Chapter 15 · Chapter 15

The heavy latch had barely fallen into place from the corridor outside, sealing the private wing, when footsteps sounded against the marble beyond the outer threshold. They were hurried, lacking the quiet cadence of the staff who moved through the northern estate as though sound itself were an intrusion.

A fist struck the thick timber—not once, but three deliberate times, demanding obedience from a room that answered to no one in the lower majlis.

"Dalal!"

It was my uncle’s voice, muffled by inches of cured cedar and brass reinforcement, yet sharpened by an agitation he had tried and failed to mask downstairs over coffee.

"Step out into the hall," Ammi called, his tone strained with the authority he believed he still commanded over my name.

"There is nothing behind that lock that concerns you or alters what was agreed before the elders. You went in on a false rumor, Dalal. Come out now. Tell the men in the reception hall that you found the room bare, that it holds no trace and no weight. We will close the ledger before the night ends and speak no more of this foolishness.