Page 36 of A City of Hearts and Feathers

"Sounds like something he would do. Please tell me he left out the part where Isis makes Osiris a fish penis."

"Nope. It was in there. Kerem was so embarrassed," Zoe said, and Kahil laughed loudly.

"I'm sad I missed it. What else happened?" he asked.

"I met my uncles again. Zeki has made me promise to visit his shop, and Ahmet offered to show me his lab. I don't think Kerem likes Ahmet very much. There was a weird tension between them all night."

Kahil hummed. "You could say that. Ahmet was with Oman not long before he was murdered because I could smell him in the office when I found Oman's body. When we tried to question him about it, Ahmet blamed Kerem for not protecting his brother or from dissuading him for trying to sell such a dangerous book. The fight got vicious, and they've never really talked since," he told her.

He didn't mention that Ahmet wanted Arslan to break the wards on the bookstore so they could sell the property and all the books still in stock. He was a man of science and the future and wanted the family to be done with the supernatural nonsense of their past.

There was no way that Arslan would have gone against Oman's wishes, and Ahmet had sulked about it ever since. Zoe didn't need to know that. It was ancient history. Ahmet had dropped the matter, and she needed all the family she had left.

"I suppose that explains some of the tension tonight. It sounds likebabashould have accepted your help to begin with and saved everyone a lot of heartache." Zoe finished wiping the blood away and stared at the gashes. "I can't see anything in them."

"Thank you for checking,balim. They are already healed enough for me to have a shower," he said, standing up again.

"Seemed like the least I could do," Zoe replied and tossed the ruined towel in the bin. She was washing her hands in the sink when she asked, "What does that mean anyway?"

"Balim? It's an endearment that meansmy honey." Kahil smiled down at her. They were close enough in the tiny bathroom that he could have kissed her. His lips tingled, wanting to close the distance between them.

Zoe raised a brow. "Because of my hair color?"

"No, because I have a sweet tooth," he said, leaning a little closer to her. "And I bet you would taste sweeter than honey. You're welcome to kiss me and satisfy my curiosity."

Zoe's lips twitched into a smile. She went up on tiptoes, and for a second, he thought she was going to give him what he wanted.

"In your dreams," she said close to his lips before pulling away at the last minute. She backed out of the bathroom door. "Enjoy your shower. You need it."

"You could stay and wash my back for me. I'm wounded, you know?" he said with a pout. Zoe only laughed and shut the bathroom door on him. With a sigh, Kahil got into the shower on his own.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Zoe spent the following morning going through the downstairs study, trying to find a reference to triple serpents heads. Her father wouldn't have left her a riddle she couldn't figure out, but it was driving her crazy as it looped over and over in her head.

It would have helped if she hadn't been so distracted thinking aboutalmostkissing Kahil the night before. She had done her best not to blush like an idiot when she had wiped the blood off his chest. She knew he was fit, but seeing the tattooed muscle and the fine dark hair in all their glory had made her sweat.

Zoe still couldn't figure out if Kahil was serious or not with his flirting. She had almost thrown all caution to the wind because as much as she pretended he annoyed her, her crush was becoming worse the longer she was near him.

Thankfully, Kahil had spent the day sleeping to help heal his wounds. Zoe had taken one look at him coming out of the bathroom in a towel the night before and had rushed off to bed before she did something she regretted.

Zoe leaned back in the swivel chair and stared at the bookshelves around her. She had no idea what to do or where to go next. How many pieces of the codex were left out there? Whyhad her father gifted her a fake book? She thought that going to Istanbul would give her answers, not more questions. With every mystery solved, she faced five more.

"Triple-headed snakes dance high to watch the ground I grow," she murmured aloud. "What were you talking about,baba?"

Zoe's phone began to ring, and she saw that it was her mother yet again. She debated ignoring the call like she had for the past few days, but maybe Anita would have more of an idea of what the riddle meant.

"Finally, she answers her phone," Anita said, sounding just as pissed as Zoe imagined she was going to be.

"I haven't wanted to talk to you, Mother. I don't feel like getting yelled at, especially when I'm the one that's the wronged party," Zoe said, her hand clenching into a fist.

"I was trying to protect you like a good mother should. Can't you see that? I couldn't handle staying in that world without your father in it," Anita replied. Her annoyance had slipped into something more real. "At least tell me that you are okay."

Zoe gripped her phone tighter. "I'm fine. Kahil is acting as my bodyguard until the business with the Sais Codex is over. You could have warned me that I would have to deal with this. You know how I felt about the bookstore. You could have said that it was mine."

"I thought that Oman's brothers would have taken care of the bookstore by now. It shouldn't be your responsibility to fix your father's mistakes." Anita went silent, and Zoe could hear the sound of a bar in the background. Why was she not surprised?

"I told Oman that the stupid codex would bring nothing but trouble," Anita continued, her voice sad. "Ibeggedhim not to buy it. He thought that it would be a good way to make money to set the family up for life, and now it's going to get you killed like it did him."

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