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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I kept watch over Naji for two weeks, long after the other assassins left. We had to move him to a room in the palace, because the garden house was destroyed by the magic-sickness, its walls turning into thick ropy vines, the bed transforming into an enormous moon-colored flower. I stayed away from the place where the garden house had been.
But tucked away in the palace, Naji did get slowly better. The color returned to his face. His tattoos stopped glowing. He ate every bite of food Queen Saida had brought to him.
Sometimes he kissed me.
Some days I would lay my head on Naji’s chest, the way I had when he was asleep. I listened to his heart beat strong and sure. He let his hand drift over my hair and down the length of my spine. It was nice. I was afraid to say something about it, though, afraid that if I opened my mouth it would all disappear.
When he felt good enough to stand up, I walked with him around the perimeter of the palace garden, the way he had with me on the Island of the Sun. He pointed out flowers to me, identifying them by name, telling me what sorts of magic properties they had, but all the while his hand was on the small of my back, and I didn’t remember one word of what he said.
Jeric came to visit. He knocked on Naji’s door while I was there, and when I answered, he scowled at me and said, “I’d hoped you’d be gone.”
“Go away,” I said.
“No.” Naji’s voice was bright behind me. “No, Ana
Jeric gave me a smug smile and pushed into the room. Naji was sitting on the bed, the sunlight making his hair shine. Jeric gave a scholarly little bow and said, “That one–” He pointed at me, “–gets over overenthusiastic. I only wanted to ask you about the starstones.”
Naji nodded. I was all prepared to chase Jeric away, but when he started asking questions Naji didn’t seem to mind answering them. I guess it was Naji’s university background, and all the studying he had to do for the Order. He told Jeric what it felt like when his skin touched the stones, and his theories about how they had affected the magic in his body. Jeric nodded all the while, scratching notes down in a little leather-bound book, and after they got to talking both seemed pleased with themselves. I sat in the corner and listened, because it was interesting, even if I didn’t always understand the technicalities of what Naji said, even if the thought of the starstones scared me a little, still.
Jeric only visited once, but he became a lot easier to deal with after that. Like Naji’d given him a gift.
One afternoon me and Naji went to see Queen Saida in her sunroom. Marjani was there, dressed in a long golden dress that suited her, her hair woven with ribbons and shells. Saida looked a proper queen in Empire silks, Jokja metals in the bangles on her wrist. She stood up when me and Naji walked in.
“You’ve recovered!” she cried out. “Marjani told me the news, but I’m so glad to see you walking about.” And she actually crossed the room to greet us. She kissed both of Naji’s cheeks and beamed at him.
“Thank you, my Light,” Naji murmured, bowing his head.
Queen Saida turned to me. “And I heard you were most instrumental,” she said. “The Jadorr’a told me about it when they thanked me for my hospitality. I told them: no Jokja has ever feared a Jadorr’a.” She laughed. Naji’s eyes crinkled into a smile.
“And what about the third task?” Marjani asked from her seat by the windows. It was raining, gray-green light pouring in around her. “Have you figured out what that means yet?”
“Ah yes!” Queen Saida said. “The third task. I can ask the palace magicians to look into it for you, if you’d like.”
I thought about how worthless her palace helpers had been when it came to finding the starstones, but Naji only nodded and said, “Yes, I would appreciate that. Thank you.”
Afterward, me and Naji walked together in the garden, the way we usually did. I linked my arm in Naji’s and he didn’t say nothing about it, so I figured it was alright. I’d been refraining from dipping in his head ever since he woke up. It had been startling to see myself in there, beloved – though I was still afraid of what might happen if I didn’t find myself at all.
The rain had slowed down to a slow shimmering drizzle. The sun came out and refracted through the drops, filling the air with diamonds. Me and Naji sat down at one of the pavilions near the fence. The jungle was quiet from the rain.
“Why’d you tell her to help you?” I asked.
“So I can cure my curse.”
“You want to get rid of me that easy?” I tried to keep my voice light, but it trembled anyway.
Naji looked at me with eyes as dark as new moons. “No.”
I looked down at my lap.
“Surely you’d like to run off and have your adventures,” he said, “without having me tag along complaining about the vagaries of the ocean.”
“What’s a vagary?” I said. “And I wouldn’t mind none anyway. Having you with me.” With that last part, I blushed and slurred my words on purpose.
Naji leaned over and kissed me, one hand cupping the side of my face. “I wouldn’t mind either,” he said softly, “but I prefer not to feel as though I’m dying every time you loosen the sails.”
I laughed at that, and his eyes lit up. I’d been seeing that more and more. It got to the point that I could fill in the blanks, and every time he did it was like his whole face was smiling. Fu
Naji kissed me again.
Something squawked over in the garden.
“What the–” I pulled away from Naji and sure enough there was that big white seabird that’d flown into his room before we found the starstones. Another note was attached to its foot.
The bird cawed and flapped its great white wings.
“It’s that bird again,” I said.
Naji took my hand in his. “I saw it,” he said. “When I was under.”
“What? Really?”
The bird hopped forward and stuck out its leg. Naji slipped off the canister and dropped out the note and the map, the same as before.
Naji of the Jadorr’a:
I never received a reply to our last missive, although Samuel assures me that you did read the note. I plead you not to dismiss this one as well – we are not seeking your harm. Nor do we have interest in your skills as a murderer-for-hire. The King of Salt and Foam merely wishes to thank you. That is all. If you are concerned, you may bring guards and weapons, magic or otherwise, as you see fit. I guarantee you will not have use of them. Regards, Jolin I.
Naji lay the note down in his lap.
“What do they got to thank you for?” I asked. “You sure nobody knows anything about them?”
Naji sighed. “I told you, they’re completely unknown to the Order and to Saida’s scholars – I asked about the court and about this Jolin I both. Nothing.” He hesitated. “However, I did see that bird when I was trapped in the liminal space, circling the sky, over and over, dropping down sheets of parchment…” He turned to me. “Ask one of the palace clerks for some ink. I’m going to send them a response.”
“You don’t even know who they are!” I snatched the note off his lap and flapped in the air. “This could be the Mists. A trap–”
“It isn’t.” He pulled the note away from me. “I’ll fetch the ink myself.”
I scowled at the bird, who just cawed at me.
Naji disappeared into the palace. Part of me wanted to follow behind him and find some way to stop him, but I just sat there glaring at the seabird to see who would blink first – me, as it turned out. Whatever Naji knew, whatever Naji thought – some of it was seeping into my brain. Not all of it, but enough that I let him be.
Naji emerged twenty minutes later with a pot of ink. When he saw me staring at the seabird he laughed.