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At his words, a sudden silence filled the room. It was broken when the second brother laughed suddenly. He leaned down and pulled his youngest brother to his feet.
"Are you not cold in this corner, small one? Come sit by the fire and tell us what it is you think you can accomplish that we ca
"Just this," his youngest brother said when all were seated around the brazier once more. "I can get into the palace. Once there, I can find a way to get close to King Shahrayar."
The first and third brothers both gave barks of derisive laughter, but the second and fourth leaned closer.
"How?"
"Many inside the palace know your faces, as you have already noted," the youngest brother said, "for they fought against you when our country was lost. But they do not know my face, for I was too young to fight. I have been inside the palace only once, on the day our sister was married to Shahrayar. Few had reason to notice me then. All eyes were on the prince and his bride."
"But you can't be sure," the eldest brother objected, more for form's sake than that he disagreed with what his youngest brother had said. There were principles and hierarchies to be maintained. Elder brothers deserved respect, not to be contradicted by those who were younger than they. "Someone may have noticed you."
"Why should they?" the youngest brother asked with a smile as sweet as a honey cake. "I am just a boy."
The second brother chuckled, causing his older brother's face to turn the color of sour wine.
"Suppose we get you a place in the palace," the third brother said. "What then? How will you accomplish what must be done?"
"I don't know yet," his youngest brother answered honestly. "How can I know ahead of time? I will keep my eyes and ears open as I always do. When the time comes, I will know, and I will seize it. I will cleanse the stain from our honor and be revenged upon King Shahrayar."
"Oh, this is nonsense!" the eldest brother exploded, leaping to his feet. "I will not trust something so important to one so young, this one least of all."
"Shut up and sit down!" the second and fourth brothers roared.
At this, all eyes turned to the third brother, the only one who had not yet indicated what he thought.
"For once, I must agree with the others," he said, a thing that caused the eldest brothers mouth to open and close like a fish out of water, for the third brother had never disagreed with him before.
"We have talked all night and come up with nothing," the third brother went on. "Perhaps a boy may accomplish what we may not. Why should he not have a chance? His dishonor is as great as ours."
And so it was decided. The very next day the second brother, whose brain was the most devious, found a way to send his youngest brother to the palace as kitchen help. It was below his station to be sure, but there was an advantage in this that could not be ignored: If others overlooked children, they overlooked servants even more. One who was both a servant and a child would therefore be all but invisible. So the second brother reasoned as he made his choice.
And so the youngest brother settled into life at the palace not long after Shahrayar came down from the tower. He was there when the vizier proclaimed Shahrayar's intent to take a wife again. He was there when the king wed Shahrazad. He even managed to have a hand in preparing the wedding feast, helping to carry it to Shahrayar's private quarters himself.
And, through it all, the youngest brother did what he did best: He watched. He waited. And he kept his eyes and ears open, never doubting that one day, his time would come.
Chapter 12
S H A H R A Z A D I S J O Y F U L , A N D T H E C O N S P I R A T O R S M A K E A D I S C O V E R Y
And so it came to pass that on the same bright morning that Shahrayar decided to spare Shahrazad's life for at least one more day, his first queen's youngest brother labored in the palace kitchens, keeping his ears open in between mopping his brow. Dinarzad was put to bed, having fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of her sister's story. And Shahrazad herself was reunited with the vizier, her father.
Their reunion was a joyful one, but it did not last long. For no sooner had Shahrazad returned to her old rooms and told her father what had come to pass than they were interrupted by a frantic pounding at the door. It was opened to reveal the chamberlain, his face bright red and his breath huffing in and out.
"My lord vizier, my lady Shahrazad—that is—I mean to say—Your Highness—," he panted.
"For heaven's sake," Nur al-Din cried out, genuinely alarmed. Never had he seen the chamberlain look like this, and he knew how important the other man's dignity was to him. Next to his love for the king, it was the thing he kept closest to his heart. "Stop worrying about getting our titles right and get to the point."
"The king," the chamberlain gasped out. "You must go to the king at once."
He was in his private audience chamber. Not the room he used for show, the one in which he and Shahrazad were wed, but the one from which he conducted the true business of ru
Though she could not see it, Shahrazad knew the room well, for her father had described it to her many times. She could tell at once that the windows were open, for into the room there came a sound like the movement of the sea, a sound that both swelled and swallowed itself up all in the same moment.
“I am glad you have come, Nur al-Din," Shahrayar said as the chamberlain ushered the vizier and his daughter into the room, then, at a wave of the king's hand, bowed himself back out again. No one hearing Shahrayar would have guessed at the bitterness which had so recently passed between him and his vizier.
"Let your daughter stand back from the windows, but come here yourself, and tell me what you make of what you see."
Shahrazad's father gave her arm a quick squeeze, then moved to do the king's bidding. After a moment he said, "It is a crowd, my lord."
"I can see that for myself, thank you," Shahrayar replied, his voice sharp. “It is their purpose that I ca
"They do not appear to be armed," Nur al-Din observed, though he had to admit Shahrayar might have good cause to be alarmed even so. Never had he seen so large a crowd assemble in the courtyard, save for the funeral procession honoring Shahrayar's father.
"Did your captain ask them why they had come?"
"I am the king," Shahrayar said. "Would you have me inquire of my own subjects?"
"Well, it does seem to be the most straightforward way of learning their intentions," the vizier said.
"I know why they have come," Shahrazad spoke up from behind them.
She heard the scrape of Shahrayar's sandals as he turned around.
"You what?"
“I know why they have come," she said again. "And why they have refused to leave. Are these things not plain to you also?"
Shahrayar made an exasperated sound. "If they were plain to me, I would hardly have had the chamberlain summon you and your father at a dead run. Stop talking in riddles, and tell me what you think you perceive that I do not."