Page 28 of The Prince's Wife

"Get some rest. There isn't much we can do until everyone else is awake, though once Commander Yahra returns, we'll start making whatever plans we can. Mostly, we must unfortunately wait until Lady Kubra is found. Go get some rest, Shir. I'll send someone to wake you if something changes before you wake on your own," Shah said. "Thank you for doing so much. I am sorry this problem has gotten so much uglier than we ever anticipated. I knew they would be angry; I did not know they would resort to all of this."

Aradishir nodded, losing the battle to another yawn as he stood. Hopefully his parents would get a few more hours of sleep as well. "You'd better. I'm sorry we had to wake you."

"It's nothing to apologize for, my dear," Shah replied. "Get to bed."

Bowing to them, Aradishir then left, concubines and guards around him like always. In his room, they all bathed thoroughly before simply relaxing in the hot water, letting the last of the tension fade away before finally drying off and going to bed.

Chapter Thirteen

When he woke from his nap, his harem was gathered around the small table where they nearly always ate breakfast, the only exception when he had guests or special meetings. "Any word?" he asked around a yawn.

"Not yet, unfortunately," Merza said. "They've dragged in many people, merchants and dock goons alike, but we still have not located Lady Kubra. Master Masood is doing well, though."

"I'm glad." Aradishir wandered off to clean up and dress for the day, then joined them at the table and ate the fruit and pastries waiting for him, along with a pot of tea that was still hot, because his concubines knew what they were about. "Thank you. My parents?"

"Your mother said that if you woke before noon, to tell you to find her, and she'd update you on everything. The last I heard she was in the minor throne room sorting through problems that were too onerous for public court. Prince Bakhtiar is holding general audience today, showing Relanya how to do it. I believe His Majesty has been in meetings regarding our problem all day, and not a single person has left that room looking happy."

Heydar snorted. "They have tried multiple times to kill his son, and now are killing anyone in their path with wanton recklessness. I wouldn't be happy either if I was so involved the king himself demanded an audience. Every merchant in the city and their most distant cousin has been summoned today, and nobility is walking around like they have glass bowls full of water balanced on their heads."

"Diamonds are loose in their settings, to be sure," Merza said.

Aradishir smiled softly, fond as ever of Merza's slang. "Let's go find my mother then."

Several minutes later, they found her in the library, surrounded by her harem and looking peeved with the librarians and clerks attending her. "Mother."

Her irritation vanished as she turned to him, breaking into a smile. "Shir, there you are, darling. Did you get some rest?"

"Probably more than you." He took her hands and kissed her cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeking records for your father, but they've all mysteriously gone missing," she replied, ire returning. "Copies of certain contracts, specifically. And no one is able to explain to me how such important documents have gone missing."

"I have copies of them," Merza said, causing everyone to turn to look at him. "Golds and diamonds always snitch the papers when they get to dark dealing. The moment this became my prince's problem, I took out the contracts, made official copies of all of them myself, and put everything back. Took me quite some time. Which reminds me, you have no security in this place against smuggling out books and papers that you might want to remain on the premises." He clicked his tongue. "If I'd been paid to steal papers instead of jewels, I'd have had a much higher success rate."

"Oh, I think stealing the heart of a prince ranks pretty high on the list of successes," Fahima said dryly. "Fetch me those copies, please, Lord Merza."

"Of course, Your Majesty. I'll go now and deliver them to your chambers."

"Tasha," she said quietly, and the concubine slipped away to join Merza.

Turning back to the clerks, who all looked like they were about to face their execution, she said, "This abysmal failure will be addressed later when I can put my full attention on it. If I were you, I'd compose averythorough report about what went wrong and how you will keep it from happening again. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," the head librarian said quietly, eyes on the floor.

"Good." She swept off without further word, and Aradishir cast the poor man a sympathetic look before hastening after her.

"Why would they steal contracts? Especially when there are also copies with the courts, and with each person who signed the contract?" Multiple copies, all certified, made it impossible for any one person to alter a contract after the fact, something that had been done long in the past and caused no small amount of confusion and harm.

Javed said, "If they were willing to steal them from here, they likely stole them from other locations. That would explain in part why they have been dragging this process out. What was in the contracts, Your Majesty?"

"On the surface, simple trade deals with various foreign parties, but Beynum noticed a few odd things in the couple that we do have copies of, though only by chance. Turns of phrase, certain objects, that he recognized from his pirating days."

Aradishir felt abysmally stupid he had not noticed such important details.

"Don't think like that." Fahima smiled when he looked up. "I didn't see it. Your father didn't see it. Why would we? The whole point is for most people to never see it. The only one of us who did in this entire family was a former pirate. The only failure is that neither I nor your father thought to ask him in thefirst place. What matters is that Beynumdidsee it, and now we have new information to work with. I'll show you."

As they reached the room where his father was, the guards posted outside bowed low, greeting them quietly before sliding the doors open.

Inside, Shah looked up, frown melting away. "Hello, my jewel. Shir, you look rested."

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