CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

TONIGHT WAS THE CELEBRATION AND the qasr was being set up in such chaos it seemed extravagant already. The Malika found herself spinning in elaborate circles to catch every decoration and vibrant color being put on display.

Even she would be on display. She knew Adelah and Nylah were waiting for her in her quarters, but she was too elated.

After her fill of walking up and down the magnificent corridors, she finally decided to head back to her room to prepare for the festive night. She rounded the corner and-

Mazeeda slammed into a strong body, whom whisked away all the air in her body. She scowled at such painful contact.

“I'm sorry,” a voice soothed, a hand on her waist. She knew a voice like that, seductive and charming, filled with foolishness. Her brother Rain had that kind of tone whenever he tried to pursue a woman he had no chance with.

The queen politely stepped away to put a face on this man. His hair was pulled up into a messy bun, his beard in clear need of a shave, his eyes dark as ever. And that crooked smile reminded her of Zaabit's. “You must be Sinbad.”

His smile grew wider. “I am. I've never seen you before, perhaps a new maid?”

She held in a laugh. “No. I'm Mazeeda.”

“Mazeeda?” He repeated, rolling it over his clever tongue. Surely this cannot be. His face was filled with skeptic, as if he'd seen a ghost. “Khai's wife? The Malika herself?”

She began to worry for this man. “Why, yes.”

How can this be? he thought to himself. Back in Evilla, all her people presumed her...dead. He was either going mad or he was clearly drunk. He quickly grabbed hold of her hand. “Mazeeda, we have much to discuss. Perhaps during or after the celebration?”

“Oh...uh...of course.”

And with that, the Calipha watched the voyager storm off deep into the qasr, clearly confused.

Sinbad needed to speak with Khai, and quickly. If the people of Evilla do not know that their storyteller is alive, they will bring war to the qasr for no reason at all.

SILVER. THAT WAS THE COLOR of dress she was in. It was fitted perfectly from her wrist to her waist and flowed down to the ground like a waterfall. Not a single piece of fabric or yarn was out of place.

The top of her dress hung low on her shoulders, exposing them while the long sleeves brought out the shape of her arms. New hennas were drawn over the old ones.

Adelah and Nylah made sure that their queen would look beautiful tonight. So much in fact, that death will not take her tonight.

“Will you be coming to Amon's party?” Mazeeda asked the twins.

They looked at each other before Nylah spoke. “We don't attend such things. We only follow the Caliph's order and serve you.”

“Nonsense,” she told them. “Come and enjoy tonight. I'll persuade my husband.”

They simply just smiled.

THE QASR WAS OVERFLOWING WITH more people than Mazeeda could count. She never been more anxious than now.

The Caliph wore mahogany red, a contrast to the queen's silver, both representing Yaheisea's color --of wealth, grace, and power.

“Relax,” Khai told her as they walked down the hallway together. “You're as stiff as a rock.” He placed a reassuring hand on the small of her back, his thumb creating soothing circles.

She breathed in and out. “There's so many people I have yet to meet tonight.”

He smiled and looked ahead to the doors that would lead them to the ballroom. “Many of them are closed allies and friends I've made over the years of my father's and my own rule as king. But most-” he looked at his queen “-are guest all over Yaheisea. In moments like these, I do enjoy opening up the gates.”

They stopped at the two massive doors, all carved out of redwood. Mazeeda turned towards Khai. “Why must you keep them out? They're your people, the flesh and blood of Yaheisea. My people as well.”

“I have my reasons.” He dipped down and kissed her cheek, whispering, “You look lovely in the dress I picked.”

She scowled. “You picked it?”

He barked up a laugh. “Love of my heart, you kill me. Please, just enjoy the night. I'm tired of politics.” He held up his elbow.

She took it without hesitation. “Such irony.”

“How so?”

“Events like these have politics spilling out everywhere. Allies to keep in check. Friends to persuade. People to please.”

He looked down at her, his cheekbones stronger tonight than most. He looked handsome in this lighting; she could get used to it. “Ah, but the only person I'm trying to please is you.”

And with that, the doors opened. The upbeat and contagious music fit her ears just perfectly, the colors her eyes could see colors meshed together with harmony, and the people talking and dancing made it a complete look.

Slowly, as they began to walk up to their dias, the civilians began to turn their heads to look at the miracle queen. The one who had tamed the beast. The one who will save them all.

In a dark corner of the room, three men silently watched. And at the farthest table, a girl sat impatiently to save the queen.

The Caliph cleared his throat and everything went silent. He stood there, marveling over the fact that he had such power over these people, all of them living under his thumb. But that idea was clashing with the humble feeling of having such loyal people by his side.

