Kismet's Kiss: A Fantasy Romance (Alaia Chronicles) by Cate Rowan Page A

are accepted, Royal Healer,” he replied in a thoughtful voice. “What is it you need me to do?” He peered curiously at the leaf.
    “Please hold your hand out toward me, palm up and open, and close your eyes.”
    He did so, and Varene placed the leaf in it. She lowered her own palm until it was inches above his, facing down, as if her hand were a cap over the leaf.
    After a few seconds, Tahir’s hand descended, as if weighted down. “What is happening?” he asked, opening his eyes again.
    “I’m testing what will help you. Your body will tell me what you need, if you let it.”
    “But…how does it know?”
    Varene laughed. “Alas, even I can’t solve that age-old mystery. But I can enhance your body’s response, and it will show us what you need. It just knows. And it doesn’t want this.” She plucked the leaf from his palm and replaced it with the dried flower. “Shut your eyes again please, Prince Tahir.”
    Once again, she placed her palm above his, and within a few moments, his arm was descending. “Not that, either,” she murmured, and changed the flower for the grass blade.
    When the same thing happened, Sulya lost her patience. “What is this? Of course his arm will go down. That’s natural. Your method is nonsense, chicanery…”
    Varene ignored her and put the twig in his hand. Tahir closed his eyes, and Varene held her palm in the air above his. Sohad, who’d been watching quietly, grew tense.
    Tahir’s hand rose. “Oh!” He stared at it with shocked eyes.
    Varene grinned. “Yes!” She turned to Sohad. “See? It matches. The body always knows.”
    He shook his head as if trying to accept what he’d seen.
    Sulya moved closer. “What do you mean, ‘it matches’?”
    “The bodies of the others I’ve tested in this way have reacted the same. I hope, then, that this will heal them all.”
    “A twig ? A twig to cure a malady that has k—” She choked off her words. Tahir didn’t know that others had died, and she didn’t want him aware of his peril.
    Varene’s eyes widened a fraction, showing she’d understood. “What I hope will cure him isn’t the sugarwort twig itself, but the decoction I’ll make from it. In fact, the dried buds may be even more effective…”
    Appalled, Sulya grasped for reasons to dispute the woman’s claims. “Who? Who else have you tested this with?”
    “So far, the surviving maidservant and the sultan’s Second, Fourth, and Fifth wives.”
    “They all had the same reaction?” She looked not at Varene, but to Sohad for confirmation.
    “All, Sultana,” he said crisply.
    She rose tall, letting air fill her chest. “And how are Zahlia, Maitri and Taleen?”
    “I’ve done what I can to make them more comfortable. Fortunately, the sultana Zahlia has a milder case, perhaps the least noxious of the ten living patients. She’s athletic and healthy, but that might not be the only reason.”
    “And how is Maitri’s daughter?”
    “Mishka is…forgive me,” the Healer said, eyes glittering. “I’m not certain of the proper honorific for her.”
    “ Princess will do,” Sulya answered in an arch tone.
    “She seems to have avoided the illness so far.”
    “I see.” Sulya didn’t want any of them to die, of course. Not really. Taleen and Maitri weren’t genuine threats, anyway, and certainly Maitri’s daughter wasn’t. A sultan of Kad would never let a daughter take the throne. Zahlia, though, had been a claw in Sulya’s side from the beginning. “But what is this illness? Why has it struck here, and now?”
    “I’m not sure yet. Because the malady is…” Varene looked at Tahir and hesitated, “…a grave one, my priority now must be to heal as best and as fast as I can. Then I’ll search for more answers.” She gathered the rejected vegetation into a pile and tugged closed the drawstring on her sack. “I’m relieved there have been no new cases today. That’s a hopeful sign. I also don’t believe it is spread directly from