caspida

You understand why you must go through with this marriage.___ou say you couldn__ live with yourself if anything happened to Caspida. Yet you ask me to live with myself, knowing I sentenced you to this!_ He holds up the lamp. __hat__ the difference?__ look away angrily. __he difference is that this is my choice, Aladdin.___ell, it__ a stupid choice!__ stand up. __romise me you__l go through with it.__e shuts his eyes.__romise me! Please!__e opens his eyes then, and they are filled with pain. But he nods.__ have to hear you say it.___ promise.

This is Roshana, the last queen of the Amulen Empire, back when my people ruled all the lands from the east to the west. She is something of a legend among us. Every queen aspires to learn from her mistakes.___er mistakes? Surely you mean her victories.___hat?__ frown at her. __oshana was one of the greatest queens in the world. She ended the Mountain Wars, she routed Sanhezriyah the Mad, she____or a foreign serving girl, you are strangely well versed in Amulen history.___ spent a lot of time in libraries as a girl.___ere you there to dust the scrolls or read them?___urely Roshana__ victories outweigh her errors.___he higher you rise, the farther you fall. For all her wisdom, Roshana was fooled by the jinni, believing it was her friend, and then it destroyed her. Ever since that day, my people have hunted the jinn. There is no creature more vicious and untrustworthy.___his is not the story I heard,_ I say softly. __y people tell it differently. That the jinni truly was a friend to Roshana but was forced to turn against her. That she had no choice.___urely I know how my own ancestress died,_ returns the princess, a bit hotly. __nyway, it was a long time ago, but we Amulens do not forget.

Why do you care what happens to her? I thought we humans were vapors to you, here today and gone tomorrow.___aspida is . . . different. She reminds me of someone, someone I__ give my life for if I could.___he queen?_ he asks. __he one who died?___oshana. My dear Ro._ My voice is soft as a ripple on the water. __he once ruled the Amulens, and Caspida is her descendant. She has Roshana__ strength of spirit, and I cannot look at her without thinking of my old friend. If she were to come to harm on my account . . . I could not bear that through the centuries._ I already carry a mountain of shame, a constant reminder of that day on Mount Tissia.Aladdin lifts a hand and brushes the hair back from my face. __ou truly are remarkable, Zahra of the Lamp.

Tell me about your master.__ nod. __e is eighth in line to the throne, the son of____o, no,_ Caspida interrupts irritably. __ell me what he is like.___e is a gambler,_ I say. There is no point in lying about these things. __e is bold, but reckless. Brave, but impetuous. A man who . . . holds grudges._ Pausing, I finish in a whisper, __e would risk his life to save someone else, without even thinking twice.__aspida turns her head a bit, interest growing in her eyes. __nd he sets out on a mad voyage and sails straight into a nest of jinn.___y master is noble,_ I say with a smile, __ut I made no suggestions as to his intelligence.

When I saw you in the hall with Darian,_ he says at last, __ felt more angry than I__e felt in a long time. I was angry and . . . and afraid, that you wanted to be there, that you wanted him touching you. In that one look, I felt more than I__e ever felt with Caspida. Zahra, I think you__e right__ove isn__ a choice. If I could choose to love Caspida, maybe this would all be going differently, but I don__ think that__ possible. Not anymore.__ll the smoke inside me sinks as I stare at him. __hat are you saying?__e turns and meets my gaze squarely. As much I want to, I find it impossible to look away. The intensity of his copper gaze holds me entranced.__ think you know,_ he says softly. __r am I the only one who feels it?