Page 24 of The Wishless Ones
“Your brother doesn’t know you ever saw the acceptance letter,” Iago said.
“And?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t care about hurting his feelings.”
Jafar glanced at him sidelong with a pause. He didn’t think the parrot cared either way. “He won’t have to know.”
“You still have the scraps in your pocket,” Iago said, fluffing his feathers. “You’re planning on showing them at the House of Wisdom’s door.”
Jafar gritted his teeth. He didn’t like that Iago had been watching him and knew his plans. “Why do you care about how Rohan will feel? You don’t even like him.”
“I don’t,” Iago said matter-of-factly as Jafar balked at the price tag on a blacker-than-black set of robes. “But you’re brothers. He can be as sinister as you, and I’d be careful about betraying him when you’re all he has. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re short on allies.”
“Wait,betrayinghim? I’m not—”
“Jafar, when you’re a parrot like me, you learn people. There’s a lot going on in that boy’s head, and he’ll see anything you keep from him as a betrayal. And you’ve got a list of secrets and lies, don’t you?” Iago asked.
He had a point. Rohanwaseasily disquieted. He had always tried so hard to please everyone around him, including unworthy people like Baba. Perhaps Rohan had some of that same ruthlessness in him that Jafar had recognized in their baba…and himself.
Jafar didn’t fully know why Iago cared. Why was he on his side? Jafar wasn’t used to anyone doing anything for him without expecting something in return, without a motive that wasn’t immediately clear.
Still, Jafar wasn’t sinister, and Rohan surely didn’t have a sinister bone in his body. He was a daffodil abloom in the carnage.
“Stop thinking you know me. And him,” Jafar said, annoyed that Iago had thoroughly messed with his head.
Iago shrugged. “Oh,I’msorry I was looking out for us.”
Us. Jafar didn’t know where this sense of companionship had sprouted from, but as sounds of the bazaar rushed back between them, he realized he didn’t want to refute it.
“Fine, then tell me this,” Jafar said, stepping to the side to let a family pass. “What reason would Rohan have had for not wanting me to apprentice at the House of Wisdom?”
Iago looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. “Did you ever think about how leaving your baba behind meant leaving Rohan, too?”
Jafar’s suspicions over Iago’s withheld response were quickly overshadowed by what he did say. Jafar had toyed with the idea, sure. He would be leaving Rohan behind, but for better things, knowledge that would soon distract him, a pair of rubies that would alter the very foundation of his world.
He hadn’t thought about how his brother would feel.
Rohan waved him over to a shop amidst the stalls. Jafar pushed past a man carrying fresh fruit and a woman counting her change with confusion, biting his tongue when a boy and his friends nearly tripped him.
“Oi! Watch where you’re going,” Iago snarled, and the boys looked at Jafar like his voice didn’t quite match his body because they didn’t realize it was Iago who had spoken.
When Jafar finally made it to the shop, Rohan pulled open the door, and the three of them stepped inside to find it hot and crowded. Robes in every color hung from the walls, rich and vibrant, fit for royalty.
“Are we supposed to be able to afford something?” Jafar asked with a laugh. The placesmelledexpensive. Like heady musk and crisp sandalwood.
Rohan leaned close. “We don’t have to. The shopkeeper can’t keep a close eye on everyone.”
“Did your fresh start already die?” Iago exclaimed before Jafar could.
Rohan shrugged. “It’s like Jafar said. We have to find our footing first.”
Jafar was fingering the fabric on a set of decadent ink-black robes.Or,he thought,it’s acceptable when it’s Rohan’s idea, and immoral when it’s mine.
It was a very Baba thing to do.
Iago said nothing, but Jafar got the sense that he was thinking the same. He was dreading the inevitable moment when the parrot would speak to him about it.
“Can I help you, young effendi?”
