Page 21 of The Golden Princess

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The mark was a common enough symbol—seen around the city on the doors and gates of homes both large and small. But while I normally smiled to see a family celebrating the presence of house guests, I couldn’t believe the bad timing of someone coming to stay with Ali today of all days.

Their arrival must have been unexpected—had Mariam and Ali already concealed the gold? Or had the visitors caught sight of it? It was a terrible coincidence to have someone turn up just at this moment, but no self-respecting household in the kingdom would turn away guests, even if they weren’t expected.

Shaking my head, I tried to open the gate, only to find it locked. Frowning, I rapped loudly on the wood.

It took a long minute for someone to answer, and I heard the sound of a lock being drawn before the latch lifted. A cautious face peered through the gap, but a look of relief filled Navid’s features when he recognized me.

“Oh, thank goodness it’s you. I thought you’d never get here!”

He pulled the gate slightly further open, his arm shooting out through the gap to pull me inside. I looked around the courtyard as he re-latched the gate in a state of high distraction. There was, thankfully, no sign of the gold.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I thought you already knew all about it!” Navid looked at me suspiciously. “Father said you were with him when he discovered…” He let his words trail off as if the reality was too unbelievable to speak aloud.

“Yes, I know about that. I meant the visitors.” I pointed back at the locked gate.

“Visitors?” Navid stared at me for a moment in confusion before his brow cleared. “Oh yes, my mother’s brilliant plan.”

He didn’t sound at all convinced of its brilliance.

“You mean she invited someone here?” I stared at him.

“No.” He shook his head. “There’s no one here. She wants our neighbors to think there is.”

“But…why…” My brain raced, trying to understand the odd behavior. “Something to do with her plan to account for your sudden change in fortune, I suppose.”

Navid nodded. “She says that Uncle Kasim became wealthy through his wife’s family, so why shouldn’t Father?”

I frowned. “I didn’t think Mariam’s family had any particular wealth.”

“They don’t. But they’re from out west, so no one in Karema knows much about them. They live near the edge of the Great Desert, so she’s hit upon the notion of claiming they’ve traveled across the desert to make contacts in the new kingdoms. She’s planning to claim they’ve set up lucrative trade deals, and that they want Father to manage the Karema end of the business.”

“It’s not a bad cover story,” I said slowly, considering the various angles. “If they live near the desert, they would need someone here in the capital. But why would they trust something so important to a woodcutter, even if he is family?”

Navid ran a hand through his hair, looking unhappy. “That’s where I come in. Everyone knows Uncle Kasim set me up with a prestigious apprenticeship, and I’ll be graduating next week. Most people expect me to work for him after that, especially since he has no children of his own. He’s never said he intends me to be his successor and heir, but naturally people make assumptions…” His mouth twisted, indicating he knew just how Nyla would feel about Kasim making Navid his heir.

In my private opinion, a lot of Nyla’s antagonism toward her nephew stemmed from her awareness that he was a great deal more astute than her husband. I wasn’t the only one she blamed for squandering the opportunities I’d been given. I was just an easier target than her husband.

“I see,” I said slowly. “If it’s natural to think you would take a position under your uncle, how much more natural that you would choose to work with your father when this opportunity arose. Yes, I can see how that makes sense. You were always meant to turn your family’s fortunes around, you’re just going to have some unexpected extra help.”

“It still doesn’t seem real.” He fixed me with an intense look. “Is it really all true, Zaria? You and my father found the second treasure cave?”

“It’s true, but…” I hesitated, unsure if Navid would want to hear words of warning right now. But he had always showed far more sense than his father.

“We didn’t just trip and fall into the cave mouth,” I said in a rush. “We didn’t find the cave by chance—we followed a gang of forty thieves to it.Forty thieves, Navid! And an enchanted treasure. I’m not convinced this is the windfall your parents think it.”

Navid’s look of concern deepened. “You think the thieves might come after us?”

I shrugged. “We tried to make what Ali took look as inconspicuous as possible, so it wasn’t obvious someone had been there. And I’ll admit there was a lot of treasure. It’s possible they won’t even notice anything’s amiss on their next visit. But…” I gave him an apologetic look. “We’re talking about an enchanted treasure cave. Who knows what methods the thieves may have to detect the presence of intruders? And that’s not even considering any potential enchantments.”

“Enchantments?” Navid took a step toward me, lowering his voice. “You think there’s something wrong with the gold?”

I shrugged again. “I don’t know. Which is the whole issue. We don’t know anything. The stories say there was an enchantment on the gold in the first cave. Why wouldn’t there be one on this gold?”

I didn’t mention that I had seen the power of those enchantments for myself—power that could reshape physical reality.

“But the stories say that enchantment made the cave collapse,” Navid protested. “Nothing like that happened, did it?”


Tags: Melanie Cellier Fantasy