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A furrow grew between his brows. “I didn’t like how he spoke to you. Is it always that way with him?”
“No.” The first time she’d met him, he’d barely spoken to her at all, choosing instead to speak with her father. She sighed. “He was irritated. Rightly so, considering Ididsort of run away from him when I left home. And he’s frustrated by my injury, because that delays things. I’m frustrated too, as you know. I’m anxious to return home.”
Something flickered in Desfan’s eyes. An emotion she couldn’t name. “You didn’t seem comfortable with him,” he finally said. “At all.”
“He caught me off guard, that’s all. I assure you, I can handle Skyer.”
Desfan frowned. “Imara—”
The door opened without warning and Karim pushed in, followed closely by Razan.
The relief Imara felt at the interruption was probably wrong. But if Desfan had spoken of what he’d said yesterday—of things that could never be between them—it would only torture them both.
Karim’s expression was severe. “Sorry for interrupting. Des, this is urgent.”
Razan sent Imara a small, apologetic smile before she handed Desfan a folded note. “This was delivered to me this morning.”
Desfan flipped it open and scanned the message.
Curiosity pulled at Imara. Before she could ask what the note said, Desfan finished reading and passed it to her.
She was careful not to let their fingers brush as she took it.
“I assume you read it?” Desfan asked Karim.
“Yes,” the bodyguard said tightly.
Imara scanned the scrawled words.
Give this message to the serjan at once. Tonight, I will meet with the serjan, his bodyguard, and you. No one else must come. At midnight, find me in the market district, in the northernmost alley. You must come. Please.
—Fang
She glanced up. “I feel like I know the name, but . . . who is Fang, exactly?”
She got three simultaneous responses.
“An old acquaintance,” Desfan said.
“A drug master,” Karim huffed.
“A criminal.” Razan blinked at Karim. “Look at that. We agreed on something.”
His expression hardened.
Imara handed the note back to Desfan. “Why would he send this message to Razan and not you?”
“I don’t know.” Desfan studied the note again. “Fang might know we’re friends, and that Razan could reach me easily when he obviously couldn’t—my messages are closely monitored these days. But he clearly wants Razan at the meeting, so there may be an ulterior motive for involving her.”
“Which is not an issue,” Karim said, “because there willbeno meeting.”
“But—”
“No,” Karim said, cutting Desfan off. “The last time you sought Fang out, he abducted us for ransom.”
Razan’s eyes widened.
A memory rose in Imara’s mind; Desfan had told her about Fang when he’d told her about the olcain issues Duvan had recently faced. If she remembered correctly, Fang had vanished after failing to ransom Desfan and Karim. Why would he be reaching out now?
