Page 93 of The Golden Princess

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“I still don’t understand everything,” he said. “But it appears you have once again done this family a great service, Zaria. You cannot possibly remain our servant any longer.”

“What?” I stared at him, caught off guard.

“What I mean to say is that we must welcome you as a daughter.” He beamed at me. “Many happy wishes on your betrothal to Navid.”

CHAPTER27

“Be…trothal?” Adara was the first to speak into the ringing silence that followed Ali’s announcement. She looked faint, so Layla whisked forward a chair from the table and deposited her into it.

“Father!” Navid looked frantically from his father to me, clearly unsure how best to repudiate his father’s words.

“Excuse me?” The cold words came from Rek. I hadn’t seen him move from the doorway, but he had somehow appeared at my side, his narrowed eyes passing slowly from Ali to Navid.

“It may be a little irregular,” Ali said hurriedly. “But you must admit, she’s more than earned it with her services to our family. Even before tonight there was the treasure cave.” He froze, his eyes jumping to his wife. In the confusion of the night, he’d clearly lost track of who knew what.

“The treasure cave? Don’t tell me that’s been found?” Layla sounded as if nothing could surprise her after the happenings of the evening.

“Well…” Ali stuttered. “That is to say…”

“Certainly it has been found.” Rek still sounded cold. “But anyone who approaches it will find it is well guarded.”

“Indeed, indeed.” Ali nodded vigorously, although I suspected Navid hadn’t passed on that piece of information. But after Kasim’s fate, plus the gold all dissolving into dust, I was fairly certain Ali meant never to set foot in the forest again.

“Well, that’s a pity,” Layla said, her tone calm and even despite her words. “I wouldn’t have wasted my time if I’d known that.”

“Wasted your time?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

Focusing on Layla seemed easier than dealing with the mess Ali’s betrothal announcement had unleashed.

“I had to do something with all those days I was locked away,” she replied, still standing protectively over the shocked Adara. “I took a look at all those musty old books Kasim liked to collect and decided the most useful endeavor would be looking for information about that lost cave. Finding it would have been one way to ensure I never ended up in such a situation again. Of course, if I’d known it wasn’t lost, I would have thought of something else to do.”

“You spent your two weeks in mourning isolation researching information about the treasure cave?” I asked, fascinated despite myself.

She shrugged. “Like I said, I had to do something.”

“I suppose so.” My brain didn’t seem to be functioning properly. I told myself sternly to pull it together.

“Did you find anything?” Rek asked, his intent gaze switching to her.

She blinked once in surprise, waiting for a moment as if to confirm he was talking to her.

“Nothing that made much sense,” she said at last. “Although if the tales are true, the youngest brother who created the caves seems to have been a very paranoid sort. But I suppose if you pile all your treasure in one place, you have to be worried about someone else finding it. He seemed to have a veritable mania about no one carrying the stuff off except him.”

“Except him,” I said slowly.

“Well, yes, of course he still wanted to access it himself,” she said sensibly. “That stands to reason. But all the enchanted objects that were required to set it up! You wouldn’t believe! We all know about the nonsense with his ring and lamp, of course—they found those in Ardasira—but there were all sorts of other objects used to create the caves. It would be fascinating if it wasn’t all made up, but it probably was. And none of it was very useful.”

She shrugged and returned to stand beside Mariam, who was regarding her in astonishment. Hopefully the astonished wonder of someone who’d just discovered a much more useful treasure than gold.

“But the betrothal,” Adara said faintly. “I don’t quite understand.”

“There is no betrothal,” I said firmly, finally recovering my wits. “It’s very kind of you, Ali, but I’m not interested in marrying Navid.”

“Nonsense!” Mariam stepped forward. “The two of you have always been fond of each other.”

“We’re good friends, but neither of us want to get married.” I looked to Navid. “Do we?”

He nodded vigorously. “I would never dispute Zaria’s worthiness, but I’m not interested in marrying her.”


Tags: Melanie Cellier Fantasy