could tell him that they’d fought, and that Parvaneh had abandoned her.
Soraya practiced the conversation in her head, and by the time they reached her room, she was calmer.
Before Azad’s banquet, she had left the candelabra at the far end of the table—the signal for Parvaneh not to appear—and it remained there still. As long as Soraya didn’t move it, she could pretend that Parvaneh should have come by now. She gestured to a shadowy part of her room beyond the table where Azad could hide, and he nodded, tightening the rope between his hands.
“She may not come,” Soraya said quickly. “We fought the last time we spoke. I told her I was finished with her.”
Azad laughed softly and took Soraya’s head in his hands, the rope around his wrist scratching her cheek. “I hope that isn’t the case, Soraya. Because if she doesn’t appear tonight, I’ll think you were lying to me, and I’ll have to take measures to ensure that you don’t betray me again. What was it you said before? That as long as I have your family, you’re under my control? I’ll make you a deal, then. If I capture Parvaneh tonight, I will let your family live—other than your brother, of course. But if Parvaneh doesn’t appear tonight, or if she escapes me, then I will start to kill them one by one every time you defy me, beginning with your brother’s pretty bride.”
He released her face and went to conceal himself in the shadowed alcove, only the yellow of his eyes revealing his position. Soraya fought to control her breathing as she counted one, two, three seconds. She stepped forward and slid the candelabra across the table to rest in front of her.
A few seconds passed, and Soraya felt more and more ill with each one. Her vision was blurring, and her mouth was bitter with the taste of bile. She kept hearing Parvaneh’s voice in her mind, asking, Are you still with me? She wished she had said yes—full-heartedly, in every way possible, yes. She wished she had one more memory of joy between them before she would have to see the hurt and betrayal in those eyes that had captivated Soraya from the start.
From the corner of her vision, Soraya saw a flutter of wings, and then Parvaneh appeared beside the table, her back—her wings—to Azad.
Soraya wanted to say something to warn her, or to apologize at least, but any indication of loyalty to Parvaneh would make Azad suspicious.
Parvaneh shook her head slightly. “What’s the matter, Soraya? Are you still angry with me?” At the same time, Soraya saw Azad peel away from the shadows, approaching silently with the rope taut between his hands.
“Of course I’m still angry with you,” Soraya said. Despite her effort to muster some conviction, her voice sounded lifeless. “You lied to me.”
As if he had been waiting to hear Soraya say those words first, Azad struck, lunging forward to bind Parvaneh’s wings with the rope with expert speed. Parvaneh thrashed and struggled against him, but he used the rope to pull Parvaneh back against him as they tightened around her wings, and one of his hands came to encircle her throat, holding her head still.
Soraya couldn’t stop a tear from running down her cheek as she stood rigidly apart from the two of them, her hands clenched at her sides. She couldn’t speak—if she opened her mouth, the words I’m sorry would spill out.
“Parvaneh,” Azad said, the name a low growl in his throat. “Haven’t you missed me? We’ve been together so long, I can’t imagine what you would do without me.”
With his hand still around her throat, Parvaneh choked out a laugh. “Do you think I care what you do to me? I’ve freed my sisters from you. That’s all that matters to me.”
“I’ll simply hunt them down again. It’s been at least a year since I caught one of you—I was starting to grow bored.”
He pushed her forward, and she landed on the ground in front of Soraya, her wings tightly bound behind her, still connected to the rope in Azad’s hand. I could unbind her, Soraya thought. If I do it quickly enough, she can transform—and then Laleh would die, followed by the others.
Parvaneh pushed herself up and looked at Soraya through a sheet of black hair. “You’ve made your choice, then,” she said. “I knew you would join him in the end.”
Soraya frowned, her confusion genuine. “What do you mean?”
Parvaneh laughed again but