The River of Silver: Tales from the Daevabad Trilogy

"You are going to have so many adventures here .Your baba will get you a pony and teach you how to ride ,and you can explore to your hearts content. I want you to explore, my love ", she whispered."I want you to explore and dream and get lost in a place where no one will watch you . Where no one will cage you"
Where Ghassan will not hurt you ,where he will never ever learn of you

"You would have been safer at your temple . This place , this Palace, it eats people up from the inside . It takes everything that is kind and gentle in your heart and turns it to stone . And you ...you are good and perfect , and it is going to destroy you"

"What would you like me to talk about? "
"Anything", Muntadhir answered "I just want to hear your voice"

...

"Then you have lived a very boring number of centuries whose exact number you still refuse to disclose ,surely you have broken at least one rule in your life . Stayed out past curfew , lied to your mother , slept with the wrong woman …"
I have slaughtered thousands of people like you
"No " ,Dara lied ."Centuries of being dull and law abiding . Just as you say"

"We are not in Daevabad ,and even if we were I do not take orders form Qahtani's"
"Give it another generation .They'll be Nahid's"
Daryavoush whirled on her."You know what -"

Jamshid watched saying nothing as the emir removed Alizayd's sandals and pulled a light sheet over his body. Alizayd muttered in his sleep ,and Muntadhir pressed a kiss to his forehead ." You're going to be the death of me ,idiot "

"So is that it , then ?", Jamshid asked ."I get you in the afternoon, Khanzada in the evening , some starry eyed diplomat tomorrow in the morning...no wonder you stood me up . It must be hard to keep us all in track . You should hire an additional secretary "
"There would be no salary high enough "

" I speak divasti Nahri .You were definitely not objecting to my presence earlier "
There was no fighting the blush now , but Nahri held her ground "Do you want some sort of praise?You've slept with half of Daevabad .I'd hope you have some skill"
"Only you could make that sound like an insult. You're right tho - maybe it would be better not to fall asleep beside you . I'm sure your mother's notes are full of suggestions for Qahtani blood"
"So stop coming!" , she snapped. "Surely you have beds aplenty to occupy you"
He looked taken back ."God Nahri ,it was a joke ."Why must you always be so prickly about everything?"

"Then what do you want",Muntadhir implored sounding frustrated . "Talk to me . What will make this easier for you ?"
Nothing will make this easier for me

" Are you alright ?" He breathed
Abla let out a wail " No ! We were almost killed by a mob of statues !"
"The ruins were fascinating though ,no ? I'v never seen a place like that .I didn't even think creatures like Shardunazatu still existed. Imagine the kinds of things he has seen"
Abla gave him a horrified look "You sound ready to go back and have a conversation with the damned thing"
He dipped his oars into the water ." I don't know …might be interesting to know what else lives below the surface "

Lubayd exhaled ." Ali we've known each other some time now .We are friends , yes?"
"Ofcourse . I owe you my life"
"Then as your friends .. can I ask you something?"
Ali nodded , pressing his palms into the soil "certainly "
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
He glanced back in surprise ."What ?"

Ali Rose to his feet." I can't do that to my family . Im going to ask the governor if we can have some of these seeds"
"I'm not sure that was the seed he was interested in"
"I will stab you with Shardunazatus trident "
Add it to the debt you already owe me

His words hung heavy for a moment .And then Nahri ,in the most deadpan sarcastic tone he'd ever heard ,said " You rlly did go full hearing-voices-and wandering-the-dessert-religious back in Am Gezira , didn't you ?"

"May I speak like that again ? When Nahri nodded ,Ali continued, "You should be proud .This hospital ,bringing in subha and facing down your priests…its incredibly brave . You're doing wonderful things here. Don't let others make you feel small becuase they're struggling to measure up"
Nahri stared at him .He couldn't read the emotion churning in her eyes , but then she exhaled ,like a part of a weight had been lifted
"We overwrought Friday reaches are known for our wisdom . Occasionally. "

"Yes I remember how eager you were to get your hands on evrything in the library"
"Excuse me , I'm not the one who got blown off a shelf and smashed against a wall for their curiosity"
He flushed remembering their trip to the library catacombs ." It hurt so much",he admitted. "I was trying to act fine and unfazed ,but I was seeing stars the whole time"

Or u could let yourself have him .But Nahri knew that Ali didn't want a simple tryst in the water. He wanted more . So much more .And there were times Nahri thought she did too - if fantasising abt having someone to come home to ,someone who would make her bad tea and read books in bed on a lazy day, didn't send her into a spiral envisioning all the dreadful ways she could lose that

But Ali made himself clear back then how he felt about a physical relationship outside marriage and Nahri was trying to respect it . Mostly

Your dismissal of economics offends me " but Ali had stopped as well "And no, I hope not to delay marriage forever .Its just that right now, I prefer to spend the little free time I have swapping minds with frogs and balancing the books of a very particular Banu Nahida .His voice softened I wouldn't want to lose that"
Tears pricked at her eyes .Maybe he wasn't so oblivious ."And what if the books were really unbalanced?", She whispered." What if they took years to sort out ?"
Ali smiled and Nahri felt herself fall .She wanted to wrap herself in the sweetness of that smile and stay in it forever.
"Im very good at accounting , and I have the patience of a nile lord"

Still frowning in confusion, Ali took the bag. It seemed to take an eternity for him to unlace the ties holding it closed, but then he was pulling out the silk-wrapped package that had been nestled inside. He unwound the cloth. He went completely still.
It was a mask, masterfully carved of solid pink salt. It glittered wildly in the sunlight, like a jewel with a thousand facets. A swirling pattern of stars and diamonds, apples and iris blossoms twinkled over the arched cutouts meant for eyes and the graceful slope to accommodate a nose.
Ali’s throat audibly caught. “Is this . . .”
“It’s a marriage mask,”she stammered out. “Or at least—it could be. It won’t burn to ash like the wooden ones, but I figured if you used your marid abilities, you could make it dissolve.”Her face was burning with mortification, but she pressed on. “It didn’t seem fair that you would miss out on such an important Geziri wedding tradition because you gave up your fire magic.”
“You got me a marriage mask,”Ali repeated, sounding shocked. His eyes had locked on the gift. “I . . . did you have someone in mind who would wear it?”

Nahri was already rising to her feet. “Stay out of my romantic life,” she hissed in his ear. “And if you hurt my brother, I will drop a mountain on you.” “Yes, Banu Nahida,” Muntadhir said meekly as Jamshid took her place.”