Chapter 9 · Chapter 9

The servant catches me at the shoe bench with one shoe already in my hand.

"Sayyidati." He keeps his distance and his voice low, and when I do not answer at once he says it again. "Your uncle is in the majlis. He asks that you come back."

I look at the shoe. It is a good shoe and it has nothing to do with anything.

"Did he say why."

"He said the card is still on the tray."

So. I set the shoe down and pin the shaila where it has slipped at my temple, and I take the two steps back to the carpet and leave my shoes at the edge with the toes facing out, the way they came off.

The majlis has been rearranged in ten minutes. That is how quickly a room can be made into a different room. The chairs on the left are where they were. The chairs on the right have been turned a hand's width toward the sadr, which means the men sitting on them have already decided where this is going. The tray still stands between the two cooling cups. The card is still face down.