Girl, Serpent, Thorn(89)

“Don’t follow,” Azad snarled as he began to back both himself and Tahmineh toward the palace doorway. But as he began to retreat under the ayvan, figures appeared in the doorway with swords bared. Soraya recognized the spahbed—his waist was still bandaged, but he stood firm, sword pointed in Azad’s direction. Beside and behind him were other wounded soldiers recovered enough to fight.

Cornered again, Azad let out a cry of frustration. And then, with a flourish of his still-powerful wings, he rose up into the air, taking Soraya’s mother with him.





29


“No,” Soraya kept saying under her breath, that one word over and over again. She watched in terror as the two figures flew up over the roof. But the effort of flying had used up the remaining force of Azad’s wings, because when they were barely over the palace, his wings began to crumble like dry leaves, and he and Tahmineh crashed down onto the surface of the roof.

“Go!” Soraya shouted to Parvaneh, but Parvaneh was already flying up to the roof, and Soraya ran past the soldiers into the palace.

She’ll be safe, Soraya told herself. She’s always been able to outsmart him. But Azad’s promise to slaughter her family still rang in her ears as she rushed toward the stairwell to the roof. Just as she reached the stairs, something with claws grabbed her by the back of her dress, a low growl coming from above her. Soraya let out a frustrated cry and wildly thrashed against the div that held her, but soon the div let out a yelp of pain and the claws released her.

Soraya spun to find the div’s severed right arm on the ground. And behind the div was a familiar soldier, his sword red with the div’s blood.

“Go!” Ramin called to her, not taking his eyes off the div, which was moving toward him.

Soraya silently thanked him and began to climb. She ran breathlessly, but halfway up the stairs, she had to stop, because she felt sudden sharp stabs of pain all along her body. She put a hand on the wall to brace herself, waiting for the inexplicable pain to pass, then continued.

She had to pause again when she reached the final flight of stairs, which brought her onto a balconied platform on the outside wall of the palace. At first, she had only stopped because she had been startled by the unexpected flash of green, but then she realized what she was seeing, and her jaw dropped in awe.

The golestan was still growing. Twining through the bars of the balcony were thick green vines lined with thorns. When Soraya looked up at the wall, she saw more of the vines growing over the palace walls, covering nearly the entire facade. Again, she felt a stab of pain that took her breath away, but as soon as it passed, she continued up the last flight of stairs, careful to avoid the vines and their poisonous thorns.

At last she stepped up onto the roof. She rushed toward the edge near the front of the palace, where Azad was backing away, still holding his dagger to Tahmineh’s throat. Parvaneh stood several paces away from them both, alert but very still.

Soraya ran to Parvaneh’s side and called out, “Let her go, Azad. She has nothing to do with this.”

Azad’s head jerked in her direction, and Soraya felt a wave of dread. She had expected to find him frantic and afraid, still halfway between monster and man. She had thought she could appeal to him again, as she had tried to do on the steps below. But Azad’s eyes were cold and calm, his scales—and any other sign of the Shahmar—completely gone. He wasn’t using Tahmineh to protect himself—he knew he had lost his throne, as well as any command he had over the divs. All he had left to do was punish Soraya for his loss.

“Nothing to do with this?” he echoed coolly. “She’s the reason we’re all standing here now. It’s time for her to atone.”

“He’s right,” Tahmineh called back, eyes fixed on Soraya. “You shouldn’t be the one who has to stop him, Soraya. It should have always been me.” To Azad, she commanded, “Do it, then. Do what you should have done to me thirty years ago.”

Soraya balked at her mother’s words. But then Parvaneh put her hand on Soraya’s shoulder and whispered so only she could hear, “She’s doing you a favor,” and Soraya understood. Tahmineh’s life was the only thing standing in between them and Azad. And so she was offering that life as a sacrifice, so that her daughter could put an end to their family’s great enemy once and for all.

Tahmineh gave Soraya a small, subtle nod, and Parvaneh’s hand tightened on her shoulder. Let him do it, they were both saying to her. Another sacrifice, another exchange. She had put out the fire and endangered her brother so that she could lift her curse. She had given Parvaneh to Azad to save her family. She had nearly killed Sorush for the same reason. But now, just once, Soraya didn’t want to trade one life for another. She wanted her family safe, her mother alive, her people protected, Parvaneh free—she wanted it all, and she wouldn’t let Azad take a single one from her. Not again. Not anymore.

The stabbing pain was returning, only now she couldn’t feel each individual stab, but a constant sense of pressure all over her skin—all under her skin, like something fighting to break through. Ignoring it, she stepped forward, letting Parvaneh’s hand fall away from her shoulder. “Azad, listen to me, please. You’re fully human now, aren’t you? You can find a new life for yourself somewhere else, somewhere far from all of your worst memories. You could forget the past and begin again.”