"Why would that man be in love with you?" It's the mother of Timon, whose voice has raised above the rest of the women, shouting at Shara.

"I do not know," Shara says, her face the shade of a hot sunset in the desert.

I have hardly time to pay attention to the drama. All I can think of is Princess Lily's announcement about King Raman possibly betrothing her to Mahmud.

Not my Mahmud.

The ache from such a revelation twists in my heart like a knife. I struggle to breath. I'm unable to drink or eat anymore. 

"Are you alright, Luna?" Lily asks, concern furrowing her pretty brow.

Pretty. She's so pretty. Has Mahmud noticed her? Does Mahmud want her in a way he can never want me because of what I am to him?

"You look pale," Lily says, placing a hand on mine compassionately.

"I need some fresh air," I tell her, rising from my seat and walking toward the balcony on the men's side of the room.

"Don't tarry over there, you may give those soldiers the wrong idea, dear," Lily calls after me.

Probably what happened to Shara with that crazy man at her wedding banquet. She passed a smile to a man who worked for her family and he fancied her in love with him. Now she'll be condemned to a marriage of distrust to a selfish, pig of a prince.

I find solitude on the balcony and breath in the cool night air deeply.

It's not official. Lily only holds a fantasy, I tell myself. Women here are out of touch with what is going on. How would Lily know such a thing?

I'm surprised when Mahmud approaches me on the balcony with a sullen expression on his face.

Scratch that.

Not just sullen. It's the expression of one the day before their execution.

"Are you alright?" I ask, immediately forgetting my fuming over Lily's revelation.

The last time I saw Mahmud look like that he'd been planning his own death. I long to reach out and touch him, caress his sturdy jaw in my hands and tell him whatever it is it'll be alright because he has me. He's not alone.

"Zahra, good to see you," Mahmud says, his voice wistful. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Mahmud, what happened?" I ask, undeterred from getting to the bottom of this.

"You read me too well, you're so perceptive perhaps you're a magi too," Mahmud mumbles.

"I'm a friend who is concerned about you, you look as if you've been sentenced to--"

"To die?" Mahmud finishes for me, an ironic grin spreads across his lips. "You're spot on. I'm outed as a magi to the king, Zahra."

"So he's going to kill you?" My breath leaves me, suddenly I'm doing all I can not to vomit on the palace balcony.

Not my Mahmud. I won't let them kill him! We'll take this on as we've taken on everything else.

"We have to leave then, together," I tell him, grasping his hand tightly, and not caring what it looks like to the party goers. "Let's count ourselves lucky he hasn't arrested you for it."

"He hasn't arrested me because he wants me to do something for him in exchange for my life," Mahmud says, his eyes glazed over with doubt and hopelessness. "Something none of the magi before me have been able to do."

"Out with it then! What does he want you to do?" I stomp my foot as I would a hoof in impatience.

"He wants me to interpret a dream," Mahmud says. "The problem is, he's told me what this dream is and I haven't the faintest idea what it could mean. I've never interpreted a dream in my life. Why do people think magi are capable of such a feat? I can control elements based on my emotions. That is all."

"Perhaps you just need to convince him you can interpret his dream," I murmur.

"Hush, what you speak of is treason," Mahmud says in a gruff whisper. He grasps my hand and tugs me away from the balcony and down a stairs into a garden. "I can't make something up. He'll know."

"How will he know?" I demand, shaking my head. "We will not be defeated. We will survive like we always have. I can't imagine how the king would know if you made it sound convincing enough."

"The thing is... maybe I can interpret dreams," Mahmud muttered. "I just have never tried because my own abilities scare me so much."

"Do you realize I've been telling you for years not to be afraid of what you are?" I say, rolling my eyes with a huff.

"Zahra," Mahmud grates, "Now is not the time for 'I told you so'. It's the time for, what the hades are we going to do? We've only got a week."

"Either we take that week and use it to run away or we take that week and use it to finally tap into everything you've found forbidden about yourself," I find myself saying, and a chill runs through me at the idea of Mahmud possibly finding me a forbidden fantasy he holds.

No, Zahra, don't let your heart get broken.

"We can't run," Mahmud states, shaking his head at the notion. "I'm sure Raman has his eyes on me. I'm sure he has spies following me even now." He glances over his shoulder and begins wringing his hands. "Gods, we're doomed."

"Then the two of us should part ways tonight instead of you taking me back to the stables," I whisper, leaning in to his ear so my voice can be inaudible to anyone else. "Pretend to kiss me, Mahmud. So they believe I'm the girl they've all speculated me to be."

Mahmud leans in toward me and his lips brush my neck. My body spikes at the sensation and I shove out imaginings of him kissing my neck while his chest presses against my back, his hips flush with mine, his arms wrapped around me from behind as a stallion embraces a mare.

"There, now, I will find my own way back to the stable," I murmur, moving from him and my wild thoughts.

"Very well," Mahmud replies, and I wonder if I'm imagining it but his tone seems darkened, and husky. He clears his throat. "Thank you for never giving up on me, Zahra."

"The day I give up on you is the day I die," I say, and add with a chuckle. "No, really, Mahmud. I'm not kidding about that. Without you I'm screwed."

"No pressure then," Mahmud says, winking at me in a way he never has.

A delicious shiver runs through me as I scurry away from him to where my place is in the stable. The palace is on a hilltop above where the royal stables are, all I need to do is take the paths on the sides, hidden from view to most.

I am almost at my destination when I hear a dark, male voice behind me say, "And where are you going in such a hurry?"