Page 12 of The Prince's Wife

"What's wrong?" Aradishir asked, smile sliding from his face.

"You must come with us at once, all of you," Erfan said, as the rest of their guards spilled into the room and started helping everyone to their feet before ushering them out of the room, down the stairs—and then further down still, until they were in the basement amongst barrels and crates and hanging meats and fruits.

Erfan closed the heavy trapdoor and locked it. Aradishir had a lot of questions about why a restaurant would need a basement that locked from the inside, but that would have to wait. "Erfan, what's going on?"

"We have reports of roving bandits taking advantage of the storm to plunder shops."

Relanya frowned. "Surely they wouldn't get very far with that, given the lack of visibility."

"Desperate people use desperate means," Erfan replied, "and greedy fools will go to foolish extremes."

Aradishir didn't believe a single word. Bandits didn't go about raiding shops in a sandstorm for precisely the reason Relanya had just given. And Erfan wouldn't lock them all in abasement for thieves who would take one look at their uniforms and run away because no loot was worth tangling with the royal guard.

Something more serious was going on. Something dire and dangerous. "Erfan, with me," he said sharply, and strode off behind a rack of wine barrels where they could speak in relative privacy. "What is really going on?"

Chapter Five

Erfan's mouth flattened, but after a moment he gave a bare nod and relented. "We noticed we had people following us earlier, but I thought I attended the matter when I sent soldiers to disperse or, if necessary, arrest them. There were six in all that we took care of, but I must have missed something, for which you have my deepest apologies, Your Highness. I believe your pursuers learned you would be touring the city and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Whether they intend to kidnap or kill you, I do not know, but whichever the case, they will not leave survivors to tell the tale. The sandstorm should have slowed them down, but instead, I think they're going to try and use it to their advantage."

By killing everyone and using the lull that would come after the storm ended to sneak away, with no one the wiser about what had happened for possibly hours. Aradishir was sickened by the thought. All this because he dared to save people from being enslaved, abused, and worse. He would never understand why people did such things.

"I really am deeply sorry for my failures, Your Highness. We will not let you or Her Highness or anyone else come to harm."

"No apologies are necessary. It sounds like you and your people have done everything you possibly can. Thank you. We'll remain here until you think it's safe for us to return to the palace. Hopefully the storm will keep them away after all, or they will not be able to reach us here in the basement."

Erfan nodded, and they rejoined the others. Someone had found some old blankets and arranged them on a couple of crates for Relanya to sit. Merza sat next to her, offering up sips of a pale gold wine, as Javed and Heydar told stories about people in the palace.

If she was anxious about the abrupt turn in events, she gave no outward sign of it, a quality his parents would deeply admire. No doubt it was part of what had persuaded his mother during the initial negotiations.

Aradishir joined them, smiling when Heydar slid an arm across his shoulders and drew him in closer. Aradishir tilted his head up, and Heydar returned the smile before leaning down for the silent request for a kiss. He'd been enchanted with Heydar from the beginning, the sad soldier who clearly wanted a different life, but had no way of getting it. Matters between Heydar and his father were still tense, but they were talking, which according to Heydar was more than they'd ever done before.

He looked back toward the group as he and Heydar parted, and flushed for no good reason to see Relanya watching them. "Your men love you deeply." She looked about to say something else, something that provoked a bittersweet smile, but before she could voice the words, there was a series of loud bangs, like someone pounding ferociously at a door, and then the sound of heavy wood cracking. Shortly after that came pounding feet, muffled shouting that quickly turned angry as the assailants realized their targets weren't where they should be.

"Get back," Erfan said grimly, and motioned sharply to some of the guards. Four of them pulled Relanya and Aradishir to the farthest corner of the room. Merza and Heydar were also armed now with long daggers, though the idea of them being in a fight churned his stomach, no matter how good they both were. His thief and his soldier. Javed stood with Relanya'shandmaidens, ready to get them out the very moment there was a chance.

Hopefully this matter wouldn't come to—

His hopes were dashed as someone tried to open the basement door, muffled swearing spilling through the room when they realized they couldn't. The voice faded off, but just moments later multiple voices could be heard.

Aradishir's heart jumped into his throat as the hammering from before started up again, closer and louder, driving against the last door standing between them and their assailants. He looked at Relanya. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. This is my fault. They're after me because of what I've done to their contemptible slave trade. If I had known they would do something this desperate, I never would have brought you into danger."

"You should never apologize for doing the right thing," Relanya said with a soft smile. "No one is to blame for their actions but them. Nor will they find us easy opponents. I've been attacked before, and by an arctic bear. Fellow humans are nothing." She winked at him, but before he could reply, or even figure out what to say, the door began cracking.

"Damn it," Aradishir said softly, dread sinking into his bones at the thought of all the lives at stake, how much more difficult the fighting would be in such an enclosed space.

The door was hammered again, more cracks forming, splinters of wood falling to scatter across the floor. Aradishir turned to Relanya and her handmaidens—and somehow wasn't remotely surprised to see they too had knives out now. He huffed a small laugh. "You will have to tell me the story of this arctic bear when we are back in the palace."

"Of course, Your Highness," Relanya replied. "It would be my pleasure. I'd never made my parents so angry in my life as I did that afternoon. We—"

She broke off as the door shattered entirely, the straggling remnants of it kicked out of the way by heavy boots before figures in dark brown and green clothes stepped into the room one by one, each with sword drawn.

Their eyes swept the room, and one of them landed briefly on Aradishir before the guards surged forward and the fighting began.

Aradishir had expected only a few assailants, but instead more and more poured into the room, swiftly outnumbering the guards, but thankfully hampered by the lack of space. Cries of anger and pain filled the air, along with the smell of blood, and heady, potent wine as barrels were cracked and broken. It splashed across the floor, the fumes so strong they left him dizzy.

Erfan killed one man, but two more got him from behind, sending him to land in the mess of blood and wine.

"No!" Aradishir bellowed, and snarled in frustrated anguish as Heydar yanked him back and pushed him up against the wall where he was shielded by Heydar's body. "You can't let him die!"

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