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“Did Ramaal suspect you were drawing power from your own daughter to collapse the Thaqiba?” Ben wondered.
Sharif sighed. “Though his messages did not say so directly, I fear that is so.”
I looked between the pair. “So what exactly would happen if these Thaqiba stopped protecting the island?”
Sharif shook his head. “The mind can only wonder, as Kalea has been so long protected by the two towers that the knowledge of life without them has long since passed out of memory and into legends. Those themselves speak of turbulent storms that destroyed crops and drowned half the city. Others speak of a constant deluge of invaders from the south, and sometimes even from the north.”
Ben folded his arms over his chest and furrowed his brow. “Not many within the kingdom would have anything to gain from the barrier collapsing. What has Ramaal done about the foreigners in the country?”
“He expelled them.”
I blinked at our host. “All of them?”
Sharif gave me a grim nod. “Yes. Even those who had been here a very many years. Their friends among the native-born took over their properties and are holding them for their return, but businesses and farms have been depressed since the expulsion.”
Ben cupped his chin in one hand. “That explains the lack of crowds on the streets.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “I thought it was pretty busy.”
Ben dropped his hand and smiled at me. “We shouldn’t have been able to move that quickly through the crowds, at least not during my last visit here. And speaking of visits-” He stood and looked to our host. “Shall we go visit Lila?”
CHAPTERSIX
There wasa weariness to Sharif’s movements as he climbed to his feet, and I joined them. Our host led us into the hall and to the center portion of the house which turned out to be a small entrance hall. A wide set of stairs on the side closest to us led upstairs. I paused at the foot and noticed a pedestal situated in the center rear of the hall. A cat sat upon a cushion atop the pedestal. It was a beautiful silver-white short-haired feline with bright golden eyes. Its tail twitched slightly as it fixed those eyes on me.
“Millie,” Ben called from halfway up the stairs.
I cast one last look of curiosity at the feline before I hurried after them. The upper floor was filled with bedrooms and we were led into one of the rooms closest to the top of the stairs. The door was slightly ajar before we entered, and I glimpsed Fadila seated in a chair beside a small bed.
We slipped inside and she rose to greet us. I now saw that a young girl of eight lay under the sheets. Her face was paler than the white silk blankets that covered her, in stark contrast to her dark hair. The girl’s eyes, however, were the same brilliant blue as those of her father.
“How are you feeling today, Bahja?” Sharif wondered as he strolled over to his daughter’s bed with a smile that hid his worry, though the expression didn’t extend to his eyes.
Lila smiled up at her father as he took one of her pale hands in his grasp. “I am quite well, Papa, and much better with visitors.”
“One you may remember from his visit three years ago,” Sharif told her as he stepped to one side and gestured to Ben and me. “This is your cousin Ben, and this is his fiancée, Millie.” I had to suppress a snort at the introduction.
“It is a great pleasure to meet you,” Lila greeted us.
Ben and I stepped over to the bedside, and he took up her hand from her father and pressed a light kiss to the back. “The pleasure is all ours, Miss Lila.”
Lila giggled, but the joyous sound was interrupted by a terrible coughing fit. Her parents tensed and Fadila took a step forward, but Lila shook her head. “I. . .I’m quite alright, Mama. It was only a little cough.”
“Perhaps the excitement is too much for you,” Sharif insisted.
“Then allow me to speak with you two a moment in the hall,” Ben offered as he used a hand to gesture to the corridor. “I’d like to talk about something, and Millie can visit with her.”
“I’d like that,” I chimed in as I took a seat in the chair.
The parents looked doubtful, but Ben’s confident air convinced them to follow him out of the room. I turned my full attention to the young girl who studied me with interest.
“You have a strange hairstyle,” she commented as she examined the mop on my head. “I have never seen anything like it, even in the bazaar.”
I grinned. “Well, let’s just say I come from a very faraway place, but I do envy your hair. It’s beautiful.”
She lay her head down and smiled up at her bangs. “Mama brushes it many times a day. It always makes me feel better.”
“Could I brush it?” I offered as I noticed the said brush on the nightstand.
