Episode 2
1083 Words
Arzoo stared at the dagger.
The blood on its edge had already begun to darken.
But it was the crest that held her attention.
The Mirza falcon.
Her family's symbol.
Her stomach twisted.
"I've never seen this dagger before."
Zayan didn't blink.
"That isn't what I asked."
Arzoo looked up sharply.
"You think I tried to kill you?"
"I think someone wants me to believe you did."
That answer unsettled her more than an accusation would have.
She tightened her fingers around the hilt.
"Then why bring it to me?"
"Because whoever planted it expected me to execute you."
"And you didn't."
"No."
"Why?"
Zayan's gaze remained fixed on her.
"Because if you wanted me dead, you would have chosen a better weapon."
Her eyebrows lifted.
"That's your reason?"
"Partly."
"What is the other part?"
He stepped closer.
"I don't believe you're capable of something you don't understand."
The words should have offended her.
Instead, they confused her.
"You don't know me."
"Neither do you know me."
"Then we're even."
A faint, almost invisible smile crossed his face.
"Perhaps."
The Hidden Chamber
Zayan turned toward the corridor.
"Come."
"Where?"
"The place where the dagger was found."
Arzoo followed.
They crossed an older section of the palace.
The marble floors disappeared.
Stone replaced them.
The walls were darker.
Older.
"This part of the palace is abandoned," Arzoo whispered.
"It was."
"What happened?"
"A fire."
"When?"
"Twenty years ago."
She stopped.
Twenty years.
The same year her father died.
Zayan continued walking.
Arzoo hurried after him.
At the end of the corridor stood a massive wooden door.
Two guards opened it.
Inside was a chamber covered with old blackened stone.
Arzoo stared.
"This was the fire?"
"Yes."
"What was here?"
Zayan didn't answer immediately.
Then—
"My father's private study."
Arzoo's breath caught.
She stepped inside.
The room was almost empty.
Only a broken desk remained.
One wall was badly burned.
But beneath the soot...
She noticed something.
A small carved symbol.
The Mirza falcon.
She touched it.
"This was made by my family."
Zayan's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know?"
"My father used the same carving on his private documents."
She looked around.
"Why would your father's study have our symbol?"
"That's what I'm trying to discover."
The Burned Letter
Zayan moved toward the ruined fireplace.
He crouched.
Then reached behind a loose stone.
Arzoo watched as he pulled out a small metal box.
"You knew it was there."
"I suspected."
He opened it.
Inside lay several burned pieces of parchment.
Most were destroyed.
One remained partially readable.
Arzoo leaned closer.
There was a date.
Her heart stopped.
It was the night her father died.
Below it was a single sentence.
The exchange must take place before midnight.
"What exchange?"
Zayan shook his head.
"I don't know."
Arzoo picked up another fragment.
Her fingers trembled.
There were two names.
One was almost completely burned.
But the second...
She recognized it.
Samira.
Her mother's name.
Arzoo stared at Zayan.
"My mother was here."
"Apparently."
"No."
She shook her head.
"My mother told me she had never entered the imperial palace."
Zayan looked at her.
"Then someone lied."
Arzoo swallowed.
"And now we have to find out who."
A Footstep in the Dark
A sound came from outside.
Both turned.
Step.
Then silence.
Zayan immediately drew his sword.
"Stay behind me."
Arzoo frowned.
"I can protect myself."
"I know."
Another sound.
Closer.
Zayan moved toward the door.
Suddenly—
A figure rushed from the shadows.
Zayan blocked the attack.
Steel struck steel.
The assassin was fast.
Too fast.
He kicked Zayan backward and ran toward the window.
Arzoo grabbed a fallen candleholder.
The assassin jumped.
But before he could escape—
She threw it.
Crash!
It struck his shoulder.
He stumbled.
Zayan caught him by the collar.
The assassin struggled.
"Who sent you?"
No answer.
Zayan tightened his grip.
"Who?"
The man laughed.
"You still don't understand."
"Understand what?"
"The queen isn't the prisoner."
His eyes shifted toward Arzoo.
"She is the key."
Then he bit down.
Zayan immediately forced his mouth open.
Too late.
The assassin collapsed.
Dead.
Arzoo stared at the body.
"The key to what?"
Zayan didn't answer.
He was looking at the man's hand.
A black ring.
Engraved with a tiny crown.
The Queen's Nightmare
That night, Arzoo couldn't sleep.
She kept thinking about the letter.
Her mother's name.
The dagger.
The assassin.
And one sentence—
She is the key.
Near midnight, she finally left her chamber.
The corridor was quiet.
She walked toward the old library.
If anyone knew about her family...
It would be the palace archives.
She pushed open the library door.
Dust covered hundreds of books.
She searched through old royal records.
Then found a volume dated twenty years earlier.
She opened it.
Her family's name appeared repeatedly.
But several pages had been deliberately removed.
Arzoo's heart began pounding.
Someone had erased history.
She searched the remaining pages.
Then found a handwritten note hidden inside the binding.
If Princess Arzoo ever returns to the palace, do not let her discover the truth about her birth.
Her hands went cold.
Her birth?
She read the line again.
Then heard a voice behind her.
"You're awake."
Arzoo spun around.
Zayan stood in the doorway.
She quickly hid the note.
But the emperor had already seen her expression.
"What did you find?"
"Nothing."
He walked closer.
"You're a terrible liar."
"And you're an irritating man."
"I've been called worse."
He held out his hand.
"Give me the paper."
Arzoo hesitated.
Then handed it over.
Zayan read it.
His face changed.
Not anger.
Not surprise.
Something deeper.
Fear.
Arzoo noticed.
"You knew."
He looked up.
"No."
"You're lying."
"I've seen that handwriting before."
"Where?"
Zayan's fingers tightened around the paper.
"In my father's private journal."
Arzoo's pulse raced.
"What did it say?"
He looked directly at her.
"That the child born to the Mirza family twenty years ago..."
He stopped.
Arzoo whispered,
"What child?"
Zayan's face went pale.
"Was never supposed to survive."
The library door suddenly slammed shut.
Both turned.
The lamps went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the room.
Then a woman's voice whispered from somewhere between the shelves—
"Because she was never the child they thought they were protecting."
Arzoo froze.
She knew that voice.
Her heart nearly stopped.
"Mother?"
Silence.
Then the voice came again.
Closer this time.
"Run, Arzoo."
A blade flashed in the darkness.
And Zayan shouted—
"GET DOWN!"
End of Episode 2
- Writer
