The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) - S. A. Chakraborty Page 0,106

“You said you were the one who found her body … you were so upset …”

“Because that part was true,” Kaveh replied. “All of it. I was the one who found Manizheh and Rustam’s traveling party after they vanished. The fire-scorched plain, the torn remains of their companions. Manizheh—or the woman I thought was Manizheh—and Rustam with their heads …” He trailed off, his voice shaking. “I brought their bodies back to Daevabad. It was the first time I saw the city, the first time I met Ghassan …” Kaveh wiped his eyes. “I remember almost nothing of it. Had it not been for Jamshid, I would have thrown myself on her funeral pyre.”

Dara was stunned. “I don’t understand.”

“She planned for me to find them.” Kaveh’s expression was vacant. “She knew I was the only one Ghassan would believe and hoped my obvious grief would protect her from his pursuit. Those are the lengths that demon pushed her to.”

Dara stared at him, completely lost for words. He could not imagine coming upon the body of the woman he loved in such a way; he probably would have thrown himself on the funeral pyre, though knowing his cursed fate, someone would have found a way to drag him back. And the fact that Manizheh had done such a thing to Kaveh—a man she clearly loved—spoke to a dark ruthlessness he hadn’t thought she possessed.

Then another thought struck him. “Kaveh, if Manizheh was able to feign her own death in such a manner, you do not think Rustam …”

Kaveh shook his head. “It was the first thing I asked her when we met again. All she would tell me was that he attempted a magic he should not have. She does not speak of him otherwise.” He paused, old grief crossing his face. “They were very close, Dara. Sometimes it seemed like Rustam was the only one who could keep her feet on the ground.”

Dara thought of his own sister. Tamima’s bright smile and constant mischief. The brutal way she’d been killed—punished in Dara’s stead.

And now he was about to introduce more brutality, more bloodshed into their world. Guilt wrapped his heart, constricting his throat. “You should try to do what you can to pull Jamshid and Nahri away from the Qahtanis, Kaveh. From all of them,” he clarified, having little doubt Alizayd was already trying to worm his way back into Nahri’s good graces. “It will make what is to come easier.”

Silence fell between them again until Kaveh finally asked, “Can you do it, Afshin? Can you truly take the city? Because this … we cannot go through all of this again.”

“Yes,” Dara said quietly. He had no choice. “But if I may ask something of you?”

“What?”

“I am not certain of my fate after the conquest. I am not certain …” He paused, struggling for the right words. “I know what I am to people in this generation. What I did to Jamshid, to Nahri … There may come a day that Manizheh will find it easier to rule if the ‘Scourge of Qui-zi’ is not at her side. But you will be there.”

“What are you asking, Afshin?”

That Kaveh did not protest such a future spoke volumes, but Dara pushed aside the sickness rising within him. “Do not let her become like them,” he rushed on. “Manizheh trusts you. She’ll listen to your guidance. Do not let her become like Ghassan.” Silently, in his heart, he added the words he could not yet speak. Do not let her become like her ancestors, the ones who made me into a Scourge.

Kaveh stiffened, a little of his usual hostility returning. “She won’t be another Ghassan. She never could be.” His voice was shaky; this was the man who loved Manizheh and spent his nights at her side, not the cautious grand wazir. “But frankly, I would not blame her if she wanted some vengeance.” He rose to his feet, not seeming to realize his words had just sent Dara’s heart to the floor. “I should go.”

Dara could barely speak. He nodded instead, and Kaveh swept out, the tent flap blowing in the cold wind.

This war is never going to end. Dara stared at his weapons again, and then closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the snow-scented air.

Why do you make those? The memory of Khayzur came to him. After finding Dara, the peri had taken him to the desolate icy mountains he called home. Dara had been a wreck in those