Forty-three

"The emperor will know we are here. Thohfsa wouldn't have brought the soldiers without telling him."

Noor crouched down to Thohfsa, who had stopped thrashing and moaning and was now motionless.

Dead.

Noor looked up at me, her mouth grim.

"What did you do?" Noor repeated, her voice so low I had to strain to hear her. Her eyes flickered to the soldiers, then slid back to my face. From her pained expression, she assumed something terrible.

And yet, it was so much worse than her imaginings.

I bristled at the censure in her voice. "I did what I had to in order to save you," I shot back.

"Bullshit," she snapped at me with ferocity.

I blinked.

"You did it for yourself." Her eyes flashed with hurt, as if I had destroyed her instead of saving her.

"Why do you even care?" I threw up my arms. "You can go wherever you please now. You're free."

I felt a darkness eating at me, anger bubbling to the surface, the manifestation of frustration that Noor wasn't even grateful for all I had done. There was a rage I couldn't calm, a flood of dark emotion threatening to take me under.

"Why do I even care?" Noor looked incredulous. "Are you a fool? You think I've been helping you for weeks because I had nothing better to do?"

"I think you feel like you owe me for coming back for you at the prison. Well, now you don't. I release you of any obligation you once felt."

"Oh, you don't think it was because I had nothing better to do, you think it was out of obligation ?" Her eyes were fire, her body vibrating with fury.

"Why are you shouting at me? I just saved your life."

Her eyes narrowed. "And I am grateful. But I am not here with you because of obligation."

I swallowed, my throat thick. "Then why?"

She gaped at me. "Because I'm your friend, Dani."

Warmth filled my chest, contradicting the darkness inside me. But I looked away from Noor's pleading face and thought instead of Baba's smile, of his soot-smudged hands. Of the djinn-created ghost of him that had stood in front of me.

"Did you forget about your own revenge against Vahid?" My voice cracked, and I was desperate to hold on to something, even if it was vengeance.

"No revenge is worth this!"

"Worth what? My life? That was the plan all along. I knew what I was getting into."

Noor huffed a bitter laugh. "It isn't worth whatever you've done to yourself. The control you have on those soldiers is not due to zoraat. I know that better than anyone. Whatever you did to control human bodies, it isn't worth it."

I was silent for a moment. "How do you know it wasn't zoraat that gave me this power?"

She bit her lip, looking back at the soldiers in the square awaiting my command. "Because I know what zoraat can do, I've worked with it for years. What you did, it wasn't in the realm of possibility. Which means you must have had help." She folded her arms. "You were visited by a djinn, weren't you?"

I exhaled. "Yes. The very same who bestowed his power on Vahid."

Noor made a sound of distress before pursing her lips together. "And what did he want from you in return for all this power?"

"Nothing I wasn't willing to give," I said bitterly. Then I let out a slow breath. Noor wasn't the one who deserved my anger.

"Noor," I reasoned, holding out my hands and tempering my voice. "When Thohfsa took you, I had nothing left. I gave everything I had to end this, once and for all. I will do what I promised to do."

"At the cost of what? You are being consumed by this vengeance—it isn't going to get you what you want, your father is never going to come back. And he wouldn't have wanted you down this path either."

I laughed, a harsh sound. "You know nothing about what he would have wanted. I owe this to him." I clenched my fists, any attempt at civility gone. "Do not make the mistake of thinking I won't go through you to get to them."

Noor raised her eyebrows, whistling low. "Are you threatening me now? Look at what this power has done to you. I know that anyone who loves you wouldn't want you to destroy yourself in a quest for retribution."

"But they don't get to make that choice, I do."

"And I'll ask again, what will it cost you?"

I pressed my lips together and stared at Noor.

She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "There's no use arguing with you, and we don't have much time. I'll go to your grandmother, make sure she's safe. If you won't tell me what bargain you made, at least remember this." She took a step forward, grabbing a hold of my wrists tightly. I was so startled I nearly lashed out at her, feeling my new power rise to the top of my skin much too fast.

"The djinn can't own your body or soul, no matter what they say. Souma talked to me about the djinn often, I think he might have known one once. You don't have to sacrifice everything for vengeance."

Her eyes were pleading, as if imparting this would somehow save me. But she didn't realize I was already gone.

"I'm going to finish what I have to do, no matter the consequences." I crossed my arms to hide my trembling.

Noor released a sound of frustration before swinging onto the saddled horse I'd brought. She looked back at me.

"I'm not in the mood to be lectured at again," I warned.

"I wasn't going to. This is a warning and a small piece of advice. The emperor's soldiers will come once they realize Thohfsa isn't coming back. Go to Vahid first and catch him at his own game. And, Dani"—she gave one rueful shake of her head—"don't change your appearance anymore. Let them see who you really are. Let Mazin hear it from your lips."

She rode a few strides before I called out to her.

Our eyes met, mine dark, hers bright. I remembered the first time she'd burst through the floor of my cell, the day she'd given me hope that I could be more than what they'd made me.

"Thank you."

She nodded, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Then she rode out of sight.

Now I was alone.

Perhaps truly for the first time since I'd come back.

I walked toward the palace and the future I would take with my bloodied hands.