“My people!” he boomed out. “Tonight is a night of joy and celebration to my uncle, Amon Al-Fadhli. He had begged me to cancel such an event, but how could I? Not after everything I have suffered and sacrificed much for this land because of him. So please, enjoy this night, for it will be a night to remember!”

An uproar of cheers echoed around the room, signaling back the music and dancers.

Mazeeda caught glimpses of things. Sonya playing with her friends, showing off her skills. Amon watching close by as he sipped on the drink in his hand while thanking people. He nodded once when he caught her gaze.

Sinbad was surrounded by a group of young women, either amazed by his stories or his looks. She noticed his freshly-shaven face and washed hair, pulled back and tied loosely at the nape of his neck. He winked at her when he noticed his queen was looking.

Zaabit, on the other hand, was as stoic and stern as the wall behind him. She wanted to laugh at how threatening his gaze was to all the wanderers, that is, until she realised that his gaze was fixed on a certain girl. Feeling a pair of eyes he knew so well on him, the right hand man turned towards Mazeeda and raised an eyebrow at her.

She found the late queen, making small talk with those she thought she had lost. Ezra waved at her grandson's wife in a sense of love.

Her thoughtful maids were out of their mundane dresses and in colors of green and yellow, twirling and belly dancing their way through the crowd; both of them catching up with friends. They were so enthralled that they nearly missed their Queen's soft gaze, bowing before dancing the night away.

Khai had been watching his wife, amazed at how captivated she was not to notice his staring. He leaned down and whispered, “Go and enjoy yourself. Don't hold yourself back because me.”

She turned around and found him only a few inches away from her. “What about you?”

He simply scoffed out a chuckle. “I too will find something to do. I have some...political things to discuss with certain people.”

The storyteller frowned. “How boring.”

“Indeed, my love. How about this? Simply just wander around and in the end, we'll meet up in the middle to listen to Sinbad's absurd story?”

That made her grin. “Absurd? I'm quite offended as a storyteller Khai. Do you think that way about mine?”

He looked up towards the domed ceiling, trying to hide a smirk. “Never. Never with yours, darling.”

And with that, they parted ways with smiles on their faces.

As Mazeeda made her way to Amon, Khai narrowed down Fani like a hungry predator. What was a thief like her doing here?

His hand fell to his sword. “What's a foul person like you doing here?” he growled out.

The poor girl snapped her head up and when she realised who stood at her table, Fani tumbled foward and bowed relentlessly. “Caliph! I...I...can explain myself.” Stars above, she was ready to get on her hands and knees and beg the king to listen to her.

“Why should I? Not after-”

Her head bowed down, afraid. “They mean to kill Mazeeda.”

His hands balled at his side. “What? They?”

A nod.

“How do you know? Are you part of this conspiracy?”

Fani prayed to her smallgods as she raised her head up, eyes unwavering. “I overheard three men talking about it. I've come to warn you that they mean to kill the queen before they kill you.”

Khai was struck with sudden awareness and anger. “Are they here tonight?”

“I'm unsure of that, Caliph. They could be for all we know. Could strike tonight or tomorrow. They day after or maybe never. But I have come to warn you.”

He shook his head, trying to resist running his hands through his hair. “I hope your words stay true, Fani. In the meantime, I'll bring around a horse and a guard will guide you home.”

And with the swift change of music, Khai turned and left to go fine Mazeeda.

THE MALIKA LAUGHED. “LET HER live, Amon. She's only a child.”

He crossed his arms, eyes on Sonya with the slightest frown. “Look at her. In breeches and...and showing off her bow and arrow to her friends.” He rubbed his temple. “Gods, Khai really is rubbing off on her.”

Setting down the empty cup of sweet water, Mazeeda closed in on her uncle-in-law. “If it makes you any happier, I must say that I never wore a dress in pure leisure until I came here. I too wore breeches --and loved it in fact-- and only wore dresses on special occasions like these.”

“It's just,” he mumbled through his hand, “it's hard when there's no mother figure around. No one to teach her how to be a proper lady.”

Like father like daughter, Mazeeda thought. “Mother or no mother, dress or no dress, proper lady or no lady, she'll be fine.”

And then Amon laughed, something he hadn't felt in so long. “It amazes me how my cousin could ever have a wife as wise as you are.”

A light and firm hand fell on the storyteller's shoulder. “And yet, a star answered my prayers.” It was Khai.

At this point, the queen was used to her husband showing up at the strangest moments. Her breath caught suddenly as his hand skimmed down her arm and into her own.

“I'll like this dance with you,” he told her before looking at his uncle. “And I hope you find someone to dance with tonight as well.”

And with that, the king swept his queen to the center of the ballroom. Khai kept a steady hand on her waist and the other raised high in the air.

Mazeeda quirked up an eyebrow.

He looked down at her from the bridge of his nose. “What is it? Do you know how to dance?” His breath smelt of spices from food he had eaten earlier.

