Girl, Serpent, Thorn - Melissa Bashardoust Page 0,102

and betrayed. The simorgh ruffled her feathers slightly, but showed no reaction to Soraya’s presence. In her eyes was an intelligence that was far beyond any bird Soraya had ever seen—but it wasn’t human, either. It was as if she already knew all that would come to pass, and was simply waiting for events to unfold. If Soraya detected a touch of reproach in the curve of her brow, she wasn’t sure if it was real or if her own guilt was making her see it. I’ve been expecting you, the simorgh’s eyes seemed to say. And you are very, very late.

“Can you understand me?” Soraya whispered, moving slowly toward the simorgh.

The simorgh didn’t speak, of course, but simply bowed her head in a slow nod.

Soraya held up a shaking hand, revealing her seal ring, the simorgh’s image etched into it. “Do you know who I am?”

It was a question with many answers, but the simorgh’s fierce, unblinking stare made Soraya think that she knew all of them. I’m your descendant. I’m your betrayer. I’m your rescuer.

The simorgh nodded again, this time emitting a low-throated cooing sound that Soraya thought she could understand. One of mine. With a rattle of chains, the simorgh came forward as far as she could go, bringing her a step away from Soraya. She was the size of a large dog or small horse, her head level with Soraya’s chest, and yet Soraya felt engulfed by her presence. The simorgh made another gentle cooing sound, and then she stretched out her long, beautiful neck and fluttered her wings, as if in welcome.

Soraya’s chest tightened painfully, and she let out a broken sob as she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around the simorgh’s neck. The simorgh nestled her head against Soraya’s as Soraya wept into her feathers. She felt undeserving of this affection, unworthy to have been the one to find the simorgh, the root of her family, after so many years. And yet, wasn’t that the story of her family’s beginnings? The simorgh had found an unwanted child and decided that he belonged to her now, and that she would love and raise him as her own, even if others found him unworthy. If only Soraya had seen herself in that child instead of the Shahmar, then maybe she would have found her place in her family line long ago. She would have known that what defined her lineage was not blood or duty or obligation, but a single act of compassion, of protection, granted freely.

Soraya pulled away. Her eyes were still wet with tears, but she felt lighter now than she ever had. The patch of sky overhead began to darken, and she knew she couldn’t stay much longer, even though the idea of leaving the simorgh here was unthinkable. I could take a feather, she thought, with a glance at the simorgh’s brilliant plumage. But even to ask for such a gift felt wrong to her—the feather was something the simorgh should give of her own volition, not something to be taken. Maybe that was why every time Soraya tried to take the feather for herself, the result had been disastrous.

“I’ll come back,” she told the simorgh. “I need something to help me with the chains.”

The simorgh bowed her head in understanding, and with an aching heart, Soraya went back through the passage. She left the false brick wall as she had found it, slightly open, then brushed off the soot from her gown before stepping out of the fireplace. She looked hesitantly from the chest of tools to the swiftly darkening sky out the window. Did she have time to free her now?

She took a step toward the chest, but then a shadow filled the room, and she turned her head to find Azad standing in the window.

“Soraya,” he said with surprise as he stepped off the ledge into the room. “What are you doing here?” He tried to keep his voice light, but she could hear the undercurrent of suspicion.

“I’m here to see you,” she said at once, grasping for something she knew he would be happy to hear. “Now that I can move freely through Arzur, I saw no reason why I should wait for you in my room like a prisoner.”

He laughed softly. “Fair enough. Have you given thought to my offer from last night?”

“To kill my brother or let you do it for me?”

“I could decide for you, if you’d prefer.”

“No,” Soraya said at once.