Reign & Ruin by J. D. Evans

Author:J. D. Evans [Evans, J. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951607012
Google: dWsJzAEACAAJ
Publisher: Whippoorwill Press LLC
Published: 2020-01-19T08:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

NAIME’S FATHER PRESSED THE seal bearing his tughra to the cooling white wax.

They had reviewed the terms together the night before. It should have felt like a victory, but because of Makram’s revelation, it felt like a battle half finished. She handed the documents to Yavuz Pasha, taking the opportunity to glance at Kadir as she did. He seemed pleased, and that disturbed her.

Yavuz Pasha rolled the documents once the wax was cooled and inserted them into a messenger tube, which they then sealed again. He presented the leather case to Makram. There were only a handful of other Viziers present in the Council Hall, and a servant had brought a small table to serve as a desk for her father. The quiet of the somber gathering felt all wrong.

“When will you be leaving, Agassi?” Kadir asked as Makram handed the messenger tube to Tareck. The Grand Vizier stood to the Sultan’s right, but not on the dais, and Naime to her father’s left, at his shoulder.

“A few more days, I think, before the wounds are closed enough to ride.” He held his bandaged hand up, his gaze fixed on Kadir. “Though this will take turns to heal.”

“Even the most unseasoned of Tamar’s mages knows never to grab a Fifth House mage in a fight, Agassi, and even a simpleton would have thought to let go.” Kadir smiled. Someone laughed quietly; others shifted in discomfort.

Makram smiled in return. “Is it wise to bait a man who knows secrets about your palace that you do not? I would hate for something unpleasant to happen to you in your sleep.”

Kadir’s smile slipped, not in fear, but anger.

“Gentlemen,” Naime said, “this is a momentous occasion, marking the first real steps toward mending the past. Please do not sully it with your sword-rattling.”

“I doubt the Grand Vizier would ever rattle his sword, Sultana,” Makram said. “Surely he’d have someone do it for him.”

“That is enough,” Naime ordered, staring at Makram in disbelief. Had he lost his senses completely? “You will speak to the Grand Vizier with respect, Agassi.”

Kadir smiled in surprised pleasure.

“And you will not bait a prince of Sarkum, Grand Vizier,” Naime said to him. His smile disappeared. “Are there any other children in need of scolding?” she asked the room. One of the gathered Viziers cleared his throat. Her father gave a short bark of a laugh.

“Just like her mother, isn’t she, Behram?” His eyes held a look in them she hadn’t seen since before her mother died. Calculation. Kadir saw it too, and he tipped his head in agreement, his jaw set too tensely for words. More passed between them, but it was lost on Naime. An unattributable tension occupied the silence.

Yavuz Pasha clapped his hands together. “I believe this concludes our business, yes, Sultanim?”

“Are we not sending delegates?” the Sultan asked.

Naime avoided Makram’s glance. Though she had decided that morning she would go, his betrayal lingered, the sense she had given him too much and allowed herself to be wounded too humiliating.

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