“Would it be too much to ask what’s going on?” Ali asked tentatively. “I can only assure Your Highnesses of my household’s complete loyalty to the crown and express my horror at the happenings here.” He looked from me to Navid, as if reassuring himself that we seemed to be aligned with the correct side of the battle.
“Of course.” Adara swooped in, her manner both regal and reassuring at the same time. “It is we who must apologize for disrupting a most delightful meal. But we knew a loyal citizen such as yourself would be willing for us to use your home to capture a dangerous group of criminals.”
“Yes, yes, certainly,” Ali said quickly, although he threw an uncertain look at Yasmine, as if he still couldn’t quite believe she fit the description.
“Did you actually love Jerome at all?” I asked Yasmine. “Or was he only ever a tool?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, but her act had shattered, and I could see the fear in her eyes.
“I saw you together at your party,” I said. “You were, ahem, embracing, so I couldn’t see either of your faces, but I recognized your gown.”
“So the third man who met with Esai and Isav at the party was Jerome?” Navid asked from his place at Adara’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t actually see his face.” I sighed. “I recognized his clothes, so I knew the man with Yasmine and the one who met Esai were the same. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about him was familiar. It was his stance that clued me in—so like the way he’d stood at the ball the night before. But I couldn’t be sure. I needed to see him and Yasmine together.”
“There’s no question you were right,” Rek said quietly.
He met my eyes, and I knew he’d just seen the same thing I had on Jerome’s face. I had never witnessed such intense longing or such impotent fury. How long had she dangled him on her string? She had clearly been expert at it, to so consume a man like Jerome that he would aid her in her crimes.
“So Jerome knew about the delegation,” Adara said. “He provided the information from the palace. That fits. But what’s the connection with the gang?”
“There is no connection,” Yasmine said. “This is all a fairy story. I—”
“Have been flaunting your history as a dancer in everyone’s faces in order to hide the earlier history you didn’t want anyone to know,” I finished for her. “I thought at first that I must have met Isav before because he looked so familiar. But then I realized it was the family resemblance confusing me.”
She flinched at the word family, and I nodded knowingly.
“Initially,” I said to Rek, “I thought it was just the resemblance to his son, Esai, that made Isav so familiar. But it later occurred to me that it was more than that. The second resemblance was less immediately apparent, but once I realized there was a connection between them, I could see it. We have two of Isav’s children here, not one.”
Everyone turned to stare at Yasmine.
“Yasmine is related to the gang?” Navid sounded dazed, struggling to absorb the enormity of it.
“Based on their apparent ages,” I said, “I would say she’s the older sister.” I looked at her. “Did it always enrage you that the gang should have been yours? That if you hadn’t been born a woman, you would have been their leader, sharing in the wonders of the cave, instead of being forced to seek a life as a dancer?”
“I’m not saying anything,” she muttered, but it sounded petulant, and Rek seemed to take it as confirmation. Her background explained a lot about her endless desire for both money and power, although I couldn’t help a twinge of sorrow for her. If only she could have truly left her family and early life behind, choosing to be a different person from the one they had tried to shape her into.
“I suppose you started by inviting Jerome to your parties,” I said to her. “You must have realized how helpful he could be in your efforts to quash your business rivals.”
She sniffed, lifting her nose up into the air, but I read the truth on her face. Nyla did too.
“Oh ho,” she crowed. “So that’s why Tristan was barred from operating as a merchant on a fraud claim, despite his continued denials of having done anything of the sort.”
I vaguely remembered a scandal with a merchant named Tristan, but it had been more than a year ago.
“I know you had your eye on Kasim,” Nyla continued, “but I was watching you closely.”
I hadn’t realized the extent of Yasmine’s criminality, but it made sense.
“For someone who’d been ruthlessly eliminating her rivals for years, it must have been very threatening to hear of new trade treaties being planned with the Four Kingdoms,” I said. “There could hardly be a bigger threat to your supremacy. I suppose that’s when you decided it was time to rekindle your connection with your family.” A horrifying flash of inspiration hit me. “I suppose you were responsible for eliminating your husband, too.”
Yasmine remained silent, but she hadn’t been able to hide her reaction to my words. Nyla drew back from her, looking shocked.
“Murderer!” She spat at Yasmine’s feet, her abrupt action sending a ripple through the people around her.
“Murderer!” The cry went up from voice after voice.
Yasmine’s careful control split further, panic hitting her as she looked at the expressions around her and heard their voices proclaim her new title. But when her eyes fell on Azzam, joining the chorus from his place by the nearest wall, she erupted into anger.