Page 15 of A City of Hearts and Feathers

This was Arslan.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Itold you she would come," Kahil said, breaking the silence and sitting down on the cushions by the table.

Zoe didn't know what to do, so she stammered nervously, "Merhaba, Arslan."

"Good morning, Zoe. Please sit and have tea with me," Arslan said, gesturing at the cushions beside him. His voice was as ancient and strong as the stones around them. It was a storyteller's voice, but it had the commanding edges of a general's.

Zoe swallowed hard and obediently sat, folding her hands in her lap. Arslan smiled at her, studying her face with the same intensity she would a broken manuscript.

"You have Oman's eyes and his love of books I am told," he said, and gestured to the pots of tea on the table. "I wasn't sure if you would want mint or pomegranate at this time of day, so I made both."

"Pomegranate would be lovely. I haven't had it since I was a child," she said, her voice still a little shaky. Kahil lifted a pot and poured her out a glass of the violently magenta tea.

"I haven't seen you so polite since we met, Zoe," he teased her. "Arslan isn't so scary once you get to know him. Did I tell you she threw a rolling pin at my head?"

Arslan chuckled. "Knowing you, you were probably being mouthy, and I have no doubt you deserved it."

"He knows you so well," Zoe said, sipping her tea. It was sweet and delicious. It reminded her so much of her childhood. She had been too young for caffeine so Oman would make it for her when he fixed his own pots of tea. It always made her feel included and important.

"After five hundred and seventy years, I know him far too well," Arslan said, making Zoe suck the tea down the wrong way and choke on it.

"Oops. She doesn't know about that yet, Arslan," Kahil chided his master.

Arslan made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat. "I thought you said you told her about us?"

"I told her enough to get her here without an argument. She would have thought I was lying if I said that the Order's initiation meant going through magical and physical changes," Kahil argued back.

Zoe was looking between them like they were both crazy. They seemed to be having a silent discussion involving intense glaring with their golden eyes.

"Are you two related? Your eyes are the same," she said suddenly, and they both broke off staring at each other to stare at her.

"It's a side effect of the process. I'm Arslan's second failed experiment," Kahil told her.

"Kahil…"Arslan sighed his name like he was tired of the argument.

Kahil piled Turkish delight, baklava, and small almond cookies onto a little plate and set it down in front of Zoe. "Have some sugar. It will help you feel better."

"I doubt that."

Kahil filled his own plate of treats. "Sugar always helps."

Zoe bit into one of the almond cookies to be polite. "If you're the second failed experiment, who was the first?"

"I was," Arslan said simply. "I don't know if you wish to talk about the Order when there are more pressing matters like the problem of the missing Sais Codex." He waited for Zoe to reply, but she had no idea what to say.

Finally, she said, "I want to know about the Order, and if Kahil is really that old."

"Kahil is that old because members of the Order are changed by ancient alchemy to make us as strong and as fast as other supernatural creatures. Everything else about the Order, I will be happy to explain another day. I worry that we will overload you if we try and tell you too much history at once," Arslan replied kindly.

Zoe swallowed the rest of her biscuit. "I saw a vampire last night, and Kahil fought it off easily. It makes sense that you are all made a bit different. That alchemy could change your physiology like that is so fascinating." Zoe shook her head to stop the spiral she was about to go down. "Sorry. I'm getting distracted again. The missing book ofbaba'sis more important because I don't want to be worried about vampires trying to bite me the whole time I'm in this city."

Arslan topped up her tea. "You can come and visit me again for tea and conversation any time you wish. We can talk about the Order then, I promise. There is much we need to explain to you, and I think you would enjoy the library."

"You have a library?" Zoe asked, brightening up. She could only imagine the books an order so ancient would have.

Kahil wagged his finger at Arslan and tsked. "Telling her about a library is cheating, old man. We have to keep some things a secret to lure her back here."

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