“Yes, you did more than save her that day. You protected our entire operation at the palace.”
“And yet you accusedmeof being a rebel.” She turned back to Mishah. “And I told you everything in the dungeon about who I was. I thought we were friends.”
Mishah rose a brow. “Friends? I can’t afford the luxury of friends when my people are dying. I thought you would understand something like that.” She looked at me. “Friendship andlovearen’t things we can afford in a time like this.”
I winced at her wording but ignored the pointed dig.
“Excuse me?” Zaye asked, looking hurt.
“I didn’t mean us,” she said hastily.
But I didn’t need to hear Mishah’s lectures, because they were no different than those I’d given myself.
“That’s not true.” Yaseema’s voice was quiet and determined.
“What isn’t?”
“Love.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I stared determinedly ahead.
“Oh?”
“If we can’t love while we are fighting for our lives, then what are our lives for? What are we fighting for if not love?”
It was an echo of my own words to her just a few days ago. A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, and she walked past me to sit down on the chaise beside my desk. The scent of lemons and parchment followed in her wake, and I wanted to breathe it in, to lose myself in her until I didn’t need anything else.
But Mishah was partially right. I couldn’t forget everything else for the sake of my own desires. I couldn’t only focus on the things I wanted. Freeing my family only made sense if it meant saving everyone else. Saving Yaseema was the one selfish thing I’d allowed myself, and it had cost me.
And so, with great effort I sat at my desk, clearing off the map of our Court I’d been studying before Mishah had arrived.
Mishah huffed out a response and sat down beside her.
“Wewerefriends,” she said, begrudgingly. “Weare. I didn’t tell you anything because I didn’t want you to get tortured for what you knew—but you figured out how to do that anyway, so maybe I shouldn’t have bothered.”
“With help from you,” muttered Yaseema.
Mishah snorted a laugh. To my surprise, Yaseema smiled back.
“Besides, do you think I would have helped Kiyan get you out of the palace if I didn’t like you? And you’re right.” Mishah ran her hands through her dark hair. “Love is the one thing we should be able to count on right now.”
Mishah threw Zaye a glance and then looked at me.
I cleared my throat. “Well, now that’s taken care of, there is something a little pressing we must do.”
“The crown,” Yaseema said, sitting up straight on the chaise.
“The crown,” I agreed.
“Reza has it, but he must go to Tirich Mir to use it.”
“Yes, and that’s where we’ll take it.”
Mishah gaped at him. “He’ll have the entire Salt army with him.”
“Perhaps it’s time we finally meet him face to face, in open battle, instead of in the shadows.”
“If he manages to get his hands on you, he’ll drain you.”
