Gifting Fire, Alina Boyden [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

everything else, it would seem,” she replied.

“I had shoes made for climbing,” I said, looking at Karim. “And I used them to climb the columns in my bedchamber for practice, because I enjoy it. And I didn’t tell you, because I knew you wouldn’t like it. So you may punish me for that however you wish, your highness.” I nodded to Sikander. “Let him up, for God’s sake.”

Sikander let go of Karim, but he came to stand between us, just in case Karim got any ideas about hitting me again.

“You expect us to believe that you just climbed columns for fun?” Asma scoffed.

I shrugged. “I don’t expect you to believe anything I say, your majesty, but I ask you—where would I go? You keep me under close guard at all times.”

“Not at night,” Asma pointed out. “You might have scaled the palace walls then.”

“And gone where?” I demanded. “We’re in the middle of a crocodile-infested lagoon.”

“To a boat you had arranged to meet you, obviously,” she retorted.

“Arranged how?” I asked, and I felt vindicated when she couldn’t come up with an answer, when it didn’t occur to her that I was suicidally brave enough to swim in a crocodile-infested lagoon to send messages.

Karim had been listening closely, and when his mother failed to come up with any plausible way for me to arrange for a boat, he said, “I believe you, Razia.”

I crossed my arms over my bruised ribs and scowled. “Why?”

“Yes, a very good question I would like answered as well,” Asma agreed.

“Because it fits,” he said, and he sounded pretty regretful. “It explains the shoes, and the lies, and also why you have been trying so hard to fit in here, to learn your place, why you have been working so hard to please me. I should have known you wouldn’t leave all of your old self behind, shouldn’t have expected it of you. But I do believe that you’re trying your best to make me happy.”

“Darling, women are expert liars,” Asma warned him.

“I thought I wasn’t a woman,” I shot back.

“And courtesans lie best of all,” she added, sneering at me.

“If you think her highness is a whore and a liar, then I will return her to Nizam,” Sikander declared. “You have assaulted her, and insulted her, and Sultan Humayun was very clear what the consequences would be if you mistreated his daughter.”

“My mother does not speak for me,” Karim told him. “As I have said, I believe her.”

“And yet you did this to her.” Sikander gestured to my bloodied nostril, to more blood spilling from my split, fattened lip, to the bruises around my neck. “Why? Because she chose to amuse herself by climbing columns?”

“And you struck my son in return,” Asma replied. “Which might well be considered an act of war.”

“As was his assault on her highness,” Sikander growled. “And it was not his first assault on her.”

Asma’s eyes widened, and I realized that, for all of Karim’s boasting about it to other lords, either she didn’t know or she was pretending that she didn’t.

“No one told you that he raped me when I was a child?” I asked her.

“You can’t rape a whore,” she replied, her eyes narrowing to slits.

“Shut her mouth, boy, or I’ll shut it for her,” Sikander warned.

“Don’t you threaten my mother, old man.” Karim’s hand fell to the hilt of his sword, and I realized just how close we were to starting a war that would see me and my sisters killed in its opening shots.

“Enough!” I exclaimed. “I have said that I will accept whatever punishment my husband-to-be deems fit for my mistakes. Does that not satisfy everyone?”

“It does,” Asma said. “But I think you should consult with your father about the nature of her punishment, Karim. You’re too smitten with the girl to see clearly on this matter.”

“Very well,” I said, before Karim could argue one way or the other. “I will remain here, as I have for more than a week now, and I will await your judgment, your highness. I ask only that you send for a surgeon to stitch my nose, unless disfigurement is to be part of my punishment as well.”

Those words broke through whatever defenses Karim had left. He took one good, clear-eyed look at my face and hung his head with shame. “A doctor will be summoned immediately.”

“Thank you, your highness,” I whispered, keeping my head bowed, like a properly contrite little wife, knowing just how much it would infuriate his mother.

“Come along, dear,” Asma said to Karim. “We should speak with your father at once.”

He nodded, and followed along with her.

The moment he was gone, Sakshi rushed to me and began examining my face. She studied my nose intently, frowning, but after a moment she said, “I don’t think it’s going to actually need stitches, Razia. I think the hole just got stretched out.”

“I know,” I replied, keeping my voice low, lest I be overheard, “but did you see the look it put on Karim’s face? And now when the surgeon says it won’t need stitches, he’ll be relieved.”

“Well, stitches or no, you should have let me break his nose, your highness,” Sikander muttered.

“No, this works better than a war where we’re the first killed,” I told him, though I wasn’t sure how I was going to smooth things over enough that I could be sure of carrying out my role in our plans. Of course, if Sikander hadn’t intervened, I didn’t think I’d still be alive, so I bowed to him and said, “Thank you for protecting me.”

“This time,” he said, his voice soft. “But if this is the way he treats you over a pair of shoes, what will he do next time?”

I shrugged. “This is what you and my father forced me to accept. I begged with you not to do it, but you did.”

“I followed my sultan’s orders,” Sikander protested. “You think this is what I want for you?”

“In truth, Sikander, I don’t know what you want