“I hoped you’d come today.” He gestured me into their small visiting room.
I stopped on the threshold, surprised to find both Ali and Mariam inside, wrapped up in what looked like a serious conversation. But at sight of me, both gave a smile of welcome.
“Come in, Zaria,” Ali called, his smile quickly falling away again. “It seems impossible to believe that things have turned so quickly from good to bad. I begged my brother not to go to the cave in the middle of the night, but…” He shook his head.
“At least you had the good sense not to go with him,” I said. “Or you’d be dead too.”
“Dead.” He shook his head. “We never had the closeness one would wish to see between brothers, but he helped Navid most estimably. It seems strange to think he’s really gone.”
“Stranger still to think of living in his house,” Mariam said, although she looked more excited than displeased.
“Living in his house?” I asked slowly, trying to make sense of the comment.
“My aunt insisted on returning with me last night because she had an…invitation for my parents.” Navid met my gaze, his eyes full of the emotion he was carefully keeping out of his voice.
“An invitation?” My uneasiness grew.
“An arrangement of mutual benefit to all,” Mariam said. “Naturally she does not wish to be alone at such a time.”
I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Nyla was hardly alone in her house, even without Kasim. But apparently the servants didn’t count.
“Precisely,” Ali said. “What could be more natural in the circumstances? We will combine households and be there to comfort our sister in her time of grief and to take the burden of business management from her shoulders. Navid is excellently placed to take on the mantle of his uncle’s business, given his training and Kasim’s lack of an heir.”
“Wait,” I said, still struggling to understand, purely because it seemed so unbelievable. “Nyla came here in the middle of the night to ask you to move in with her? To combine households permanently?” I looked at Mariam. “She’s willing to share her position as mistress of the house with you?”
“My aunt,” said Navid, letting his emotions loose, “claims that it was Kasim who was against offering us a place beneath their roof as family. But she claims that he always intended to make me his heir in the end. She says now that he is gone and she’s all alone, she doesn’t want to wait but wishes us to share in everything—as true family should. Naturally, she didn’t mention anything as crass as the gold my father retrieved from the cave.”
I stared at him, struggling to find my voice. “Kasim was dead by mere hours, and she was already here maligning his name? Does the woman have no shame?”
Navid gave me a look. “What do you think? Her greed was always greater than her love for my uncle.”
“But…” I looked across at Mariam and Ali. “Surely the gold from the cave must have turned to—”
“Yes,” Mariam said quickly, before I could finish my sentence. “But my sister-in-law did not ask about it, and naturally we did not bring up such a topic while discussing the tragic death of Ali’s brother.”
She met my eyes, and I read the rest of her thinking in her face. Nyla was finally offering to do what Kasim should have done from the moment his fortunes changed. If Nyla was doing it under a false understanding, it wasn’t Mariam or Ali’s fault, and once she realized the truth, it would be too late for her to kick them out again. Kasim and Nyla had always hovered on the edge of public censure over their treatment of Kasim’s brother—it was why they did as much as they did to help him. Casting her husband’s family and heir from her household would not be accepted.
“There’s no reason Nyla should ever know,” Ali said comfortably. “She needs someone to manage the business, and Navid will do an exemplary job, I have no doubt. My brother was rich enough for us all, and our combined household will remain rich enough to cover any desire of my sister-in-law. Whatever her initial motivations, I am sure she will come to find the company and assistance welcome.”
“But you…But she…” I tried to imagine Nyla maintaining the façade that she wasn’t interested in the gold and failed. I didn’t even want to imagine her reaction when she discovered it was gone.
“It was the middle of the night.” Navid met my gaze steadily. “And my uncle was lying on the kitchen table. But her first thought—her first action—was to rush here under false pretenses, all to ensure she received a share of the gold. She’s been rich since before I was born, but apparently she couldn’t bear the thought of my parents becoming wealthy as well—not unless she could share in it.”
I understood what he wasn’t putting into words. After Nyla’s behavior, he wasn’t going to intervene to correct her unspoken assumption.
“I know I said I would bring you to work for us, Zaria.” Mariam sounded concerned. “I still mean to honor that as best I can. I told Nyla I wanted you for my personal servant, like she has Layla, and she agreed. You’ll still be living in the same household as her, but maybe that’s a good thing. You’ll be able to stay with your friends this way.”
I blinked, staring at her. With everything else going on, I hadn’t even thought about my own situation. It was kind of her to think of me, but I dreaded being anywhere near Nyla when this drama played out to its inevitable conclusion. But neither could I abandon Navid, or my friends—not when I was one of only two people in the new combined household that knew the full extent of the situation.
I met Mariam’s anxious look and made myself smile. Her look of relief stripped away my remaining illusions, however. It hadn’t been kindness that had motivated Mariam to include me in the negotiations with Nyla. Mariam was afraid I would tell Nyla about the destruction of the gold and destroy the whole scheme before the announcement of Kasim’s death and their move. The possibility of maintaining my current position while working for her instead of Nyla was essentially a bribe.
I sighed and pushed my hair out of my face. I desperately needed a long, hot soak in a bath and uninterrupted time to think. I couldn’t put off answering her, though.
I glanced across at Navid who gave me a pleading look. This was his chance at a better life, and I couldn’t abandon him. It would be a relief to have him on hand, if nothing else. He shared the burden of knowing the full story, and I relished not carrying it all myself.
“Thank you,” I said to Mariam. “I would love to work for you.”
It was true, too. Despite her motivations now, there was no question Mariam would be a far more pleasant mistress than Nyla had ever been. And while Nyla would still be part of the household, I didn’t doubt Mariam would do her best to shield me from her.