Read Beast for Free Online Page A

do.”
    My lungs swell with the determination in his voice. I leap ahead of his words to their intent — for I am the prince, I should find my own solution. “I will lock myself in my room. I will let no man enter after midnight.”
    â€œExcellent,” says Father. “Stay within and pray. The Merciful One will hear you.” Father holds the fist of his right hand cradled in the palm of his left. “I will enlist Shahpour. He’ll lock me in my own room with your mother, who will likewise lock me in her arms. And in the morning, Shahpour will come get me and stay by my side all through the hunt.”
    â€œHow long will we keep apart, Father?”
    â€œThe djinn said I would kill you tomorrow, precisely tomorrow?”
    â€œThose were the words.”
    â€œThen you must pray all day, Orasmyn. And I must not come anywhere near you until after midnight tomorrow.”
    â€œYes,” I say, listening to his words, words that match my plan exactly. If only we can hold firm to this plan, we can thwart the pari’s curse.
    â€œBe in your room by the last ritual prayer tonight.”
    â€œI’m going immediately.”
    We hug.
    I exit quickly, rushing past the bookshelves, out through the same iwan I entered by. Two men walk the path toward me. But I can tolerate no delay. I duck into the shadows of the mosque and pad along its side, then cross the ziyada —the outer court—and run over the dirt that still holds the sun’s warmth. The crowds will be easy to skirt around if I make a route through the rose garden. I run in that direction, my feet growing lighter as my hope grows. Already I am promising myself that I will not stop at the fourth rakat in the evening’s prayers. Tonight I will keep bowing and praying and bowing and praying until I fall asleep on the floor of my room. My plan is good. We will not fail.
    â€œPssst.”
    I stop. “Who’s there?”
    â€œAhi! You’re a man. I heard only footsteps. I didn’tknow.” The woman’s voice comes from beyond the rosebushes just ahead.
    A woman shouldn’t go alone in the garden. She is suspect. Still, the weakness of her voice moves me. I enter the garden. “What’s the matter?”
    â€œExcuse my boldness, but I am in need of immediate aid.”
    I take a few hesitant steps toward the bush. And now I see: The basket of fruits and cucumbers lies toppled on the ground. One fig has split, its numerous seeds wet and naked to the air, pungent. My nostrils prickle. My senses are heightened, as during the fasting of Ramadhan. This must be the servant girl I passed on my way to the mosque. I hurry around the roses.
    She sits with her knees pulled to her chest and her face tucked under. “Don’t look upon me, please, kind sir. My clothes are ripped. My chador is gone.”
    I go down on one knee beside her. “Are you hurt?”
    She doesn’t answer. The pins that held her hair up have come away. Braids hang down her back, all the way to the ground. Between them I see smooth, dark skin. Her clothes have been reduced to rags.
    â€œI’ll find Ayeh.” Ayeh is the head of the women servants; this girl is her charge. “I’ll send her to help you.”
    â€œNo.” The girl tilts her head up just enough so thatI see her frightened eyes. “Please don’t leave me like this. What if he comes again?”
    Now the scene makes sense. Of course I cannot leave her alone. “What animal attacked you?” I peer around at the bushes, from which the savage beast might still be watching.
    â€œNone,” she says. “It was a man.”
    Anger bubbles up from my stomach, souring my mouth. “Who? Who did this to you?”
    â€œNo one would believe me.”
    â€œI will. Tell me.”
    She whispers, but so softly, I cannot catch the name.
    I put my ear close to her mouth.
    She falls against me, and my hands catch her