There were others that deserved my ire just as much, but it was Maz’s betrayal that was a festering raw wound of hurt spreading to everything else.
He was the person who had betrayed me the most.
If it wasn’t for him, Baba would still be alive. I swallowed and closed my eyes briefly before focusing them back on Noor. “Not whileMazinlives. He’s the catalyst for everything. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure he feels my rage.”
Noor watched me, her expression inscrutable, the torchlight flickering off her bright eyes. “If this is what you truly want, then I’m ready. And I want to take him down.”
I knew herhimwas different, but we were fighting two sides of the same coin.
Noor raised her chin. “I want Souma to have justice too.”
“Vahid will be taken care of, trust me. Areyousure you want to share all that power with me?”
She nodded, and before I lost the nerve, I had to ask her the question. “Why?”
Noor sucked in a breath and watched the flames dancing in the fire. “Because when I could have been trapped in that prison with Thohfsa, you came back. And because I don’t think either of us should do this on our own. Because we make a great team. And because…” She hesitated. “Because we both know what it’s like to lose a father and be powerless. And I want us to have some of that power back.”
I exhaled, some of the anger draining away. She was right, we did work well together—our escape proved that, as had the journey here. And we had a common enemy. As much as I wanted to ride into the city with my swords high, I knew I needed to be smarter about this, more subtle.
This wasn’t just about punishment, this was about making them pay, with all the might I could gather.
“This won’t be an easy path,” I said, watching the village women, realizing that I would likely never come back here again. Not with what came next.
“Trust me, as soon as I met you I knew you wouldn’t be an easy path.” A slow smile spread across Noor’s face.
I reached out and squeezed her hand, unused to feeling grateful. “Thank you, friend.”
Noor didn’t have to share her power. But I wasn’t about to refuse it either.
“Thank me when you are holding the magic of the djinn in your hands. When you have the power to do nearly anything.”
I nodded, but my fingers curled against the weathered wood table knowing the only thing I wanted was to have my father back.
But no djinn power could give me that.
Nothing could.
Baba was gone, and my peace would now have to come from destroying my enemies. They would pay the price for what they had done.
“I don’t think we should stay here very long,” Noor said, her voice low while she smiled and nodded to a woman walking by Nanu’s fire. “The villagers are watching us.”
I started at her words. “You think they would tell the emperor?”
Our village was loyal to our own, and I would be surprised if someone turned us in.
But then, I never thought Mazin would have done that to me either.
“A village like this? You’d kill for some extra coins in your pocket to see you through winter.”
I watched some of the women singing by the fire. “We should leave at first light then.”
“I’ll start filling my pack with your grandmother’s rotis. It’s a long journey where we’re going, and I’ve had my fill of dates.”
I flashed her a smile, the first time I’d truly felt like smiling since I heard of Baba’s death. “Pack the pakoras too. I saw an extra plate by the fire.”
“Ohhhh, good thinking.”
Noor wandered over to the food and I popped a few fennel seeds into my mouth and chewed on them as I stared into the fire.
