Chapter 18 · Untitled Chapter

Khalid turned on his heel, his bisht snapping against the edge of the carved doorway as he retreated into the outer corridors. The silence he left behind was hollow, ringing with the fury of a man stripped of his claim before an assembly of his peers.

On the low side table, beside the empty crystal cups, rested the folded document the council's emissary had set down—a formal petition inked with wax seals, demanding my removal and disputing Saud’s right to shoulder the house’s debt.

Saud did not look after him. His expression remained carved from pale granite, untouched by the storm Khalid had attempted to conjure. He reached out with measured stillness, his long fingers lifting the stiff parchment without unfolding it to honor its words.

"Saud," I said softly, the edge of my shaila catching against the embroidered shoulder of my abaya as I shifted. "If that petition reaches the elder branch without an answer—"

"It has its answer," he said, his tone low and level, cutting through the dry night air.

He stepped past the heavy archway toward the courtyard breezeway, where the night breeze moved faintly through the pierced stone screens.