But despite the unexpectedness, I tried to focus on the positives—Casildo had sped up the plans tenfold by introducing me to them.
“What brings you to our city, sahiba Khara?” Maz asked, and a little tremor went through me at the sound of his voice again. I didn’t stop to analyze what that was.
“Please, call me Sanaya. And I am just visiting. My father wants to come to the city eventually and asked me to ready a place for hisarrival.” My own voice came out a little higher than I would have liked and I chewed on the edge of my lip.
“She purchased the vacant Jasmine Koti property,” Casildo said, almost conspiratorially.
Mazin’s eyebrows shot to his hairline.
I turned to the girl at his side. “You’ll have to show me around the city, Anam. I’ve been to the bazaar but I have no idea who to buy from, who will cheat me, and who is lying to me.”
Mazin chuckled as if I’d told a joke, and I wanted to smash his face into one of the glass cases. Instead I sidled closer to him. He’d only see what I wanted him to—Sanaya Khara, a beautiful chieftain’s daughter who was unproblematic and sweet. I turned to him, a question in my gaze.
Our eyes met, and I felt unexpectedly breathless with the contact.
“Anam won’t be able to help you with any of those things,” he explained. “I wager my sister gets cheated regularly spending the emperor’s money.”
Anam looked shamefaced at Mazin’s words but smiled at me. “I would love to show you the city, Sanaya, and the bazaar, despite what my brother says.”
“Of course. And I don’t believe his words for a minute. In fact, you are likely the one doing the bargaining, with eyes like yours.”
Her gaze lit up, and she shot a look to her brother.
I turned back to Mazin, forcing myself to remember that in this body, with this face, I didn’t hate him. In this skin, I wanted his adoration, as much as it made me want to retch. I wanted him to want me, just as much as he had pretended to want me before. Then I would rip his heart out while it was still beating.
“And what brings you to Casildo’s home this evening, Sanaya?” He rolled my fake name on his tongue like a caress, and I felt my pulse speed up.
I remembered this about him—he was charming. Other girlswould giggle to me about him constantly, hoping that I’d introduce them to him.
“I have an interest in swords and daggers of all kinds. I saw some of Casildo’s collection in the bazaar and heard he might be interested in selling some of his private collection to me.”
Mazin inclined his head. “And did he agree?”
Casildo’s voice entered the conversation from the back of the room. “She’s looking for a particular blade, one she said she saw at a market once, though I’ve no idea where. A dagger with a bone hilt carved into the head of a halmasti.”
Mazin stood to his full height, his mouth pressing into a thin line. I was unable to tear my eyes away from him. He was behaving differently than I imagined. He wasn’t boastful or arrogant. A small muscle ticked in his jaw that I recognized from every training bout we’d had together.
He was trying to keep his emotions in check.
Why?
“Mazin is being tight-lipped.” Casildo sounded amused as he came to stand beside us. He took a long drink of his chai and then extended his hand for his cup to be refilled. A servant came rushing over to him. My lip curled. Casildo used to say he was a man of the people, would drink with my father over a fire outside of his smith with the villagers in camaraderie. Now he drank tea with crushed rose petals from gold-rimmed glasses and couldn’t even fill his own cup.
“He knows the exact knife you seek. Unfortunately, it is not in my collection. But I do have something similar.” Casildo gestured to the back wall, the glass case containing my father’s blades.
I forced myself to look away from Maz and back to the swords on display. Noor stood next to them, and I met her gaze for the briefest of moments before looking back to the glass case.
I was grateful she was still here. She was a silent presence at the edge of the room, observing us all without being noticed—but just knowing there was someone here who had my back made me a bit more confident.
Even if she was terrible with a sword.
“The dagger you seek is very unique.” Mazin’s voice was a low rumble beside me. He had moved closer, so close that I could smell him and nearly closed my eyes at the memories that assaulted me.
The problem when someone you loved betrayed you was that you had a lifetime of good memories with them that you had to examine in a different light. What was once a safe place to be—beside him, engulfed in his arms, inhaling the smell of rainstorms and pine—was actually the most dangerous place of all.
I exhaled slowly to calm my pounding heart.
“I know of only one smith who created a blade with a halmasti head, though I doubt you saw it at a market. The man who made it only sold his wares directly.”
