Equal of the Sun A Novel - By Anita Amirrezvani Page 0,111
I have to be so thorough? You never know when a murderer will strike.”
His words threw another arrow of fear into my liver.
“The light of the universe is wise,” Pari replied.
The Shah looked pleased. “I intend to root out every would-be killer in the palace,” he added.
His courtiers’ faces blanched with fear; the silence in the room felt suffocating. For a moment I caught Nasreen Khatoon’s eyes, which were like ice.
The Shah waved his hand to dismiss me. “Your servant has leave to go,” he said, not bothering to use my name. “But you had better keep a closer eye on him in the future.”
I walked to Pari’s home and gave my heartfelt thanks to God that I had survived. It was just becoming light, and birds had begun singing in the trees. Their cheerful tune filled me with sweet relief.
When Pari arrived, her face was closed. She called me into her private rooms and slammed the door. Rather than sitting down, she stood so close to me I could smell the sharp scent of fear emanating from her body.
“Javaher, have you lost your reason?”
I didn’t care for her angry tone. “It was for the sake of getting information.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
“I gave you an idea of my source. I thought ignorance would protect you, and her, too.”
“Was she the person who gave you the digestive?”
“Of course.”
“What else were you trying to discover?”
“The Shah’s personal habits.”
Her frown was so deep it made her face look like a weapon. “You could have gotten us killed. Now he is going to be more careful than ever, and it is all because of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you have overstepped your authority.”
“By the fires of hell! How did you think I procure such excellent information for you?”
She pointed her finger at me accusingly. “You need to tell me when you take such risks. You have violated one of your own rules by keeping your activities secret from me all this time.”
“I wanted to keep everyone safe, including myself. That is my job.”
She guffawed suddenly, but the sound was devoid of mirth. “Okh, okh! You donkey! You have behaved like a know-it-all.”
I was in no mood to be accused of things, even if they were true. I turned my face away as if from a bad smell.
“Fortunately, I knew enough to tell the Shah that you had requested charity for my petitioners. When he pressed me for more details, I told him I had so many cases I didn’t know which ones you had brought to which ladies. It was only luck that you had mentioned charity to me not long ago—pure luck. We need a better strategy than that.”
“It seemed to work well enough,” I retorted.
Pari glared at me as if I were a worm. “By God above, don’t you understand what has happened?”
“No.” My belly clenched with pain.
“Last night, the Shah was awakened by suspicious noises. He noticed that Khadijeh was standing near his flask of water and fumbling with something. When he jumped up and grabbed her around the waist, she screamed. Crushed in her hand was a clay vial, which she claimed bore amatory musk. She told him she hoped the potion would work its magic and allow her to bear a child.
“The Shah was almost convinced until he decided to order her to drink it. She argued that she didn’t need it to feel amorous. When he insisted, she tried to rid herself of the vial, but he forced her to drink its contents. Before long, she began clutching her stomach and writhing in agony. Just before she died, she told him she had acted on her own to avenge the death of her brother, but he didn’t believe her. All this morning, he has been interviewing her ladies and her visitors to discover who else is to blame.”
The room around me had grown dark and suffocating. I clapped my hands against my chest and held them there.
Pari stared at me. “Javaher, why do you look as if you have lost the light of your eyes?”
“I have!” I exclaimed, but stopped myself there. I couldn’t admit to Pari that I had been in love with one of the Shah’s wives. She would consider it an unpardonable transgression.
“If only I could take her place!”
Pari’s lips turned down in surprise. “Why?”
“Because,” I continued, half-choking, “because this means the Shah has proven himself willing to kill a woman, and now you are no longer safe, either.”