For She Is Wrath

Thirty-nine

“I wasn’t expecting you here yet, warden.”

The emperor’s voice rumbled behind me, but I barely acknowledged his words, nor her response. In front of me was Thohfsa, the woman I’d stabbed clean through the stomach with a rusty sword. The one who had tortured and terrorized both me and Noor.

Noor .

A jolt of panic shot through me at the realization that I had a disguise, a new face carved from djinn power, but Noor did not.

And Thohfsa knew exactly who she was.

I tried not to react, not to change my expression in the slightest at seeing Thohfsa standing close enough to touch. But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway because she barely acknowledged me. Instead, she was staring at the emperor with an unhinged gleam in her eyes, as if she were a hyena and the emperor a butcher with a bucket of fresh cuts. I knew a devotee when I saw one.

Vahid had given Thohfsa power, something she’d never had before, and she had gotten drunk off it.

My eyes swept her body, trying to find some evidence as to how she could be standing before me. Her black hair was oiled back, and the permanent sneer she usually wore was replaced with a beatific smile.

She looked like she was in excellent health, which shouldn’t be humanly possible.

Because it isn’t humanly possible .

My mind searched back to the day Noor and I escaped. Thohfsa had brought a djinn healer to the prison that day to heal Noor. Thohfsa could have healed herself that way too—if my blow to the stomach hadn’t killed her, then she would have had time to summon the healer before the blood loss became fatal.

I curled my fists against my palms, watching her greasy smile as she spoke to the emperor, remembering the last time she beat me, and the welts I’d had from the leather of her belt.

I would just have to kill her all over again.

“Is there a reason you’re staring at me, sahiba?” Thohfsa’s nasal voice pierced through my thoughts. She had turned her unbalanced gaze on me.

“I thought we had met before,” I said calmly, my face a still mask as I reminded myself that she had no idea who I was. “But I can see I was mistaken.”

She tilted her head, a sly look entering her eyes. “Are you so sure?”

I inhaled sharp panic. It wasn’t possible she knew. The emperor stood behind me and cleared his throat.

“I have an update for you on the situation we discussed,” Thohfsa said to the emperor, her eyes not leaving mine.

He narrowed his eyes. “Not here.”

She nodded tightly. Then the emperor turned his gaze back to me, his bright eyes narrowing. I felt something crawl over my skin at his attention. This man had orchestrated my family’s downfall, didn’t care who he killed or destroyed as long as it furthered his goal of more power.

“Who are you?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Thohfsa beat me to it. “This is Sanaya from the northern tribes.”

I startled, my heart jumping to my throat. But a smile curled on her face and she continued.

“She’s come to curry your favor for her father. I also heard she rescued your adopted daughter from a bunch of street thugs.” Thohfsa laughed, a high-pitched sound that sliced through my skin like a whip. How did she know all that? Had she been asking about me in the palace? I curled my fists at my sides to still their shaking.

“Ah yes,” the emperor responded, his voice mild. “Mazin mentioned something about you.” He nodded in my direction, his eyes sliding over me without really taking me in. “My thanks for helping someone in my household.”

Someone in his household . Not his child. Not his daughter. If Anam died I wondered if he would even notice. Something dark gathered inside me. This man didn’t care about anyone but himself.

Not me. Not my father. Not even those he had raised as his children.

Revenge.

That voice slithered inside me, around me, echoing in my ears. I could do it. Right now, I could grab my dagger and with a flick of my wrist slash the fleshy part of his neck before he could use any of his djinn power.

“It was my pleasure, your excellency,” I heard myself say through gritted teeth as I bowed low. Now was not the time. I didn’t care about what happened to me after it was done, but I still had to deal with Mazin and I had no idea where Noor was.

And seeing Thohfsa and the emperor together had shaken my confidence. I had wanted to speak to the emperor, to get closer to him, but not like this. This felt like Thohfsa calling the shots, controlling the situation, for a reason I wasn’t entirely sure why yet. But the emperor was oblivious to my turmoil and walked away, speaking to other courtiers and warlords who had come to pay their respects.

I cast my gaze around looking for Noor in the crowd.

“Looking for your little sidekick?”

My heart froze at that nasal voice.

Your little sidekick.

Thohfsa knew.

She knew who I was, who I really was. My body snapped to rigid attention, muscle memory recognizing danger and battle.

Even though we stared at each other with hatred in a crowded room filled with revelry, we weren’t pretending anymore. We were in combat.

I pressed my hand to the knife under my kameez, not letting her have the upper hand anymore. She had terrorized us in prison and used her power to try to break me. But now we were on equal footing.

“If we weren’t in the middle of a packed room, I would gut you again.” My voice was low, and so quiet. But I knew Thohfsa heard it by the thinning of her lips and flaring of her nostrils.

“Not even bothering to deny it, I see,” she breathed, her lip curling.

“What is the point? Looks like you know everything already,” I said, dangerously soft.

“We’ll see what secrets you spill when the emperor is interrogating you.” But her words weren’t vehement, held no conviction.

A bluff.

“You would have told him already. You’ve had ample opportunity.” My eyes roved over her mulish face as something dawned on me. “No, you want something from me.”

In that moment I also knew why I hadn’t seen Noor yet.

Rage filled my veins, hot and consuming. I advanced on Thohfsa, so close that she couldn’t mistake how much I meant every single word I was about to say.

“Where is Noor?” I growled, unsheathing my dagger, not caring who noticed the flash of my knife in the crowd. “If you don’t release her, I will make you wish you had died the first time I killed you.”

Thohfsa was a brutal dictator in the prison she ruled, but toe-to-toe with me, she couldn’t win and she knew it. Her eyes widened, but she stood her ground.

“She should have hid her face too, you know. Imagine my surprise when I saw the little maggot walking around as calm as you please in the middle of the emperor’s palace. I knew then you two had found it—Souma’s treasure.” Her voice cracked, but she kept going, her confidence growing with every word as my own diminished. “And you are going to give it to me. All of it.” She smiled like a shark after tasting first blood. “If you don’t, your friend won’t be alive much longer. And I will reveal everything to the emperor and he’ll take his price from you.”

I exhaled, trying to calm my bubbling panic, wishing that Thohfsa didn’t have power over me yet again.

“You could do that anyway,” I said with faux nonchalance, cooling my previous tone.

She wouldn’t know how much power she truly had. Nor how much I owed Noor. “But you don’t want to share Souma’s treasure with Vahid, do you?” I cocked my head, examining her. After everything, Thohfsa’s actions were still dictated by greed, by the need for power.

“The emperor won’t share. He would take it all and leave me with a pittance.” She spat on the floor. “But make no mistake: I will give you and Noor to him in a heartbeat if you do not give me the zoraat.”

I growled, low in my throat. My well-formulated plans were slipping through my grasp.

“I’ll give you the zoraat,” I said finally, watching her expression turn gleeful. “Just tell me where Noor is.”

“I’m not a fool. I’ll give her to you after the treasure is in my hands.”

I shook my head, the dagger still in my curled fingers. But I couldn’t kill her now because I might never know what she did to Noor. “I won’t give you anything until I know she’s safe and alive.”

“Fine. Meet me at the edge of the bazaar by the banyan tree tomorrow at sunset. I’ll have your friend, and you’ll have my power.”

I nodded tightly and waited until she spun on her heel and left, trying not to imagine all the ways I’d let Noor down and hoping she wasn’t already dead before I could figure out a plan to get us both out of this.