Page 87 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
Namir came to Zahra’s side. “Zahra, are you alright?”
Zahra hissed, rubbing her temple. “I—I am fine.” She blinked hard, staring at the shelf. What had she been doing?
Namir led her back to the table. “You should sit down.”
Ramses walked toward them, picking up the fallen papyrus and returning it to the shelf.
“I don’t need to sit,” Zahra argued, but Namir directed her to the chair anyway.
Namir turned to Ramses, signing something about food and water. Zahra tried to say she did not need anything, but Ramses accepted his task and left the room.
Namir sat across from Zahra. “Was it another vision?”
“No.” She was not sure what it was, but the pain had gone as quickly as it had come. She felt fine, despite Namir’s worried face. “There’s no need to worry. I am fine.”
She studied the scrolls on the table, trying to place in her mind what she had come into the room to do. She remembered the scrolls she had picked up, and she grabbed one to read.
Namir watched her with uncertainty. “Was it…something else?”
Zahra shot him a quizzical look. “I am not sure what you mean.”
Namir looked away, his mouth hanging open as he found the words. “The other day, when I found you in the woods near your master’s house, I saw scars on your back.”
Zahra’s hand tightened on the edge of the scroll as Namir continued.
“I did not want to pry, so I did not ask. But if your wounds are recent?—”
“They’re not,” Zahra assured him, avoiding his gaze. “They’re from when my village was attacked in Ionia. I don’t like others to see them, so I usually hide them.”
“I see.” He was silent for a moment, but Zahra did not look up. “I am sorry I saw them. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s fine.” Her tone was cold, and she felt awful about it.
There was silence for a few moments before Namir stood. “I should see if Ramses needs any help.”
Zahra did not look up from the papyrus until Namir had exited the room. She sighed, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes. Why had she lied? She hated how often she did it. She had told him the truth about her visions, yes, but not entirely. She had not mentioned that Asenath was cursed, or that Zahra shared that curse and was still being killed every night instead of being safe as Namir had been told.
Now, she was hiding the truth of this, too. This was something she had hoped she wouldn’t have to lie about. Her shawl often worked, but she was foolish and did not wear it when she should have. But she couldn’t tell him the truth. What would he think of her if he did? He wouldn’t think she had the strength or the intellect to be a scribe like Ahmose, or even a servant of the royal household.
Zahra pushed the thoughts aside, sighing as she fingered the edge of the papyrus. One of the papyri Namir was looking at caught her eye. She pushed her scrolls aside, reaching for it. It was in Ionic.
Zahra pulled the papyrus close, inspecting the text. The handwriting was the same as the one on the papyrus with the ring. Were these papyrus written by asibyl? One of Zahra’s ancestors?
Zahra read the text quietly to herself.
“It has been many years since Chreste, my great-grandmother, left our homeland to travel to Aur. I have since followed in her footsteps, and the Pharaohs have asked that I write down what I know before I return to my own land. Much has changed in Aur because of Queen Asenath’s death, and they are still rebuilding from the war.
“When I came to this land, it became clear to me that the stories they told of that fateful night were incomplete. There was much that I shared with the Pharaohs, and there is much I will write here. To begin, the violence that cost the lives ofmany, including the Queen, has long been disputed in Aur, but I believe the violence occurred because of a dark spell placed on the young Queen—a curse of death.”
Zahra sucked in a breath, her eyes lingering on the words before she continued reading.
“This spell creates creatures of dark magic. These creatures drove the Queen’s subjects to turn against her, and they are what caused a rift between the people in those days. Chreste, to my knowledge, tried to prevent this tragedy from happening, but she failed to save Queen Asenath’s life.
“This spell requires a great sacrifice—one’s psyche—to fulfill. As such, it is powerful, and even the theos cannot break it once it has been cast. However, no heir of the Pharaohs has been afflicted with such a curse again. I can only assume that Re and the other theos are protecting them. If another heir of the Pharaohs was cursed, I fear that Aur would be doomed.”
The words continued on, but Zahra blinked hard as they blurred on the page. She looked for more about the curse, but there was nowhere else the word came up, and a dull ache grew stronger in Zahra’s head the longer she read. Finally, when the ache turned into a stabbing pain, she turned her gaze away from the paper and rubbed her temples.
If thissibylwas correct, then there truly was no way to break her curse. Katerina had told Zahra that there was no known cure from the beginning, but Zahra had hoped someone had found a way. Thesibyl’swords left little hope for her. She would die as Asenath had.