She shook her head, trying to hid the growing smile on her lips. “I dance quite well actually. But this form of dancing is so different from how we do it back in Evilla. Our dances are more folk based, such as kathak or dabke.”

“Hm...perhaps you'll have to show me. But for now, let's just enjoy this.” He dipped his head low and whispered, “I hate to ruin our moment together, but Fani had warned me that there are people here intended to kill you tonight.”

Mazeeda stiffened.

“Relax,” he coaxed her. “Do no show any sign of this knowledge, tonight we will become their puppets and play our parts.”

“This is a dangerous game we're playing.”

“I know, my love, but trust me. I have dealt with far worst monsters than this, and when I find who has planned this, I will inflict such pain they will not see the light of day.”

She moved her head pack a distance and looked him in the eye, steady as the sand. There was no deceit in it, no murderous glaze, just a genuine stare filled with steadiness.

Mazeeda was going to regret this decision. “I trust you.” No hesitation, no fear. She left that ages ago, now there was nothing. Nothing but raw emotion ready to ignite.

His soft lips skimmed her cheek. “Good. Trust no one here but the inner circle, especially when we sit at our dias and listen to Sinbad tell his tale.”

THE COUPLE SAT IN THE back of the audience, their legs crossed under a low table on a levitated platform. Khai sat on his cushion with ease, his back straight and body poised. Mazeeda found it hard not to slump, her hands clammy, and fingers fidgeting in her lap.

She closed her eyes and forced her to be still like the desert wind, no, like the lioness about to prey on a herd of sheep. She would be quiet and deadly and lethal.

“My gentlemen!” Sinbad boomed across the room, standing on the opposite side of them. “And of course, my beautiful women. For the past few months, I have traveled across a new sea. The water so clear I could see life on the other side, my boat sailing smoothly with the current, my men overjoyed. It was utopia and I got high off of it. Ah, the simplicity of it.”

The Malika smiled, knowing storyteller to storyteller, that there was a twist. She picked up a small cup of tea and sniffed, brewed just nicely.

“But then,” Sinbad enunciated, his tongue swift and sure. He poured black ink into a glass cup, making it turn dark. “The water my crew all fell in love with turned into a sickening color that made my boat groan, made our stomachs sick. It was then that I realised that I have crossed a sea that belonged to legendary demons!”

The crowd gasped.

Grabbing a brush, the voyager began to form strokes on the paper laid before him. His hand moved effortlessly, light as air. He lifted the paper and displayed on it was a beast with scales as armour, hands with webs, and teeth as sharp as Khai's crooked dagger. “I call them sirens. They are inhumanely beautiful and graced with a magnificent voice that'll lure you in. They feasted on half my men, all of them weak. Because, you see, they will go in your mind and exploit any weakness they could find.

Some were victims of a heartbreak, of love, or their own demons living in them. And as for me-” he smirked his gorgeous smirk “-well, I had nothing to fear but fear itself. Because you must remember,” he said, scanning the crowd before landing on Mazeeda, “that fear, just like limits, are simply illusions to the human eye. They play tricks in our minds and corrupt our system. And if you do not break away from them and open your eyes to reality, you will be locked in secrecy and chaos of your own mind.”

The queen had been so enthralled by his story that she did not here Khai scoff. She rolled her eyes. Such irony, when she told her story --which was more fiction than truth-- he rarely made any comments. She wondered-

Mazeeda sniffed the air. That smell...the pungent smell of bitterness and beetle dung with spoiled camel milk. She knew that odor anywhere, they had used it back in Evilla to chase away black mambas. It was poisonous to humans and, without and antidote, deathly.

The queen whipped her head back. The source of smell was coming from the drink Khai had placed on his lips.

Stricken with panic, Mazeeda leapt forward and kissed him, knocking the cup out his grip. Her tongue skimmed the edge of his velvet lips before branding his mouth. And then, she swallowed, taking the poison in.

He put a steady hand on her waist and the other on her neck. The sudden kiss rendered him speechless, he was not prepared for it. Damm, he was not ready for it at all. Such lips could not be as soft as hers, nor as skilled.

Mazeeda pulled back before whispering into his ear; breathless, flustered, and alert, “Poison...your tea had poison. I've swallowed some of it”

Her burning hot body went limp at his side, head down on his shoulder, breath shallow. Everybody was looking at him, and so he did the same. “Please excuse my wife's behavior. She can be quite-” damn him, he did not know how to phrase it, couldn't comprehend that kiss just moments ago “-surprising.”

Rest assured, the audience turned their heads back. The only people who kept their gazes on the Caliph was his grandmother, uncle, right hand man, and voyager. They knew something was wrong, all of them thinking the same thing.

There was a killer in the kingdom, and it was not Khai this time.