A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Forty-Six

When darkness descends upon the kraton, I steal out of bed. The night's heat is thick and damp against my skin. My hair is rolled upwards and off my neck, but I can still feel beads of sweat thick against my collar.

​"Amira?" Zahra rolls over, one eye cracked open in the dark. "Where are you going?"

​"Doing something stupid. Nothing new." I pull on a pair of thick boots, wincing despite the heat. Don't want to slip in bare feet while sneaking about. I tie a sash around my neck in such a way that most of my face is covered.

Then I reach for my dagger, which I'm getting quite fond of for its ease of concealability, despite its previous death-goddess owner.

"How do I look?"

​"Insane." She mumbles, turning around and already trying to roll out of bed. "Hold on. Can't let you die alone."

​"No," I shove her back. She plops onto the mattress set on the ground beside mine, glaring sleepily up at me. "They can't catch two Rahasians sneaking around the kraton at night. One's a scouting mission, two's a war, as they say."

​"Nobody's said that," Zahra harrumphs at me, crossing her muscular arms over her chest. "And that one Rahasian just so happens to be the princess."

​"Yes, a princess who wanted to see the pretty corpse flower in the garden while it's in bloom. You saw what an ass I made of myself at court. They probably all think I'm an idiot anyways." I bat my lashes and attempt my best look of naivete. "And besides, somehow, I'm in the sultan's good favor."

​"He likes you, does he?" I can't measure Zahra's face in the darkness, but her tone of voice is flat. Careful.

​"What does it matter if he does?" I try my best to keep my voice just as flat, just as unemotional and unattached as hers was. "All the better to use him. They're all using me as a bargaining chip anyways."

​"You used yourself as a bargaining chip, Champion."

​I bite back a scream of frustration, holding Zahra's face between my hands. Her clay-colored eyes stare back at me, and I imagine her skin shifting to the stone of a golem between my fingers. A giant of war and earth.

"Zahra, you will let me find Boaz. That is an order." I release her, wanting to crawl back into bed and attempt a fitful night's sleep. "It's my fault you came here anyways. I can't have you imprisoned, or worse. Gods, who knows how much worse they'd treat you than me if you were caught."

​She studies my gaze, that same strangeness I'd seen before the dinner. When she saw me in the mirror in that orange batik dress. "Fine." She rolls back on her mattress, drumming her fingers against her thigh. "As you wish, amira."

​Relieved that Zahra's protected, and I'm the only potential victim of my follies, I sneak out into the night once more. My hands drift along the kraton half-walls and railings, memorizing little details.

Trying to find the place they would've imprisoned a royal ambassador. The half-brother to the Empire's consort is still of royal blood, no matter how far removed. They would've kept Boaz locked in the kraton. The sultan, Harto, had said he was being treated well.

​Please, gods, I mouth, giving in and asking for their guidance even if I'd only ever profaned them before. Don't let Boaz suffer for my idiocy, as well.

***

Zahra: Should've taken me along!

Arnina: But that'd leave me so little time to be theatrical and heroic.

Boaz: She has a point.

Zahra: Hush, you haven't been reintroduced yet.