“Did you get what you wanted?” They gestured towards the River.
“And more so.” I nodded to the path the human girl had taken earlier, an idea forming. “But I need you to take care of something for me.”
* * *
I returned to the palace through the back entrance, not trusting that if I walked through the front courtyard I wouldn’t get stopped by General Faisal and a dozen soldiers wondering why I was covered in the black blood of an ancient creature from the Court of Salt.
At least one of the advantages of living back at the River Palace was that I could draw a bath whenever I wanted and scrub myself of blood.
It was necessary when one was constantly stained with it.
I lay back in the tub, lifting the key hanging from the chain at my neck and examining it properly for the first time.
I’d never seen the River do something like that—transfigure one object into another. The River had its own magic, and it could be unpredictable in its nature, but magic often needed to be commanded, conjured, controlled. I didn’t have power over the River—it wasn’t alive. But the water that had transformed the ring certainly seemed like it might be.
The ring was ancient peri, that much was true. Whether it was forged by dead Queen Azari, I had no idea. But the next step was going to be finding the door that this key unlocked, and though this was the first clue I’d had in years, I couldn’t begin to think where I’d look next.
The key was gold, like the ring had been, which wasn’t surprising considering the conductivity of magic in the Tashuna gold mostly used by the peris, and Queen Azari in particular. The bow of the key was elaborate and arching, vines curling above its shoulder. The inscription would be here somewhere, and I examined it closely in the firelight, searching for those ancient fae words I’d seen before when they were on the ring.Return me to the River.
At the top of the bow, therewasan inscription, but it wasn’t the same one. My heart leapt to my throat, and I nearly dropped the key in the bath when I saw the new words.
Of course, the inscription would have changed with the River, just as the ring had. I’d been too distracted with the human and the halmasti to check. It was the same number of words, with a remarkably different meaning.
Takeme to the mountains.
Chapter 16
Dear Amma,
I took your bangles out today to look at them in the sunlight. I can read your journals out in the open, as the Empress hasn’t banned reading books (yet). But since the Citadel has banned us owning jewelry, I’ve had to hide yours. Sometimes I loop them on my wrist and stroke them, pretending it’s your arm I’m touching.
—Letter from Yaseema Nazir to Mahira Nazir, written in Mahira Nazir’s journal
Yaseema
You don’t know what things lurk in the dark.
I ran until I couldn’t anymore, my feet pressing into the soft earth with such urgency I hadn’t bothered to take in the rest of my surroundings. Eventually the sun had completely set and I ended up in a small clearing, surrounded by wide trees with curling, twisted branches. I leaned against one and tilted my head up, looking again at the night sky.
The image of the fae male standing there, covered in black blood, ready to gut me next was burned into my mind. Though hehadgone to great efforts to save me, I imagine that it was because of the near desperation I’d seen on his face when he saw the bracelet on my wrist.
I unclasped Queen Azari’s haath phool, unthreading the rings connected to it from my fingers, and put it in my satchel. The fae knew what it was, and I didn’t need any more attention than what I already had by being human.
He didn’t seem to react to my mother’s bangles, so I left those on my arm, glad to at least be able to wear those still.
My spectacles were sprayed with black ichor—splattered from when the fae had stabbed it—and I took them off to clean them with the sleeve of my blouse. My hair and clothes at least had begun to dry, and I combed my fingers through my untamable curls in an attempt to look more presentable. I may have been attacked by a wolf the size of a horse, but I didn’t have to look like it.
After a few more minutes of walking through the forest in a more measured pace, the trees thinned out and lights appeared in the distance. I expected a small settlement, but my breath froze in my chest when I saw the full extent of what was here.
Before me was a palace made of glass and vines and wrought gold. It was as if it rose from the very River itself.
It was an enormous building, with domed glass ceilings and golden spires reaching up toward the stars. Multiple waterfalls cascaded down the front of the palace, culminating in a stream that flowed toward the Basrol River through the forest. Alongside the waterfalls grew curling vines winding their way up golden towers with white flowers everywhere. The smell of them lit up the air, rich and sweet.
Jasmine.
I’d never seen a building that intertwined with water and nature yet still look so thoroughly like a palace.
The River Palace.
