Page 4 of The Prince's Wife

Aradishir had a horrible suspicion his mother had trusted the matter to Bakhtiar, and he had either forgotten entirely or assumed Mother was handling it. Fuck. "Heydar, go speak with Bakhtiar's staff and figure out where in the Divine the gifts are."

"Yes, my prince." Heydar strode quickly from the room via the secret passages.

"I'm going to kill him," Aradishir said. "If Bakhtiar letgifts for his future wifefall by the wayside, I am going to ride out to that temple, break his other leg and both his arms, and dump him in the Great Desert." He was used to his brother being careless, but this was beyond all comprehension. This woman was going to be his queen, the mother of his children. How could he forget to buy her gifts?

Hopefully he was panicking for nothing. He had to be. Even Bakhtiar wouldn't be this stupid. If nothing else, his concubines and staff would have reminded him.

He continued jotting notes and ideas, until the door to the secret passage swung open and Heydar returned—and the knot in his stomach tightened at the look on Heydar's face. "No."

"Yes," Heydar said. "Her Majesty told him to attend the matter, but for whatever reason he never did, and no onerealized it until now. Her Majesty is… Well, your brother should be grateful he's too far away for her to maim him."

"Somebody go ready my horse, so I can commit fratricide," Aradishir said, raking his hands through his damp hair. "Damn it, Bakhti!" He slammed his hands on the table and pushed to his feet. "Come on, then. I need to get dressed, then we're going to the vaults, and then we're going into the city to do some shopping. Somebody inform my parents, so they know not to expect me at dinner. Damn it, my lists."

He turned around, and nearly crashed into Javed, who held the lists in one hand, and steadied Aradishir with the other. "Get dressed, my prince, and I have the lists to take with us."

"Thank you," Aradishir said, and kissed him before hastening off to get dressed, mind spinning frantically with all that his brother had been given months to do and which Aradishir must now do in half a day.

Chapter Two

A sandstorm descended in the late morning and lasted for hours, easing off only as dusk began to creep across the sky. Aradishir was equal parts annoyed and relieved, as some of the gifts he'd ordered had not quite yet arrived and definitely wouldn't now, but he'd also gone to a lot of trouble for Princess Relanya's reception, and all those plans were now neatly out the window.

Ah, well. At least the storm was past, and his parents were handling her arrival, having said he would not have to begin his duties until the following morning. Gave him more time to refine everything and send servants out to ascertain when the straggling gifts would now be delivered.

He was also compiling a list of all the ways Bakhtiar owed him, because no way was his brother squirming out of these debts. If he dared to sayone single wordabout how much of his money Aradishir had spent, he would find himself missing several teeth.

"You can't spend all your time plotting your brother's demise," Merza said with a laugh.

"Oh, yes, I can," Aradishir muttered. "I—" He stopped as a strange sound, like a child giggling, caught his ear. There were no children in the royal wing. The only child that should be here was still inside his sister, waiting to be born. "Am I losing my mind? Did anyone else hear that?"

"I did," Heydar said, setting down the book he'd been reading and crossing the room to slip through the archway into the garden.

He returned just a moment later, eyes wide. "Um. My prince… there appears to be a child playing in your fishpond."

"What!" Aradishir stood so quickly he slammed his knee into the table. Swearing, wincing, he walked-hobbled to the archway and out into the garden. The sky was clear, the air redolent with the scent of flowers, especially the night-blooming jasmine he loved so much.

More giggling came, along with splashing, and he followed the sound around some trees and shrubs to where his fishpond was located in the back corner, flanked by a stone bench on one side and a small tree on the other.

Wading in the water was a boy of not more than five years of age, splashing the water to make the fish startle and swim about. He had brown skin, but a very different tone than was common in Tavamara. His hair was a sleek black, pulled back in a tiny braid, and his clothes were of a style Aradishir had never seen, stitched along the edges in bright colors depicting little black and white creatures with yellow beaks.

"Hello," Aradishir said tentatively.

The boy startled—slipped, crying out in panic. Aradishir surged forward, sliding down the bank of the pond and scooping the boy up out of the water. "Merciful Divine." He handed the boy off to Heydar as he came rushing up. "Who are you then, little bird?"

Eyes widening, tears immediately fading as he broke into a smile, the boy said, "That's what Mama calls me! Little bird! Do you know Mama?"

"I have not yet had that pleasure," Aradishir replied. "What is your Mama's name?"

"Princess," the boy said promptly.

Aradishir laughed. "However did you get into my garden, little bird?"

"I climbed the ivy." He eyed Aradishir warily as Heydar set him on his feet. "Are you going to tell Mama?"

"I'm afraid I won't have much of a choice, given she is probably searching for you, wondering where you have gone." It was certainly an impressive escape. His garden didn't even directly connect with the garden attached to Princess Relanya's chambers. The only way the boy could have come this far was if he climbed the wall, then walked along the top of it until something—the pond, presumably—drew his attention enough that he climbed down. "I bet you give your mama fits."

That seemed to please the boy. Kerrin, that was his name. This was Prince Kerrin. "Mama says that a lot. 'You give me fits and fits, Rin!' What's a fit? No one ever says."

"It means you make them scared and angry. Come on, we'd best return you."

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