Page 17 of A Fragile Heart

Farrokh gave him a pointed look before departing, taking Taher with him.

"Come on," Bakhtiar said. "I'll show you more of the secret tunnels."

"I don't think I'm supposed to know about them, let alone familiarizing myself with them."

Bakhtiar winked, which made Reza flush slightly, and led the way from the gardens.

When they entered the secret passages, though, he didn't take the path that would lead to his chambers, instead opting for the one he wasn't supposed to know about yet that would lead him directly outside the palace.

Reaching the door, he discarded all his jewelry but his royal ring, which he strung on a chain around his neck, swappedhis palace shoes for 9;, and pulled l.on a headwrap and short cloak. He shoved his discarded belongings, save his shawl, into the nook he'd taken his spare outdoor clothes from. The last thing he removed from the nook was a purse filled with coins and jewels, an emergency fund he'd added to infrequently over the years. An obscene amount of money, not meant to be taken out and used all at once.

It would serve his purposes perfectly.

"Your Highness…" Reza said. "This is precisely the sort of thing you shouldn't be doing, if that door leads where I think it does."

"Stay or go, but I am definitely going," Bakhtiar said.

"Your family and lovers are going to be distressed when they realize you're gone. They're still worried about you."

"They'll have to get over it, because I am taking care of this problem right now." He unlocked the door from a set of keys even his siblings didn't possess and led them outside. The afternoon was just barely beginning to hint at the coming evening. He didn't have long before someone noticed he wasn't where he should be, though hopefully they'd waste time searching the palace for awhile.

He hated to do that to them, but if he'd tried explaining his plan to anyone they'd have just told him no, and he was determined to do this. If Messar wanted to play, then they'd play. His gambit had been murder.

Bakhtiar's gambit would be money.

Reza groaned. "I knew you'd be trouble."

Outside, the door closed and locked once more, Bakhtiar leaned against it and pulled Reza in close by his tunic. "Is that what you did while on duty, faithful protector? Did you think about how much trouble I would be?"

"I—" Reza snapped his mouth shut, then sighed, so close it brushed over Bakhtiar's lips. "I thought about a lot more than that, my prince."

Bakhtiar smiled. "Is that what I am? Yours?"

"You know you are," Reza whispered.

"Then be mine."

Reza kissed him in answer, hands slapping against the door on either side of his head as he shifted to get a better angle, pressing all that lovely muscle right up against him, a thigh shoving between his legs like it belonged there.

"I wish you could fuck me right here," Bakhtiar said between kisses. "Would you fuck me hard, faithful protector, or would you try to be sweet."

Reza groaned and bit at his lips, his jaw, before kissing him properly again. After a moment, though, he pushed away with a muttered, "Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not here. Not right now. What is this mad quest you're on that is worth upsetting everyone who loves you?"

"I am going to checkmate Messar. Did you know chess can be won in two moves? But only if the first move is phenomenally foolish."

"I thought your brother was the problematic one."

Bakhtiar scoffed. "Shir just gets caught more often. Believe me when I tell you nobody sneaks out more than Jahanara. You've never heard of her doing it though, have you? Though I don't believe she's bothered since getting married, and certainly not once she became pregnant, and who has time for anything with a child only months old?"

They made it to the city easily enough, and from there it was a quick walk to the Red Lark.

Inside, he handed over his cloak but retained the headwrap and his shawl, pulling it up over his shoulders as they entered the main area of the gambling hall. Next to him, Rezawas tense, looked everywhere at once, hands twitching to go for his hidden knives. At Kurosh's urging, he had kept to wearing civilian clothes and hidden knives, so that anyone stupid enough to try to attack Bakhtiar would not realize his companion was in fact a guard.

He could not wait to see Reza in harem black. That would definitely be his reward for completing this self-appointed task.

"So what do we do first?" Reza asked, sounding pained.

"You do nothing but look pretty and watch my back. I am going to play cards."

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