he should stay back, out of danger, where the soldiers could protect him. But if they were after me, the bandits would head straight for the palanquins – where Jevera and Mehri were.
I whirled the horse around expertly, kicking it into a gallop back down the long line of the convoy. The veil snapped out behind me, tugging at my head as I raced back toward the elephant.
The yells and clash of metal told me the soldiers had engaged the bandits. I forced myself not to look back.
Most of the guards had rushed to the head of the convoy, but an arc of soldiers had dropped back to protect the side of the elephant exposed to the bandits. The animal was skittish, moving backward and forward slightly with a soft harrumphing sound.
One guard crou
ched on the other side of the elephant. I looked closer. The man was dressed raggedly in earthy colors, a dagger flashing in his palm. My stomach lurched. This was no soldier.
The elephant handler slumped forward in his seat, blood dripping down the panicked animal’s face. The bandit had somehow managed to get around the guards and was now looking up at the palanquin, as if contemplating how to get in. I kicked my horse forward, heading straight for him.
I bent down closer to the horse’s mane, urging him on. My veil whipped behind me as the Khirideshi stallion charged forward, swifter than the wind. I gripped the animal tightly with my legs so my silky pants wouldn’t send me slipping from its back.
Another horse might have veered away or slowed down as we got closer. But this was no ordinary horse.
The man spun around – but too late. Bone crunched sickeningly as the large horse smashed into him. He landed on the sand with a soft thump and lay still.
I put a calming hand on the elephant’s leg as I called up to the palanquin. “Jevera! Mehri!” The curtains parted to reveal their terrified faces. “Are you all right?”
“You’re alive!” Fresh tears streamed down Mehri’s already tear-stained face.
“We’re fine,” Jevera answered shakily.
Several of the soldiers dropped back from the fray to cover the elephant’s other side. My shoulders sank with relief at the sight of my father’s red-turbaned guards. One of them looked down at the trampled bandit, then back up at me.
“He’s still breathing. Restrain him,” he ordered another guard, then turned to me again. “You’ll be safer up there, princess.”
I looked up at the poor handler still slumped in his seat. Will I? I lined my horse up with the elephant’s side and moved into a careful crouch before slowly standing on its back. The Khirideshi stallion stood still, unfazed, despite the roar of the battle raging around him.
I reached my arms up to my handmaids. “Can you pull me up?”
They each gripped a wrist and tugged. Pain shot through my shoulders, then strong hands pushed at my slippered feet, sending me up and through the folds of the palanquin.
We sat together in silence, listening to the distant yells, the clash of metal.
Mehri had her hands over her ears, as if to block it all out, while Jevera chewed at her nails and tapped her foot. I strained to listen to the shouts, to try and figure out who was winning, but from inside the palanquin, the sounds were muffled. Within those curtained walls, I lost all sense of time.
I thought Astaran was a safe and peaceful kingdom, yet its sultan had been attacked in his own territory. I pressed my lips together, drumming my fingers on my lap. How did the bandits know exactly when we would be at our weakest?
The light inside the palanquin dimmed, the sun slowly slipping behind the dunes. I hoped the brave horse I had been riding was still alive. If we all survived this, I would ask Kassim if I could have him as my own. I would name him Bandit. Despite everything, I smiled darkly at the thought.
After a short while – or maybe it was a long while – the familiar lurch of the elephant kneeling had us all gripping onto the soft hangings for stability. My heart rocked with it. All was quiet outside.
Is it the bandits? Have they won?
The curtains yanked back and Kassim’s face appeared. Jevera let out a cry of relief. His turban was missing and his sweat-soaked hair was plastered back on his head, but apart from a small cut on his cheek, he looked well.
“You’re okay.” His eyes met mine.
“We’re all fine.” My voice sounded breathless. “What happened? Did they take anything?”
“There were no survivors,” he replied grimly, already turning away. “Stay in the palanquin – and no more riding.” The orange curtains fell closed behind him.
Chapter Four
I dropped from the palanquin, my knees buckling as my feet met the sand-dusted ground. My head swayed, as though I were still rolling with the gait of the elephant, and I winced when it blasted out a loud trumpet above me.
“Careful, princess!” Mehri called down from the palanquin.
I did my best to smile up at her, but my cheeks ached from the fixed smile I’d forced onto my face for the parade. The streets of Kisrabah had flashed by in a hot, sticky mess, and the cheers and cries still ringing from outside the palace gates made my head pound.
At least as long as I looked up at Mehri, I could pretend not to notice we had arrived.
My heart banged in my chest. Beyond the lines of snorting camels and whirling dancers with silk scarves who still paraded through the gates, the palace loomed above me.
