queen-roshana

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.

I know who you are,_ he says.Something about his tone causes my heart of smoke to flicker in response, and I throw my guard up. __h? And who, O boy of Parthenia, am I?__e nods to himself, his eyes alight. __ou__e her. You__e that jinni. Oh, gods. Oh, great bleeding gods! You__e the one who started the war!___xcuse me?___ou__e the jinni who betrayed that famous queen__hat was her name? Roshana? She was trying to bring peace between the jinn and the humans, but you turned on her and started the Five Hundred Wars.__ turn cold. I want him to stop, but he doesn__.____e heard the stories,_ he says. ____e heard the songs. They call you the Fair Betrayer, who enchanted humans with your . . ._ He pauses to swallow. __our beauty. You promised them everything, and then you ruined them.

For five hundred years my sisterhood has passed down a sacred vow,_ says Caspida coldly, __o destroy the one who destroyed our queen. You know this, and you speak these words only to deceive me as you deceived her. You would have me believe that you are capable of love.___elieve me when I say I wish that I were not!_ Angrily I round on her. __ do not tell you this for myself! Aladdin will die any moment, and the only way to save him is if you make a wish! Please, Caspida__hey will kill him at dawn!_ I point at the horizon, where the sun is minutes away from rising. __et me save him, I beg you!__ drop to my knees before her, doing what I never thought I could: grovel before a human. My pride unravels into smoke, carried away on the wind. Always I have thought myself above these mortals__, immortal, powerful, able to shift from this form to that. But I let all of that go now, and I beg as I have never begged before. __o what you like with me after that, but just let me save him!_ I dig my fingers into the earth, my eyes damp with tears. My voice falls to a cracked whisper. __lease.___hy?__ raise my face, finding her gaze unyielding. __ecause it was my idea. Him wishing to be made a prince. Courting you. Lying all these weeks. I manipulated him and used him, and now they will kill him for it.___hy would you lead him into the palace knowing that eventually the truth would come out and he would have to pay the price?___ecause . . ._ I grind my teeth together, wishing the earth would swallow me up. __ecause I was trying to win my freedom. Your people had captured the prince of the jinn__ardukha__ own son. The Shaitan sent me to free him, and in turn, he would free me from my lamp. If I failed, he planned to sink your city into the sea. I had to get into the palace. Aladdin was my only way in.___o you don__ deny that you__e a monster. You used him for your own ends.__ drop my head. __ know what I am. I know nothing can excuse what I did to Roshana, or to Aladdin, or to you. I__e wronged so many, and there is so much I wish I could take back. I can__ save Roshana. But please__ beg of you__et me save him.__aspida lowers to her knees and studies me. I meet her gaze, humbled utterly.__ou want me to believe that you love him,_ she whispers.__es._ The word is but a breath, a stir of air in my treacherous lungs. __e__e running out of time. I cannot reverse death or the hours. Time is the strongest magic, and no jinni__ot even the Shaitan__an rewrite the past. Once Aladdin is gone, he is gone. Let me save him, and I can help you win your city.

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.