I had a brother, one that was trapped in a cursed Mountain, and yet Tal felt just as much like kin as any blood brother. While I’d waited for my family’s return, I’d grown up in dirt and blood and rubble and those who had done that with me deserved a chance to fight for our Court without waiting for the royal family to return.
Because they might never come back.
Perhaps it was time to give up on the hope that I could break the curse and focus on the peris here now that needed me.
“Reza is starting to lose patience. I won’t be able to stay here for much longer. But until then I want to do as much as I can to make it so when we do act against him, it is successful.” I looked at Tal then. “Because we won’t get another chance.”
“We can still use the Queen’s crown to break the curse, you know. You can still free your family.”
“You know freeing them isn’t enough. Then they’ll all just be in the same hell I am.”
“Isn’t hell better shared?” he said with a wry grin.
“I forgot how much of an arsewipe you are.”
His mouth quirked up, a smile I hadn’t realized how much I missed. “Thank you, in case I don’t get to say it. For now, I am grateful you stopped Reza from destroying me completely.”
I stared ahead, exhaling heavily, not trusting myself to speak. The moment I’d seen Reza touch him, I hadn’t thought. But that scared me more than anything.
What would I do if he raised a hand to Yaseema?
“When do I get to see the girl again?” Tal cut through my thoughts, and I flicked my gaze back to him.
“You don’t. You’ll be transported to the dungeons as soon as we arrive at the palace. I’ll find a way to free you there.” I pinched the bridge of my nose again, thinking through the early stages of a plan that could get Tal free while I still worked in Reza’s employ. It wouldn’t be easy.
“Can you use her to destroy him?”
I looked up at his inky-black eyes, staring at me steadily across the tent.
“The girl?”
“No, a bog hag. Yes, the girl. Can you use her to find a way for us to kill Reza? You’re right that if we want to completely take power back from Salt, we need to destroy Rusul’s crown. And perhaps she could be used to break the Mountain curse.”
I rubbed my hand at the back of my neck, thinking through everything.
“Yes, I can use her.” I hated saying the words even as they left my mouth.
Tal still watched me with his usual intensity. “But you don’t want to.”
“It would just be the same as what Reza is doing. She isn’t a tool to be used.”
She’s a jasmine flower in a wasteland of rot.
“Sooner or later, we need to stoop to his level.”
I gave a hoarse laugh that had no mirth in it. “I am reminded of that every day. But I’d still like to give her a choice. It’s something I never had.”
I pulled myself up to my feet, feeling sick at what I now needed to do if I wanted to get Tal out of here alive.
But my hands had so much blood on them, another layer of red shouldn’t matter.
I pulled a knife from the sheath at my hip and walked up to Tal.
“What I’m about to do to you won’t even be near what he would, but it has to be believable now. Scream as loud as you want.”
* * *
I washed my hands at the small washbowl in my tent. They shook so hard it made it difficult to get all the blood off.
