THE DANCING GIRL

Chapter 15

NOOR stayed silent for a long moment, his heavy body crushing her to his feather-soft bed. She mentally thanked Nazrat for everything, many, many times.

Finally, she pushed him aside, leaving him on the bed. She stood up, getting dressed quickly. Her hands were still shaking. She glanced at Sher Rakim once before leaving the room.

The Rajkumars had told her where the entrance to the secret passage was. She headed into the central room, to the far wall, between two lit torches, and knocked thrice. She glanced back at Sher Rakim's room, and back—

The wall opened.

Noor took a step back, as the wall opened completely, three shadows hiding. They stepped out, their somber eyes running over her.

Amir opened his hands and Noor didn't waste a moment before falling into his embrace, the familiar warmth finally coaxing the tears out of her eyes. Amir rubbed her back soothingly.

She pulled away after a few moments. They couldn't afford to waste any more time. She wiped her eyes without looking the Rajkumars in the eye. "Come on."

"Noor." Rajkumar Vikram's hand was extended, but didn't touch her.

Noor looked up.

His face was despairing, concerned. Noor took in a breath before taking his head. "I'm fine, Vikram."

He gave her a gentle smile, holding out his other hand slightly. Noor let him embrace her as well, her arms coming around his back for a brief, almost unreal moment before she let go.

"Noor?" Rajkumar Fayyaz asked, giving her a careful look.

She smiled at him. "I'm fine, really. We need to start moving."

He gave her a nod, even though she knew he wasn't at all convinced. "Can you tell us what exactly happened?"

Noor nodded. "He was drinking when I came in. We went inside, and I told him to go out so I could change. I put the powder in the bottles of wine he had." She swallowed. "I asked him for some wine when he came back. He took some himself, and collapsed."

Rajkumar Fayyaz didn't comment on her obviously skipping some details. He pursed his lips. "How many bottles of wine were there?"

Noor bit her lip. "Six."

He nodded. "I'll go get six bottles, to replace those. In case he gets suspicious and checks them later," he explained.

The rest of them nodded, and he walked back down the tunnel, taking a candle with him.

"Should we go inside?" Amir asked, glancing at the open door across them.

Noor nodded, letting them go inside first. She watched them look around the room carefully. Neither of them mentioned that Sher Rakim was on the bed, and that she definitely wasn't strong enough to put him there once he was unconscious, for which she would be eternally grateful.

"We should start searching the room," Amir said quietly.

Noor could tell they were afraid of waking up Sher Rakim. Even though he was unconscious. She was terrified he would wake up as well, but trusted Nazrat's thoroughness too much.

They ran through his drawers, finding nothing but clothes at first.

Rajkumar Fayyaz joined them in a short while, switching the bottles with the ones he'd bought, and even replacing the liquid in Noor's and Sher Rakim's goblets. He put the tainted bottles near the box of powder in the corner.