Girl, Serpent, Thorn(46)

Soraya collapsed against the wall in relief—but her relief didn’t last long. She was safe for now, but still had to find a way out of the palace, and it was only a matter of time before the Shahmar discovered she was missing. He would likely guess she was in the passageways, and he already knew one of the entrances.

And then there was her mother’s advice, that Soraya find a parik with the wings of an owl. But even if Soraya managed to escape the palace, how would she ever manage to find the parik on her own?

You would be welcome among my sisters. If you freed me now, I could take you to them.

The solution was both obvious and ridiculous. Parvaneh would know how to find the other pariks, of course. She probably even knew the owl-winged parik her mother had mentioned, since she had known so much about Soraya’s curse. But why would Parvaneh ever agree to help her? The feather, Soraya remembered, putting a hand to her waist, feeling the outline of the feather inside her sash.

She began to walk in the direction of the chamber that would take her to the dungeon, but even though she knew Parvaneh was her best option, she worried she was making yet another terrible mistake. Parvaneh was a div—she would surely be in league with the Shahmar.

As if Parvaneh were in the same room with her, Soraya could clearly see the insulted look on her face and hear the irritation in her voice. I’m not any div, she had once told her. I’m a parik, and my purposes are my own.

Soraya remembered, too, that Parvaneh had last urged her not to take the feather at all, to live with her curse in peace—and to ask her mother why she had wanted her daughter cursed. If Soraya had followed any of her advice, the Shahmar’s plan might have failed.

Even as Soraya argued with herself, every step she took led her closer to the dungeon. When she emerged into the round chamber where she had once stood with Azad, she knew there was never a question of whether she would return to the dungeon, not truly. Even if she didn’t need help finding the owl-winged parik, Soraya would still want to look into those amber eyes and see for herself if Parvaneh had been a part of this plot from the beginning.

The familiar and reassuring smell of esfand surrounded her as soon as she stepped out into the dungeon. If the smoke was still this strong, then no other divs had been here—which meant, possibly, that Parvaneh wasn’t a part of their plot. Soraya reminded herself that the esfand hadn’t had any effect on Azad, but she supposed that was because of his former humanity.

Letting out a slow breath, Soraya crept down the stairs to Parvaneh’s cavern. The light was stronger this time, and so she could clearly see Parvaneh restlessly pacing the length of her cell. As soon as she saw Soraya, she froze and walked up to the bars. Her gaze immediately went from Soraya’s face and neck to her bare hands. “You did it, didn’t you?” she said. Her eyes snapped back to Soraya’s face with an urgent gleam. “Do you have the feather?”

Soraya stepped forward, ignoring Parvaneh’s question. “Did you know? When you saw him here with me that first day, did you know who he was—and what he was planning?”

Parvaneh didn’t need to speak her answer aloud. The glow of her eyes dimmed, her shoulders sagged, and her hands fell away from the bars. Everything about her spoke of defeat.

Soraya shook her head in disappointment. She didn’t understand why she was so surprised, so betrayed. Parvaneh was a div, wasn’t she? “You knew and you said nothing.”

“I said plenty. You didn’t listen.”

“You were a part of this from the beginning, weren’t you? When you attacked my brother—that was all part of the plan to get both of you into the palace. What a wonderful spy you’ve been for your king,” Soraya sneered.

Parvaneh’s eyes flashed with anger. “He’s not my king,” she said, her voice a snarl. “He’s my captor. If I had told you everything, would you have believed me? You barely believed a word I said as it was. If I had told you that your handsome new friend was secretly the leader of the divs, you would have denied it at best. At worst, you would have told him, so he could reassure you that I was a liar, and then he would have punished me and my sisters.”

Soraya heard the echo of her own response to her mother’s question of why Soraya hadn’t confronted her sooner, and so she couldn’t deny that Parvaneh was probably right. Soraya’s voice softened a little as she repeated, “Your sisters?”

“He hunts us for sport. Many of my sisters are his prisoners.”

Like the parik my mother freed in the forest, Soraya remembered. “The other pariks—does one of them have the wings of an owl?”

Parvaneh’s head tilted in surprise. “Parisa,” she said, with a glimmer of a smile. “She’s the one who made you what you are.”

“I need to find her. Do you know where she is?”

“Captured, or so he told me. But…” Parvaneh’s eyes flickered to a spot behind Soraya’s shoulder—the source of the fragrant smoke all around them. “If you let me out, I could take you to her and the others, and we could free them. We both have families to save.”

Soraya considered in silence. She didn’t know whom to trust anymore—she had trusted Azad completely, and she had been wrong. Was it possible, then, that she had been wrong to think that Parvaneh was her enemy? Or would she be even more of a fool to trust her now?