Girl, Serpent, Thorn(73)

“You lied to me when you said you hadn’t seen Parvaneh.” He took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up to look at him. “I thought it strange that Parvaneh could have resisted the effects of the esfand after all this time. But of course, if she had a human accomplice, that would explain everything. You’ve been working against me this entire time.”

She shook her head. “No … no, I…”

He sighed impatiently. “Choose a lie more quickly, Soraya.”

Her mind was working frantically, trying to find a lie that he would believe, but it seemed pointless. He wouldn’t believe her, not enough to trust her again—certainly not enough to tell her where he kept the simorgh’s feather.

The truth, then. As much of it as she dared.

“I did free her,” Soraya said, her voice wavering from fear. “I needed a way to escape the palace, and when she showed me what you had done to her wings, I thought she would help me. But you caught me first.”

A low growl escaped his throat. “When did you find the other pariks? You freed them, too, didn’t you?”

Soraya nodded. “The first night, after you left. Parvaneh took me into the forest and we found them … and I freed them.”

“And where are they now?”

“I don’t know,” Soraya said, thankful it was true. “They all left together, but I don’t know where they went.”

He released her face and turned away from her with another heavy sigh, his hands running over his head where his hair had once been. “I don’t know what to do with you now, Soraya,” he said, a note of regret in his voice.

Soraya was on the verge of tears. She had spoiled everything because of one thoughtless moment. How had Azad managed to fool her for so long without letting his mask slip? She had started to see it at one point—she had realized that he was playing a part, telling her what she wanted to hear. Then he had told her the story of his merchant father, and she had believed him again—because even though the details weren’t true, his resentment was. That was the trick of it, then—to sharpen lies with the truth.

She swallowed down her fear and approached him, her hands resting on his back. He went rigid under her touch, but she took a breath and said, “When I freed her, I didn’t know what she had done to you. She lied to me, fooled me as she fooled you.” He didn’t respond, but he didn’t pull away, either, and so she moved around him so that they were facing each other. “I was furious with her when I found out. Whatever alliance we once had is over.”

From his long silence, his searching stare, she knew that he wanted to believe her. Finally, he said, “Why should I trust you?”

Soraya shut her eyes, the flickering flame of a candle appearing in her mind. “Because I can give her to you,” she said, the words scraping her throat. It was the worst betrayal she could think of, but it was also the only solution to make Azad trust her again.

She opened her eyes to find him watching her with curiosity.

“How?” he said.

“She always comes to my room after you leave for Golvahar. If you hide there, you can catch her when she appears.”

“And you would be content with this?”

Soraya nodded, thankful now that she had become so adept at pushing down her emotions over the years. “I don’t care what happens to her.”

Azad abruptly left her side and went to an iron chest against the wall. He retrieved something from it, and when he returned, Soraya saw he had a coil of rope around his arm. He had captured me, bound my wings so I couldn’t transform, she remembered Parvaneh telling her. Azad went to the door and gestured for her to follow.

“Now?” Soraya said, her voice going up an octave.

He looked at her coolly. “Why not? The time for her arrival is near. If you meant what you said, there’s no reason to wait.”

Soraya followed him out into the tunnels, walking quickly to keep up with his determined stride. “What are you planning to do with her?” she asked.

“You said you didn’t care what happens to her,” Azad answered, and Soraya went quiet.

He won’t kill her, she reminded herself. Parvaneh had told her that he always captured pariks rather than kill them. He probably would keep her unconscious, as he had done with the others. But what if she was wrong and he preferred to kill Parvaneh rather than risk her escaping again? What if he kept her alive but tore her wings, or found other ways to harm her? Soraya’s stomach twisted with nausea. Perhaps if she used the candle to signal to Parvaneh that it wasn’t safe, then she would understand not to appear, and Soraya could tell him that they’d fought, and that Parvaneh had abandoned her.

Soraya practiced the conversation in her head, and by the time they reached her room, she was calmer.

Before Azad’s banquet, she had left the candelabra at the far end of the table—the signal for Parvaneh not to appear—and it remained there still. As long as Soraya didn’t move it, she could pretend that Parvaneh should have come by now. She gestured to a shadowy part of her room beyond the table where Azad could hide, and he nodded, tightening the rope between his hands.

“She may not come,” Soraya said quickly. “We fought the last time we spoke. I told her I was finished with her.”

Azad laughed softly and took Soraya’s head in his hands, the rope around his wrist scratching her cheek. “I hope that isn’t the case, Soraya. Because if she doesn’t appear tonight, I’ll think you were lying to me, and I’ll have to take measures to ensure that you don’t betray me again. What was it you said before? That as long as I have your family, you’re under my control? I’ll make you a deal, then. If I capture Parvaneh tonight, I will let your family live—other than your brother, of course. But if Parvaneh doesn’t appear tonight, or if she escapes me, then I will start to kill them one by one every time you defy me, beginning with your brother’s pretty bride.”