The Sultan and the Storyteller by Lichelle Slater
Thirteen
The sun blazed overhead and the sand already radiated heat in spite of it being morning—a warning the day would be blistering hot. On any other day I would have sought shade and never left it.
I flung the door of the apothecary open, only to freeze.
Kasim leaned on the counter, staring into an empty tea glass. He lifted his head at my intrusion but gave me an instant, stiff smile. “Shahira.”
“Kasim! I didn’t expect to see you here.” I took a step but awkwardly paused.
He held his arm out toward me for a hug, and normally I would have given it to him, but I was married now. He saw my hesitation and lowered his arm to shake my hand.
“I came to see Kiara,” I said. “How is Jade?”
He dropped his hand to his side. “Devastated. She feels as if our parents died because of her. And then you giving yourself up to save her . . .” His lip tugged. “Though, she is pleased you’re still alive.”
I smiled. “I would like to go see her when I get a chance. I noticed you were having Kiara read you.”
Kasim heaved a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m trying to decide what to do from here. Jade and I have everything packed still and should leave, but where to? And who is to say we can travel there by sea safely? We could stay. But I fear Jade will be taken again, should you . . .” He adverted his gaze.
“That’s a difficult decision. I’m sorry.”
“Kiara’s answers were vague too.” He sighed.
Kiara shrugged. “It’s not always black and white. Shahira, I have some more tea. I want to read you.” She poured me a glass and set it before me. There was something in the glint of her eye I couldn’t read and she turned to Kasim before I could ask. “Whether here in Zunbar or as far as Ashwrya, you still have to start over. The advantage to staying here is you already have a place. We still need a tailor, you have a home, and people know your family here. Those are all good things.”
I sipped from my cup and the tingle of magic spread across my tongue, briefly making it go numb. Kiara was getting better. When she started practicing tasseography, my entire mouth would go numb, and sometimes all the way down to my stomach.
Kasim tilted his cup to look at the bottom. “Jade hasn’t left our home since that day.”
“I can’t blame her,” I said before thinking.
Kasim’s dark eyes shifted to me.
I lowered my gaze to the beaten wood countertop and took another drink. “I can’t imagine the trauma you two have gone through. How were the funerals?” I glanced at him and sipped the cardamom tea with sugar softening the bitterness.
Kasim rubbed his thumbnail across the edge of the glass. “We did both at the same time. It was . . . nice. But sad. It should have been a celebration of life with friends and family, but barely anyone came.”
“I’m truly sorry I wasn’t there.” I reached out and touched his hand and squeezed it, but pulled away. “My stories are working. I’m able to put Zayne to sleep each night, and we . . .” I blushed and pulled my hair over my shoulder. “I feel close with him.”
“You’re saying you’ve fallen in love with the murderer?” Kasim’s lip curled in disgust.
“There’s more to him than you realize,” I insisted. “There is something happening I can’t explain, which is why I came to have Kiara read me today.” I smiled at my sister and finished the last of the tea, then slid the saucer with the cup toward her.
Kiara grinned and eagerly looked down in the cup. She swirled her index finger along the rim and a white glow seeped from her finger, down the cup, and into the grounds.
I leaned forward, watching in amazement as the white magic shifted the grounds ever so slightly into images or words I couldn’t interpret.
Kiara’s brow furrowed.
“What is it?” I asked.
She glanced at Kasim. “Could you give us a moment alone?”
He straightened and turned to me to bow. “Perhaps we will see each other again, Your Majesty.”
“Kasim, we’re still friends,” I insisted.
He looked me up and down, gave a curt nod like his father had the day Jade was chosen, and left.
“We don’t need his angry energy in here anyway,” Kiara muttered under her breath as soon as the door shut. She straightened. “I had hoped yours would read the same as my glass this morning, but at the same time hoped it wouldn’t.”
“What did yours say?”
She licked her lips and walked around the counter to sit at my side. “You see this shape here?” She pointed to the side of the tea cup where the leaves pressed to the side and revealed the clear glass. “It’s a snake.”
As soon as she pointed it out, I saw it—the ridges like a serpent sliding through sand. I nodded. “I see now.”
“My mug had it too.” She reached across the counter and drew hers closer. “In the same spot. It is in a section of the cup that says this isn’t good and will impact us in the near future. Shahira, I believe this has to do with Father.”
Rubbing my bottom lip, I finally said, “You remember that boy that saved you from drowning when we were children?”
“Ulley? What does this have to do with Father?”
“That boy was Zayne.”
Kiara blinked at me. “You’re not serious.”
I shook my head. “Not only that, but I feel as if there are parts of our childhood we don’t know about. For one, I have memories with Zayne as children in the palace.”
Kiara’s eyes widened.
“I’ve had this growing feeling in my heart that Father has hidden many things from us. He bears a serpent staff, like you’re saying. What if he’s the one controlling the shadow in the palace?”
Kiara let out a somewhat strangled laugh. “Funny you mention that.” She pointed to the bottom of the mug. “It’s a shadow, darkness, evil, whatever you want to call it. It’s reaching out toward the snake.”
“Father really is behind this?” I rose to my feet and ran my fingers through my hair now resting on my shoulder. “How in the sands am I ever going to convince Zayne this is true? How do we prove any of this? Right now, it’s only a belief, Kiara.”
My sister shrugged. “Talk to Sultan Zayne. See if he has any feelings that Father might be using his magic against him.”
Taking the tiger statue from my pocket, I examined the carved stripes and intricate details. “The shadow tried to control him last night. What does this mean? If Father is behind this . . . our lives will never be the same.”
“Would that be so bad?”
I turned to Kiara.
She stood. “Shahira, you were meant to be in the palace. You are the only one who has stopped the sultan from killing, you somehow managed to summon Telama, and now you’re uncovering a secret that’s been hidden for who knows how long? Father could have manipulated Sultan Hashem too, for all we know.”
“You’re right. Even if this is my only purpose in life, at least I’ve discovered what my purpose is.” I pushed the tiger statue back into my pocket and embraced my sister. “Thank you for your encouragement. I’m going to see what I can do. I may need your help.”
“Call on me when you need me.”
I felt much lighter when I walked back up the palace steps. If I could prove our father was using his staff to control the shadow or ifrit and make Zayne kill, perhaps I could end this nightmare once and for all.
When I walked past the throne room, I stopped and poked my head in. Zayne was holding court—or rather, it should have been. Instead, the throne room was empty save Zayne sitting upon the throne and my father standing at his side.
The light from the lanterns flickered oddly, and for the first time I saw the outline of the shadow on the wall behind my father. My suspicions had been right all along.
Father was controlling the shadow.