Hundreds of startling white domes, minarets, and tiled roofs shimmered in the heat, sparkling above the dust of Kisrabah. A second set of shiny, copper gates slowly groaned open before us, revealing a vast courtyard lined with date palms. A seemingly endless line of carriers, bearing the pallets that contained my dowry, moved past us and into the palace’s interior, disappearing in a series of gold flashes.
I swallowed, my throat desert-dry.
The palace was huge.
It was disconcerting, how everything was so similar and yet so different. I’d grown up in a marble palace. But this… This must have been three times the size of the palace at Satra. At home, the guards all dressed in Khirideshi red, but here, they glittered in Astarian gold. I didn’t know a single one of their names. I didn’t recognize the accented voices in the air around me.
I couldn’t imagine a time when I would think of this as my home.
One of the guards helped Mehri and Jevera down from the elephant. They hurried to my side, straightening my skirts and fiddling with my hair. I batted them away irritably, casting my gaze around the courtyard we had paused in. I just needed a moment to calm myself before they began prodding and painting me all over again.
Jevera suddenly stopped, her face paling as she hissed, “Princess – the sultan.”
I spun around to see Kassim standing beside a very tall woman dressed in long, violet robes that fell in a silk column to her feet, making her look even taller. Her straight, black hair was cut severely at the chin, accentuating her sharp features and revealing a choker shaped like a snake at her collarbone. The servants around us all dropped into exaggerated bows.
“Well, Kassim?” the woman said, her dark gaze running over me. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
The sultan yawned widely, displaying a row of perfect, white teeth. “As you wish, Hepzibah. Allow me to introduce Princess Scheherazade, who prefers to be called Zadie, dislikes the palanquin, and is more comfortable riding bareback on a horse, even when we find ourselves besieged by bandits.”
A faint flush rose to my cheeks as the woman shot him a warning look. He was mocking me. I bit my lip, but said nothing.
“Princess Zadie, this is Hepzibah, my Royal Vizier.”
The tightness in my chest eased a little. Of course. I had read all about his vizier. She had inspired so many of my hopes about what Kassim might be like – the young sultan who had chosen a woman as Royal Vizier. A woman who held the most power in all the kingdom…after the sultan, of course. I straightened my back and smiled eagerly at her. Perhaps I had judged Kassim too quickly, since the rumors about his vizier had turned out to be true.
“I’m delighted to meet you at last, princess.” The vizier dipped her head politely, although her sharp eyes remained fixed on me. “We’ve heard much about you.”
“I don’t remember hearing anything about her expecting to ride bareback at the head of the convoy,” Kassim interjected.
The vizier clicked her tongue, shooting him another dark look. “Please forgive the sultan, Zadie. I’m sure he doesn’t mean to be so rude. It sounds like you’ve had a more harrowing journey than we expected.”
“No,” I said, finally finding my voice. “Please, don’t apologize. The journey has been tiring for everyone.”
“Come, Hepzibah,” Kassim said impatiently, leading the vizier away. “I’d l
ike to discuss the updates on our mystical acquisitions program… Has Namir heard back from his lead about the talisman?”
“Not yet, no. Did you get a chance to speak to the Sultanah of Khiridesh?”
I took a few steps after them as their voices began to fade, wanting to find out more about this mysterious talisman.
Kassim shook his head. “I spoke with Indira, but she didn’t have it in her collection… and her latest supplier of talismans disappeared suddenly, so she has no way to source it. We’re no closer than when we first started looking.” Kassim stopped abruptly and turned around, glaring with thinly veiled annoyance when he found me so close behind them. His eyes narrowed as they surveyed me critically from head to toe.
“I suggest you freshen up before coming to meet everyone else, princess.” His lip curled. “People have traveled from across Astaran to meet their sultan’s new bride. Word has spread of her gentle disposition and great beauty.”
I felt a hot flush creep up my neck, and I resisted the urge to put a self-conscious hand to my hair.
“Kassim!” the vizier chided. “That is not how the sultan ought to address his future sultanah. Princess Zadie looks fine just as she is, doesn’t she?”
“Of course,” Kassim said, albeit unwillingly.
The vizier pursed her lips. “Obviously, I have not schooled you well enough in how to flatter a princess, Kassim. Your father would be disappointed.”
I wasn’t sure whether the sultan or I turned redder.
“I apologize again, princess, for the sultan’s inability to remember his manners when he is tired. But perhaps you might like to take a moment for your handmaids to attend to you after such a long ride…” Her eyes flicked to my hair, and my cheeks grew hotter still.
“Of course.”
What else could I say? I clearly didn’t look the part I was meant to be playing if both the sultan and the vizier thought I needed to freshen up before introducing me to anyone else.
The vizier gave me a reassuring smile. Then, without so much as a glance back at me, the sultan swept back toward the gates, where a small group dressed in the Astarian colors of white and gold all stared in our direction. The vizier followed after him.
Throne of Sand (Desert Nights Book 1) Page 3
