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Kaveh stared at him. "If that is your wish, master."
"It is."
THIRTY-ONE
"Once again, I must remind you, Princess. Your husband is dead, and I am the only man you will ever see again. Will you finally accept me as your new husband?" Gwandoya asked.
Maram shook her head. "I cannot marry as long as I am in mourning. It is not seemly for me to take a new husband so soon."
"Who is there to know, or care? We are alone here!" Gwandoya snapped.
"As long as my late husband's shade haunts me, unable to find peace in the place where he was murdered, I cannot think to replace him."
Gwandoya jumped to his feet. "A pox on your husband's shade. Would that he were still alive, so that I might kill him more slowly, for he is such a thorn in my side that he deserves pain in equal measure!" He gestured for Amani. "I have had enough. Send me back to the city."
Gwandoya departed through the portal, leaving Maram alone with Amani. She sagged against the djinn. "Each time I see him, I dislike him more, and I hated the man on sight. When will he give up?"
Amani shook his head. "He is crazy in ways that few men are. He is not the sort to give up easily, or at all. The question you should be asking is: what will that madman do when he finally loses patience with you? I have no desire to harm you, but I am the slave of the lamp. Should he order me to kill you, I'm not sure I could disobey him. And your mother's shade would never forgive me."
"My mother is not dead."
Amani's mouth dropped open. "Briska lives?"
Maram had never seen a man look as hungry as Amani did now. "She does. All my life, I was told that she'd been executed, as had you, but it turns out my father couldn't bring himself to kill her. He loved her too, you know. She is enslaved to something, just as you are, though I know not what or where. Only that she lives."
"One day, I wish to be free to find her."
Tears filled her eyes. "I hope one day you find her, too. You deserve to be happy."
"Your father would not think so."
"He will when I tell him how you have protected me here. If it weren't for you, I should have gone mad on that first day, or been eaten by a lion. It is four weeks since I arrived here, and you have never allowed me to lose hope that one day I might go home." Maram stared at him fiercely. "When I see my father again, I will demand that he release you from slavery."
Amani's smile seemed pitying. "He cannot, Princess. It takes magic to break a magical binding."
She refused to be put off. "Then I will make him summon an enchanter powerful enough to break it for him. If I have to endure another day here alone – "
"But you are not alone, Princess. Not any more. Open the gates and see."
Maram followed Amani to the entrance hall, where he threw open the doors and pointed. "Look out over the grass," he said.
In the darkness, she could see very little, but there did seem to be a faint glow, growing larger as she watched. Maram squinted. There appeared to be two figures, each carrying a torch. "Who are they?"
Amani's enigmatic smile told her nothing. "Wait and see."
It took an eternity for the two men to cross the flat plain to the gates. Maram didn't dare go out to meet them – in the weeks she'd been here, wild animals had picked Hasan's bones clean, and the bleached bones outside the gate were a warning of what the lions would do to her if she tried to leave.
The night breeze plucked at her veil, chilling Maram, but she simply folded her arms across her breasts and hugged what warmth she had left. If she went back into the palace for a shawl, the visitors might disappear, never to be seen again.
Finally, the figure came close enough for Maram to discern details. One man, not two, and he was cloaked against the cold, carrying a torch to light his way.
"What's that?" a familiar voice asked, lifting his torch to illuminate what remained of Hasan.
Maram's heart leaped for joy. "It was Hasan," she said, stepping forward out of the shadows. "They killed him and gave his body to the lions." She could feel tears threatening to fall. "I closed the doors, but I could still hear the bones cracking while they ate him. I have never been so alone as I am here. Then he comes at night and tries to seduce me – me! After I saw him kill Hasan!"
Aladdin set his torch in the bracket by the gate and ascended the steps. "You are safe now," he said, wrapping his arms around Maram. "I swear it."
Maram couldn't help it. Safe in his arms, she wept. For the senseless slaughter, the frustration of her own captivity, and most of all, for how much she'd missed this man.
