Chapter 13: Behind the Screen

Tamir looked at me.

I looked at the screen.

Then I was behind it, on my knees, with my dress half laced and my hair down my back.

The grate lay on the carpet where I'd kicked it.

I lifted it in both hands and sat on the floor with it in my lap, so it couldn't ring against anything.

Through the carving I saw him pull his robe closed and push his hair back.

He looked at the dead lamp.

He looked at the open balcony doors.

He left them both exactly as they were.

"Come in," he said.

The door opened.

Lamplight. Sandalwood. Ink.

And under them, so faint I had to close my eyes to be sure, burnt honey.

Sadeq came in first.

Behind him came the royal physician with a covered jar on his hip, and two guards with spears.

"Majesty." Sadeq bowed. "The guards heard a noise. A crash."

"I knocked over the table."

The table stood where it had always stood, with the lamp on it.

Sadeq looked at it.

He didn't say anything about it.

"And your lamp is out," he said.

"I put it out."

The physician made a small sound. "Majesty, the oil is for your chest. It eases the..."

"It stinks," Tamir said. "It stinks and I dream I'm drowning. I put it out with my own fingers."

He held up his hand.

There was soot on his fingertips from my face.

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.

"The night air is cold for a sick man," Sadeq said gently. "Let me close the doors."

"Leave them."

Sadeq's hand stopped halfway to the balcony.

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