Page 100 of The Lustrous Dark
There's a fountain built into one wall of the sleeping chamber and a blazing hearth set at the opposite end, an extravagance during such a warm season. A folding doorway stands half-open, revealing a balcony with a quaint breakfast table, and across the room, the mukhtar's bed is nestled into an alcove. A dark-stained wooden frame lifts a mattress piled with rich textiles, all ensconced by a sheer canopy suspended from the ceiling.
Mukhtar Asim is a heavy sleeper. Unfortunately, the hjabat is not around the man's wrist, where the Lallat said it would be. Though the rat proves adept at turning things over and squeezing into tight spaces while making minimal noise or disturbance, their long and thorough room search turns up nothing. Aside from the discovery that Muktar Asim has a fondness for women's lingerie, a fact Shay could, frankly, have lived without knowing.
It's only when she questions the rat, who has inhabited the walls of the palace along with its small colony since resting season, that she learns two unfamiliar humans were sneaking around a few nights prior. The rat is, however, unable to describe the intruders beyond the details of their footwear.
Both trespassers allegedly wore midsized boots caked with fine silvery dust the rat described ascarried in from a far-off region.
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“Our son did not return from volunteer service better. Quite the opposite. I fear for his mental health and future relationships. He behaves reasonably enough with his father and brothers, but he has started treating me like I'm his inferior. And his sisters, they refuse to be alone in the same room with him now.”
—the testimony of a mother choosing to speak anonymously to theNezjar Gazetteabout her son's experience in the Moulay Training Program
Shay is starting to doze off when the image materializes. The same, always the same. Her mother's face, pale and drained of life. The trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, like a careless smear of lip paint. She looks almost restful, but if Shay doesn't open her eyes fast enough, those still lips will snap into a rictus of rotting teeth. Her white eyes will pop open, glowing with something not quite there, but not quite gone.
“Are you well?”
Shay gasps awake. Shadi sits beside her on the pallet with Najla cradled in his arms.
“I'm …” She blinks a few times to clear the clinging remnants of horror. “I'm fine.”
“Did you have a bad dream?”
Shay wishes she slept long enough to have one of those. “Yeah.”
He glances around the room, probably realizing for the first time that her mother died there. “Maybe we need to move things around. Put your bedding in a different position and change out the décor. At least until we can find a new place for you and Najla.”
He doesn't saywith me. But Shay wonders if he's thinking it. She nods.
“Noojla is freshly changed and swaddled. I think she's ready to eat.” He hands Shay the clean and bundled baby and looks away as she lifts her shirt.
Shay kisses the top of the baby's head, smelling her new-baby smell, like fresh khobz. It washes away more of the dream that was too short to be a dream.
By the time Shay nurses the baby and puts her to sleep, Shadi has gone downstairs and returned again with a tray of tea and snacks. He peels an orange and hands her a slice.
“Thanks,” Shay says, licking the sweetness from her lips. “I really appreciate this. You. That you're here. That you kept coming back even when Kabeer turned you away.”
He laughs. “You can't get rid of me that easy, Shay.”
“Seriously,” she says, accepting another slice when he offers it. “You're spoiling me.”
“Just wait until we go to the Island.” His eyes get a far-off look. “I'll serve you fruits you've never even laid eyes on before.”
“Where?”
“Oh.” His face stills. He seems to consider that he has slipped up in some way and then decides it doesn't matter. “The Sisterhood headquarters are on an island. We call it the Island, which isn't very original, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's not amazing. Because it is. And I can't wait for you and Noojla to see it.”
Shay thinks this over quietly for a moment. It does sound nice. But he seems to be forgetting what happened yesterday—or, more accurately, what didn't. Even with Shadi lending a helpful hand, it took Shay a day each to retrieve the necklace and the earrings, and another day to fail to do the same with the bracelet.
“Unfortunately, my task is incomplete, remember? Four days from now, I'm supposed to deliver four hjabats to the Morchidat, and I have only three, because someone—the Naturalists, I'm assuming—got to the fourth one before I did.”
Khawla is still in enemy hands. The window to return women's magic and defeat Al-Mukhtar is closing. Shay suddenly feels a lot less hungry. Well, that's not entirely true, but she's a breastfeeding woman now. Shewouldfeel less hungry if that weren't the case.
“I'll leave this afternoon and talk to her,” Shadi says decisively.
Shay chews her bottom lip. “Do you think you can get her to meet with me again?”
“If it's fine with you, I'll just take her the hjabats we have.” Shadi sips his tea thoughtfully. “They have to count for something.”
