by Raquel Dove
Azira had insisted on a garden wedding, so a corner of the vast garden complex was decorated for the occasion. It was a small affair by royal standards, but she had pushed to make it as lavish as possible. There weren't many people in attendance, not that Azira cared. She didn't want this wedding any more than Tavi or Nila did. If she was going to be forced into a lesser marriage with someone like Tavi, then someone else was going to suffer right along with her. So she demanded her wedding held in the gardens so that Yashmina could watch the whole affair from her balcony in the harem.
Yashmina hadn't really allowed herself to hope that she and Tavi would ever be mated. She had known that it was a long shot, even though Tavi had insisted that Balthazar would approve. It hadn't been much of a surprise to her when she heard that he was being forced to mate Azira and Nila, but it still hurt. She watched the ceremony from her balcony with tear clouded brown eyes. A drop trailed down her cheek and she wiped it away. Tavi looked so handsome, but even from here she could see how sad he was. The only person that was happy about this union was Arastoo.
“Yashmina,” Adira said, stepping outside and putting an arm around her, “Come inside. You're only hurting yourself to watch this.”
“They don’t even want him,” Yashmina said with a sniffle. “It's not fair.”
“Life rarely is,” Adira said. She smoothed back a lock of hair from her daughter's face. It hurt her to see her only daughter so hurt, but there was nothing that could be done. It was a wedding commanded by the Lord Sultan and his commands couldn't be questioned.
“Come inside,” Adira said again, hoping her daughter would not torture herself further.
“No,” Yashmina said, wiping another tear off her cheek. “I will watch until it's over.”
Adira left her daughter on the balcony with a heavy heart. She knew that this was difficult, but it would only get worse. The two sisters would come to stay in the harem by the end of the night, and there would be no escaping the situation.
“Why is he marrying them?” Alexandra asked, as Adira settled into a cushion beside Lady Carolina. “Azira's absolutely awful.”
“He must,” Carolina said. “Lord Balthazar has no desire to wed the sister demons.”
“But why does Tavi have to?” Alexandra asked. She set down the bowl of fruit she'd been picking at from her lap. She was upset for Yashmina and when she was upset, she ate. Her stomach was so full it felt like she was going to pop.
“The Delshad family is a line of enchanters,” Adira said, her focus still on her daughter outside as she settled into the cushions next to Alex and Carolina.
“But what does that have to do with any of this?” Alex said shaking her head.
“It's custom for the Delshads to be linked to the royal family. Arastoo is the Lord Enchanter, so that makes it even harder to go against that,” Carolina said. “Lord Balthazar is unwilling to mate one of them, but he cannot risk alienating himself from the Lord Enchanter, and so it must be one of the other princes. Tavi, being a council member, is the most prominent royal prince. He's probably the only one Arastoo would agree to besides Balthazar.”
Alex felt a mix of emotions. She was glad that Balthazar wasn't going to mate the sisters, but she hated that Tavi had to. She wondered why Balthazar would make such a decision. She knew that he was willing to make sacrifices for his kingdom, but apparently mating the sisters wasn't one of them. She thought about the last time she had seen him. It had been a couple of days, but the scent of him still lingered in her mind. She could still feel his strong hands roaming her body as his lips came so close to kissing hers. She shook the thoughts from her mind, knowing that if she thought about him anymore, the other women would pick up on her arousal in an instant.
Azira wound her way down a long hall in one of the back corners of the harem to the eunuch quarters. Tavi dismissed the sisters to the Harem as soon as the wedding had ended. He had no desire to bed the sisters, not that anyone really cared. Nila had remained in the new apartment the sisters would share, crying her eyes out for love of Prince Kaveh, while Azira decided to use her time towards something more productive.
She found the young demon she was searching for in the workshops, standing before a large vat of dye, stirring the silk cloth inside it with a wooden paddle, his back turned to her. It was hard work, and he stopped momentarily to wipe the sweat that had collected on his brow.
“Hasan,” Azira said, a crooked smile working its way onto her face, “You've been relegated to a servant of the royal clothiers. Such a shame.”
A garbled growl echoed in Hasan’s chest as he turned around to face her. He let the paddle drop from his hands as his grey eyes burned with his hatred and anger at Azira.
“There's no need to get angry with me,” Azira said, placing a hand to her chest. She stepped further into the room. It was hot inside and it reeked of the urine used in the dye process. “It's Lord Balthazar who has dealt you this unjust fate.”
Hasan turned away from her and picked his paddle back up. Just hearing the name of his older brother made him want to fly across the room and rip out the tongue of the beautiful demoness. Of course, that would only get him mutilated even worse than he already was. They would never kill him. He knew that. Balthazar wanted him alive so that he could suffer for the rest of his natural life. He was an especially cruel demon.
“You're not the only one who's been wronged,” Azira said, coming closer to him. Hasan turned his face to look at her while he continued to stir the vat of dye.
“I believe we can help each other,” Azira said. She reached out to him and trailed a finger down his arm. Hasan’s brows pulled together. He couldn't say anything to her and he didn't understand what help he could offer her.
“You see,” Azira continued, “I'm not satisfied with a second class husband. My father may be, but I am a Sultana, a supreme wife, and I will be wed to a Lord Sultan.”
Hasan’s gaze hardened and he dropped the paddle again. He turned towards Azira.
“And you shall be that Lord Sultan,” she said, running her finger down his torso towards his waistline. “With the magic in my blood, I can make you whole again.”
“He will help us,” Azira said with certainty in her voice.
“You are absolutely sure?” Jahan asked, wringing his hands as he looked around the garden to make sure no one else was near by. This was his last chance. The Magi had made that very clear. He'd done his job in getting the assassin into the palace and in the right place to kill Sami, but he'd failed in letting Balthazar be anointed. They were afraid of him, and they were afraid of him being around the human. He had to get her to them before Balthazar had a chance to get too close to her.
“Well,” Azira said with a smirk as she waved her hand in the air, “he didn’t actually say he would. You know, he can't talk without his tongue.”
“This is no laughing matter, Princess,” Jahan said, his fat face turning red at the strain of talking forcefully. Azira hated the way his double chin jiggled when he talked. He was such a grotesque oddity in his obesity.
“Relax you fat little man,” Azira said, grasping the round tip of Jahan’s nose between her fingers, and pulling his face towards hers. “I have been abreast of palace plots and intrigue since before I could walk. Hasan will assist us, and if you dare chastise me again, I will make you my personal eunuch when I am Sultana.”
Azira twisted her fingers as she released his nose, adding an extra twinge of pain to the gesture. His pudgy hand cupped his face as his eyes narrowed on her.
“He had better help us, or we will all be in trouble,” Jahan said.
43
