He nodded, a more serious expression on his face. “We’re all well aware of it. She’s treated like a grandmother more than a servant. She’s stuck with us for so long that she’s family now.”
“As it should be.” I tucked the scales under my arm. “But I really have to get moving.”
I took the long way back through the streets, avoiding the market, because I didn’t want to face questions about Ali and Mariam’s supposed visitors while my head was in such a whirl. I knew I should be thinking of an excuse for my upcoming disappearance, but I couldn’t help reliving the conversation in the courtyard instead. Adara and the twins—and even Rek—had never abandoned me at all! We were friends again!
In a strange way, I felt as if I were getting part of my father back. The palace and my friends there had been the backdrop of my life with him. And while I could never feel his strong arms around me again or hear his even voice, the part of my life that had included him no longer felt so distant.
A chiding voice reminded me that I should be strong enough by now not to care—strong enough to let go—but it wasn’t able to stop the waves of joy that washed over me.
But every time I threatened to get too giddy, other thoughts intruded. Gangs of thieves, traitors, and attacked foreign convoys were a great deal less delightful than the return of old friends. And even worse was the thought that Adara and Rek wanted me to lead them into danger.
Adara had never had any interest in learning to fight—except for a brief period when she was fifteen and insisted we work with the palace knife master. And even that occasion had only been because she wanted our dancing master to teach us a knife dance she had seen a visiting performer display. What would happen to her if the thieves found us in that cave?
I shook my head at my foolishness. There were forty of the thieves. Even Rek, with all his sword training, would have no hope of escape if we were discovered in the secret cave.
I could refuse to take them, but I’d seen the way Navid was looking at Adara, and I knew how good she was at wrapping people around her finger. If I refused, the odds were good that Navid would tell the princess that his father also knew the cave’s location. Ali would never disobey a royal order, and all I would achieve would be dragging Navid’s family into the mess.
Rek and Adara might be old friends, but they were also royalty and I was a servant. If they were determined to do this, I couldn’t stop them.
I sighed. All four royal children had a streak of recklessness that must have come from Sultana Rabia because it certainly hadn’t come from Sultan Khalil.
My thoughts were still churning between the good and the bad when I opened the familiar gate at home and slipped into the courtyard. Without conscious thought, I turned toward the kitchen entrance, crossing the large open space with quick strides.
“Zaria!” The loud call from the main doorway made me halt abruptly.
Turning slowly, I faced Nyla, who remained in place just inside the door. She beckoned imperiously, and reluctantly I began to walk slowly toward her.
How had she appeared so quickly? Had she been watching for me from a front window? With a horrible, sinking feeling I remembered our last conversation and her demand that I discover what Mariam was weighing. Everything that had happened since had driven it from my mind completely. But the unexpectedness of the morning was no excuse. I’d left myself totally unprepared to face the inquisition that would now be coming.
When I neared her, Nyla turned and marched inside the front receiving room. I trailed behind, trying not to look as dismayed as I felt.
But as soon as we were both inside, she surprised me by not launching into speech. Instead she held out her hand, an unsettling gleam in her eye. I stared at it, uncomprehending.
“The scales, girl!” she cried, casting a look upward as if she couldn’t believe my denseness.
“Oh.” I started, looking down at the object under my arm. Although I’d been clutching it all the way home, I’d completely forgotten it was there.
I held it out, and she snatched it from my hands, turning it over eagerly. I watched her in confusion until she let out an outraged gasp.
“What!?” she cried. “Impossible!” For a moment she leaned forward, seeming to pry at something I couldn’t see, and then she held up a sparkling golden coin.
I stared at it, horrified. How could that possibly still be there?
It shone in a shaft of sunlight, as if taunting me. How had I missed it? But thinking back, I hadn’t really looked at the scales at all. I’d been too distracted. And from the look of her, Agnes had been the same.
I could only assume Mariam and Ali had rushed through the process of weighing the gold, conscious of the royal visitors in their courtyard. They obviously hadn’t been paying close attention either.
But that still didn’t explain how it had become wedged in the scales in the first place.
“I knew something strange was going on,” Nyla said, unprompted. “What could Mariam want to weigh with such large scales? That family is so poverty stricken it’s an embarrassment to everyone who knows them.”
Had Nyla somehow caused the coin to become stuck? Now that I was paying attention, my usually excellent memory leaped to the fore again. I had run into Nyla in the courtyard on my way out, and she had asked to see what I was carrying. She had even examined the scales.
“What did you do to the scales?” I asked, a little impressed in spite of myself.
“Quick thinking, Zaria.” She looked down her nose at me. “You should try it sometime.”
I suppressed my natural reaction and waited. Nyla could never resist boasting.