Twenty-six

The night was dark, the moon clouded over by the pregnant clouds lurking in the sky, ready to erupt with monsoon rains.

Guards lined the streets, and a crowd had begun to form outside Casildo's home, as curious onlookers stood around to see what the fuss was about.

I waited outside for Noor and my other betrayer, Darbaran.

The last time I had seen him, he'd arrested me for treason and dragged me by the hair into the palace dungeon.

My hand tightened on the hilt of my knife when I spied his pockmarked face and smug grin.

He wore that same expression when he'd locked me up.

But he was next.

So, while I remembered the part he played in my arrest, it would only be a matter of time before his downfall as well.

At last Noor walked out of the house escorting an affronted Casildo.

"You dare?" he sputtered, marching outside. "I'll have your head when the emperor hears of this!"

He glared at Darbaran. Then his eyes alighted on me.

I pulled my hood up, making sure my face was covered. Casildo would know it was me—he'd have to know. But I wanted city gossip about Sanaya's involvement to be limited.

Darbaran lifted a bag and threw it on the street at my feet. My scimitar spilled out.

I didn't bother to draw back my hood, to study the blade on the ground. I knew it was the one he had stolen.

"This sword was found in sahib Casildo's home. In accordance with Basral law, stealing is prohibited."

Casildo looked like his eyes were about to bulge from his head. "This is preposterous! I don't even know where that came from."

"What is the punishment for thievery in Basral?" I asked, my voice ringing out. Casildo was red-faced, even in the darkness of the square. Whispers sounded around us.

"The work camps," spat Darbaran with glee. Maybe it was because Darbaran loved using his power to cause suffering, or because his debt with Casildo was now expunged, but it was clear he was getting joy out of this.

Casildo blanched white at the mention of the grueling work camps Vahid had implemented in the north.

"You stole from me," I said clearly, stepping forward, still shielding my face. "And no one contravenes the law in Basral."

I licked my lips, preparing for the performance. "But there is one exception to that law."

The guards moved to arrest him.

"Wait!" he shouted, desperation lacing his voice. "What exception?"

A feral grin spread across my face. "You are allowed"—I said the words slowly, relishing them—"to have a family member take your place if you so choose."

Casildo gaped at me. "But I don't have any family."

"Now that isn't true, is it?" My voice was deceptively soft.

I stepped closer. A frown creased Casildo's forehead as he squinted up at me.

"You have a daughter. She can take your place. The law will accept her blood instead of yours." My words were just above a whisper.

Casildo staggered back and clutched at his chest. I wanted to laugh at the irony—in this city children were sent to the work camps every day—orphans, those that worked as pickpockets and swindlers. But a child of a wealthy merchant—that was unheard of. That was shocking. When I had gone to prison, no one had said a word.

Except my father.

Let Casildo do to his own daughter what he did to me.

"It is the law," I repeated. "You are allowed to have someone else serve your reparation. It's your choice, either you or your child."

I could see his mind working as he narrowed his eyes. That he didn't immediately denounce the idea had triumph flooding through me.

As if to hammer home my point, Noor appeared with his daughter, taken from her bed in the north of the city—the sweet-faced, dark-haired little girl who clutched a small doll to her chest. She couldn't have made a better martyr. The woman who had picked her up from school was also there, being held back by Darbaran's soldiers as she wept and lunged for the girl. Casildo looked as if he might vomit. He dragged his gaze between the little girl and me.

"Fine," he spat, not looking at his daughter. "Take her instead."

I released a low breath. Murmurs sounded all around me.

He had done it.

He had actually chosen himself. In the end, he wouldn't even save his own daughter.

The woman with the emerald dupatta let out a low wail.

"Baba?" His daughter's voice was pleading and soft. Noor shot me a look but I didn't return her glance. I clenched my fists tight and willed the steel in my heart to remain for this next part.

If I looked too closely at this little girl, if I remembered my own trauma at being arrested, at feeling so alone I could break in two, then I wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done.

This girl had just seen someone she loved betray her and give her up for his own greed. It was better she learned this lesson now.

"A coward is always a coward," I murmured, mostly to myself, but Casildo heard me. His gaze shot up, and his eyes narrowed. I smiled at him, letting my teeth show.

"What did you just say?"

"You would let your own daughter go to the work camps for your crime? Sentence a child to be imprisoned?" This time my voice carried over the crowd. People had started gathering in the square around us.

"Is it better that the child have no father?" he sputtered. "I can get her out once I speak to the emperor."

"Have you no honor?" someone shouted.

Casildo looked around us, his eyes widening. He finally seemed to notice the crowd that had amassed around him. The angry, protest-driven crowd that was now pressing in on us.

Jeering and shouting filled the square.

The crowd had turned on Casildo.

"Wait," he cried weakly at the furious mob. "Wait, I didn't mean…"

"I thought you were a pillar of this city, sahib? Hm? Now you steal and suggest a child take your punishment?" I shouted the words across the square, inciting the throng of people, bringing the frenzy to a peak.

"You said… you said…" he sputtered, his hand going to his heart, looking less like a powerful man and more like a scared little boy.

I bent down, getting on my knees in front of him, ignoring the screams of the mob. Noor and the guards were keeping them at bay now, and only Casildo could hear my words.

"This is what you like to do to people, isn't it?"

He looked up at me, his eyes wild, but my question cut through the fear.

"What?"

"You heard me. I've just done what you do. I took everything from you—your reputation, your family. That's what you did to my father, isn't it? You used his trust, his love for his child, and you destroyed him."

Casildo looked me full in the face. "Your father? Sanaya, I've never met your father."

"You're too smart to be this foolish, Casildo. My father trusted you. And instead of helping him, you warned the emperor and got him killed."

Understanding lit in his eyes.

"Dania?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. His face had blanched white as his eyes roved over me. He shook his head. "You can't be her. You look nothing like Dania."

I smiled at him but said nothing. A look of horror washed over his face.

"I took everything from you, just as you did from me."

I stood and surveyed the incensed crowd, then turned back to him. "By the way, there is no exception to the law. You must serve in the work camp yourself. But now at least everyone knows what kind of person you are."

"Casildo will be arrested, not this girl," I called out to the crowd.

The mob cheered and Casildo collapsed on the ground, weeping into his hands. Noor gestured for the guards to take him away. I grabbed Darbaran's arm lightly, and he gave me an oily smile. My skin crawled just being near him.

"Put him on the transport tonight. The faster you do, the richer you'll be."

Darbaran nodded, his eyes lighting up.

I watched as my father's betrayer was taken into the night begging for mercy. His daughter was at the edge of the crowd in her mother's arms, head buried in her chest. At her father's cry, she lifted her head. For a second, our eyes met, hers a pale, blazing green and mine dark with revenge.

I wondered if she would come for me too, when she was older.

Noor stepped in place beside me. "What do you want me to do?"

I tore my eyes away from the little girl.

"Make sure she gets everything." I jerked my head toward her and her mother. "Every ounce of Casildo's fortune. She should want for nothing."

Noor nodded and began walking away, but I stilled her with a hand. "Except the swords." My voice was low. "I want them back."