"It is your agreement she seeks,” Amshazar pointed out.
Kerr was fascinated by their conversation but he also wanted to take the chance to speak with Kazeen. Moving closer to his side, he whispered to him. “You are content to stay, to take risks?"
"I cannot leave him,” Kazeen replied. He didn't need to say more. Kerr saw the answers to the questions in his friend's expression.
"Thank you for coming to visit us,” the emperor said to Kerr when they prepared to leave. Hanrah reached out to clasp his hand with both of his own.
"I am honored,” Kerr replied.
Amshazar bowed his head to the emperor. “Don't forget what I said about Mehmet's plan. You need to be ready. The Empress Elishiba wishes to negotiate before it is too late."
Hanrah looked suddenly diminished, nervous and unsure. He looked to Kazeen to reassure himself. “She is a beautiful woman, but in my heart Kazeen is the person to whom I am already betrothed."
He rested his head upon Kazeen's shoulder, and Kazeen's arm went quickly around Hanrah's back, drawing him in against himself.
Kerr felt his heart ache for the two of them and the sadness of their predicament.
"You understand now,” Amshazar said as they traced the path back toward the palace.
"I do. It is hard to believe we have just supped with the emperor himself, here, hidden in the city."
"Emperor or not, you see that Hanrah is a gentle person. Just a man, who feels and cares for the one he loves. Whether we are born to high or low life, we cannot predict where our hearts will lead us.” His tone was reflective.
They walked in silence for a while, and Kerr thought about what he had said. Desire was so strange, so unpredictable. Here was an emperor who needed to be with a slave, a man who lived under an execution order, a man he must meet in secret. And he himself—a slave—was now in the intimate companionship of the Empress of Aleem, where desire had led him to the twins, and where he now tried to fill the gap by Elra's side. Love not only determined where they went, but who they allied themselves to, and what risks they took with their lives.
"What will happen to them? Will Kazeen ever be able
to leave that place?"
Amshazar shook his head. “I have spoken to them both about it. They know they are living a dangerous life, but Hanrah feels he cannot leave Lhastari, and that means that Kazeen cannot either.” He looked at Kerr, who nodded.
Despite the situation, he had never seen either of them so happy. To take them apart would be a tragedy.
"What if the Empress Mehmet finds out?” he asked, even though he didn't really want to know the answer.
"We must hope that she does not, although I feel time and tide has been against them from the very beginning,” Amshazar replied.
* * * *
While her son apparently slept, the Empress Mehmet hosted a banquet for her most trusted courtiers that night. The revelry was decadent, with dancing and feasting, and she took great delight in periodically entering the hidden passageway to go and look at her caged bird in the chambers below.
It was late in the night now. The candles burned low and some of the guests slumbered amongst the cushions, while others indulged in debauched carousing of their own in the growing shadows. Mehmet was considering retiring when she noticed Sibias gesturing to her from the entranceway, where he stood with a young slave boy.
Her interest piqued, she joined them. “What is it?"
Sibias ushered her and the slave boy out into the corridor, away from curious glances of those who watched on. “Patrino here has news of Kazeen's whereabouts."
The news chased away any weariness she might have had. Concerned the guards would overhear, she led both of them to the nearby hidden panel that accessed the network of viewing corridors in the palace. Sibias knew of the network, of course, but the young slave boy looked fascinated, his eyes bright with interest.
She watched him cautiously, mistrust her first instinct. He exclaimed in awe when he saw the narrow stone-cobbled passageway, lit by the torch held in a metal sconce on the wall. There in the hidden compartment, Mehmet encouraged Sibias to proceed.
"Patrino followed one of the other slaves when he left the palace. He met with a tall, cloaked stranger two streets away, and they went as far as the western edge of the city. The slave was a friend of Kazeen's and we believe he went to see him."
Her interest sharpened. “And? Where is he?"
The slave boy's smile faded. “I lost track of them, they moved quickly in hidden shadows, at one point the tall man lifted his cloak and it was as if they disappeared behind it."
Mehmet flashed Sibias a look. “Sorcery?"