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"Fine." She rose and leaned over Gwandoya's sleeping form. The detestable man let out a loud snore. She reached into his tunic and pulled it from the grimy pocket where he kept it. Maram cradled the lamp in her clean hand while wiping the tainted one down the side of his tunic. Time to see if the old books were right.
A cloud of smoke surrounded Amani as he swelled to his full height, the impressive bulk of a djinn greeting his new master for the first time. "What is your wish, mistress?" he boomed.
"Take me, and everyone and everything inside this palace, back home where we belong." Remembering the first time, when she'd hit her head, she added, "As smoothly as possible, please, so that no one feels a thing."
"As you wish, mistress."
She felt the movement, little more than the sway of a ship at sea, before a slight bump told her they had arrived. A peep out the window revealed the shadow of buildings as someone carrying a torch ambled down the street. Maram was home.
"What else do you wish, mistress?"
"I wish to be free to marry the one I love, to be no man's slave any more."
Amani looked pained. "Princess, I cannot..."
Maram lifted her dagger from the table and sliced it across her hand. "I know. But I can. Blood of the betrayed that binds this djinn, my father's blood that runs in my veins, too, will set us both free." She seized the lamp in her bleeding hand, smearing the stuff over the blackened brass. "I am no man's mistress!"
Aladdin appeared. "Maram, no..."
She tossed the lamp at his feet. "Yes." She turned to Amani. "You are free. Find her, free her, and be happy."
Tears filled Amani's eyes, as, man-sized once more, he bowed at Maram's feet. "As you command, Princess. When I find her, I will tell her that you have found happiness, too. If you ever have need of me, you have only to call, and I will be there to grant your wish." He touched her hand, and she felt the cut heal as though it had never been. Only then did Amani rise and incline his head to Aladdin. "Enjoy your palace. Consider it my wedding gift to the princess. But if you ever hurt her...know you will incur the enmity of the most powerful enchanter in the world. A man with no master. Not any more." He stuck a finger in his mouth, withdrew it, then traced a circle in the air. A portal opened, and he stepped through and was gone.
"Why did you do that? He was a traitor! The enslavement was his punishment for crimes even we do not know!" Aladdin's wild eyes reminded Maram of Gwandoya.
"I know. His only crime was to love my mother, and win her love in return. Neither of us deserves to be a slave, serving a master who might use us for ill." She took his hand. "Please understand."
Aladdin swallowed. "I admit I do not, but there is very little about you I do understand. You are a great mystery to me, Princess Maram, but one I intend to spend my whole life studying. As long as your father doesn't kill me first."
"Why would my father kill my husband to be?"
"He gave me a month to bring you and this palace back, or he would cut off my head. Tomorrow is the last day of my month."
Maram folded her arms. "Then we will see the Sultan now, and sort this out. Next week is our wedding, and I want you alive."
Aladdin laughed. "I want you every bit as much as you want me, Princess. As you wish it, so must it be. To the Sultan's palace we go."
THIRTY-THREE
Sleepy servants showed Aladdin and Maram to an audience chamber, promising to tell the Sultan of their arrival. Time ticked by with no sign of the Sultan, as Maram dozed in Aladdin's arms and he found he didn't mind being kept waiting. No matter how many times Aladdin told himself he wasn't worthy of any princess, let alone Maram, the rightness of her body against his was undeniable. And the way her body had responded to him last night...she genuinely wanted him. Him, Aladdin the humble spinner's son, briefly the master of a lamp and its djinn, but now...now he was just a man in love, waiting to beg the Sultan to spare his life so that he might marry the man's favourite daughter.
The first rays of sunlight entered the audience chamber before the Sultan marched in, his brow furrowed with annoyance. "What kind of man wants to be beheaded before I break my fast? If you weren't going to be executed today anyway, I would think up a suitable punishment for waking your Sultan too early."
Aladdin's first instinct was to prostrate himself at the Sultan's feet, but that would mean waking Maram, so he did not move. Instead, he said softly, "I know of no man who wishes to lose his head before you break your fast, Your Majesty. But I did not dare sleep until I had reported to you, as I promised." He stroked Maram's hair. "The princess made no such promise, though, so perhaps we should let her rest."
The Sultan's eyes widened. "You brought her back? Is she hurt?"
"Not that I can tell, but she was kidnapped by a madman and held captive for weeks. There is no telling what he did to her."
"Where is the madman now?" the Sultan demanded.
"In the dining hall of my palace, unconscious. Your Majesty is welcome to him," Aladdin said.
The Sultan ordered two guards to bring Gwandoya back, then sat across from Aladdin and stared at him for a moment before he said, "For saving her, I would offer you her hand in marriage, if I had not already promised it to you."
Much though Aladdin would have liked to be the hero, he knew he didn't deserve the title. "She saved herself. She drugged her kidnapper's wine. The only reason she didn't do it earlier was because she did not think she could escape until I arrived. Your daughter is an amazing woman, and while I have no idea how I have managed to win her affection, I know I am the luckiest man alive."
"Indeed you are. She is everything a man could wish for, but will never attain." The Sultan sighed. "Just like her mother."
