her eyes were hard and cold. “You’re too alike. I’ve known it since the dungeon. Every time I spoke to you, it was like speaking to him, all those years ago. I thought I could stop you from making his mistakes, but I should have known it was pointless.” Her face twisted into a grimace. “You deserve each other.”
“On your feet.” Azad tugged sharply on the rope, and Parvaneh hissed in pain. “You’ve said enough.”
“Congratulations, Azad,” she said, his name sounding like an insult on her tongue as she rose to her feet. Even though she addressed Azad, her eyes remained on Soraya as she spoke. “You finally found someone as wretched and despicable as you are. I would keep her close if I were you.”
The sting of Parvaneh’s words was all the more painful considering how close Soraya had come to succumbing to Azad tonight. Was there truth in what she was saying, or was she only speaking out of anger, lashing out because she had been betrayed? Soraya trembled with the effort of not speaking, knowing that if she challenged Parvaneh now or told her how wrong she was, Azad would know her true loyalties.
“I’m sorry it happened this way,” was all she could trust herself to say in a small, shaky voice.
“I’m sure you are,” Parvaneh replied with a sneer.
Azad held her by the back of her neck and guided her toward the door. Anger spiked through Soraya as she watched his smug, retreating form. He owned her now. The only way she could ever escape him was to cut her heartstrings and abandon all the people she had betrayed.
Before he led Parvaneh out, Azad turned back to Soraya and said, “You’ve proven yourself to me tonight, in more ways than one. I’ll return tomorrow.” He left her then, taking Parvaneh with him.
Soraya couldn’t move. She stood rooted to where she was standing, as if time would stop if she simply never moved again. Her anger had faded now, snuffed out as soon as Azad and Parvaneh were gone. She had always wanted to extinguish the persistent spark of anger that burned deep in her heart, so sure that it would turn her into a monster. She hadn’t realized that her anger could only exist because she still had hope. Once hope was gone, there was no point in fighting, and so she had no need for anger anymore.
Soraya finally found a reason to move. She went to the table and blew out the candles, leaving her in darkness.
* * *
Without even the candles to help her determine the passage of time, Soraya had no idea how long she had been lying curled up on the ground, hot tears pouring out of her tightly shut eyes. She wished for sleep, for a temporary reprieve from thought and memory, but instead, she spent the time sinking into a kind of waking nightmare, too awake to find peace, but too exhausted in every possible way to pull herself out of it.
After what must have been hours, Soraya managed to open her eyes and found two round orange beams pointed at her.
She sat up in a flurry of groggy confusion, her head aching. It was too dark to see anything except for the orange lights glowing at her from the direction of the table. The orange lights emitted a low, hooting sound, and Soraya understood.
“Parisa?” she whispered.
The lights went out, and a dim, shadowy figure stood at the table. Parisa lit the candles with the flint beside it and, newly illuminated, faced Soraya with an accusing stare. “Where is Parvaneh?”
The name made her wince. “You shouldn’t be here,” Soraya said as she rose to her feet. “He might return.”
“It’s still day. He never returns until dusk. Where is Parvaneh?”
“Why do you even care what happens to her? You cast her out.”
The eerie orange glow of her eyes dimmed a little, her wings bristling behind her. “She’s still our sister,” she said with a note of irritation. “We keep track of her movements. She entered Arzur last night by the pariks’ passage, but she never returned.” Parisa took a step toward her. “Where is Parvaneh?” she said again, emphasizing each word.
Soraya had to look away from her insistent stare before she could answer. “I don’t know,” she said. “He captured her.” I betrayed her. “I don’t know where he took her—or if she’s even alive.”
“She’s alive,” Parisa said, and Soraya looked up at her with the first semblance of hope she’d