I glanced at the birds in the cage.

The birds kept pecking at him. Nadira took pity on the creature and, opening the cage, reached in with no care for the way the birds pecked at her own hands, turning them bloody and scratched. As soon as she set the frog back down, he transformed into his true form, that of a Djinni.

‘See, here’s the thing.’ Ayet and her girls circled me like a pack of roving animals. ‘Girls who don’t find their right place in the harem don’t tend to last long. The Sultim likes Mirajin girls.’ Ayet’s hand slammed into my chest, surprisingly hard, knocking me back towards the nearest cage. One of the tigers glanced up, curious. ‘But he’s only ever got room for three of us on display. So when someone new comes in, another one has to go. And none of us wants to disappear. Which means you don’t have a purpose here.’

‘I’ve got no interest in your idiot husband.’ I wanted to shove her hand away. But I couldn’t. The Sultan had given me orders. I couldn’t fight back.

Ayet wasn’t convinced. ‘Do you know what else happened here? This is where the Sultan killed Nadira after she gave birth to an abomination.’ She took a step towards me. ‘Because here, nobody can hear screams over the birds.’ Sure enough, the birds in the cages were in chaos now, their voices drowning out the rest of the harem just spitting distance away. ‘Go ahead. Call out for help.’

‘You should leave her alone.’ The voice wasn’t strong. It was barely a squeak among the chorus of wild-feathered birds. But it was loud enough to be heard. It was the girl with the toy elephant. She was watching this all play out from the opposite side of the cage. Her eyes were wide with fear. But she’d spoken up all the same.

Ayet sneered, but a sharp-tongued insult never came. ‘This is our business, Leyla. The Sultan hasn’t taken a new wife in a decade, which means she’s clearly here for our blessed husband the Sultim, not your father.’

‘If you’re so sure of that’ – Leyla got to her feet uncertainly, clutching the clay elephant like a child a dozen years younger – ‘I can just go ask my father.’

Invoking the Sultan was like uttering a magic word. The kind that summoned powerful spirits and opened doors in cliff faces. All Leyla had to do was mention him and it was as if he were here.

Ayet caved first. She rolled her eyes, like she wanted me to think I wasn’t worth her time, and turned away.

‘Consider this a warning.’ She tossed the words over her shoulder as she swanned out. I watched her go, hating her. Hating that I couldn’t break her nose like I wanted to.

Across the menagerie Leyla was winding the mechanism in her hands absently. ‘You’ll get used to them.’ I didn’t plan on having to get used to them. I was getting out of there before I had time to.

*

Since arriving in the harem, I’d stayed in my rooms when I wasn’t looking for a way out. The attendants brought me fresh clothes and a basin to wash in and meals, seeming to anticipate what I needed without me ever needing to speak a word. But that night, no food came.

I couldn’t help but think Ayet might have something to do with that. Just because she couldn’t tear me apart like a wild animal didn’t mean she was done trying to make me suffer for some imagined designs I had on her Sultim. The last thing I needed was another prince in my life. I had a hard enough time with the two I’d already acquired.

I waited until it was dark outside before finally giving in to my growling stomach. Even I wasn’t stubborn enough to starve to death.

Women were dotted all over the garden where the meal was served, sitting in tightly knotted clusters around dishes of food that they shared between them. So tightly knotted that it’d be impossible to untie one long enough to get to the food. I was suddenly back in my first night in the rebel camp, before I’d known everyone’s name. When I’d been an intruder. Except I’d been an intruder with Shazad and Bahi to guide me then.

I spied Leyla then, the only person I could see sitting by herself. She was almost done making the toy elephant, by the looks of things, and the modelled clay was taking shape around the articulated metal joints. As I watched her, she wound up a small key in the back of the toy. It marched with jolting, violent steps towards one of the small children sitting with the huddle of women nearest her. The little boy reached for it excitedly, but his mother snatched him away, pulling him onto her lap, knocking the thing over in the process.

The moment of joy that had bloomed on Leyla’s face at operating the tiny thing disappeared, as she ducked her head. A girl like that would be eaten alive in the desert. Then again, a girl from the desert could get eaten alive in the palace.

I picked up the toy from where it was now lying uselessly on the ground, legs still jerking forward. I held it out to her. She looked up at me with eyes that seemed to take up her whole face.

‘You helped me today, in the menagerie.’ She just stared at me. I wanted to say that I could’ve handled myself. And that would’ve been true if I weren’t trapped by a hundred tiny pieces of metal under my skin. ‘Thank you.’

She nodded and took the toy. I sat down next to her without invitation. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I was being nice to her because I was going to need allies in the harem. That was what I told myself. Not because she had big lost eyes that made me think of Delila’s.

Ayet and her two parasites were in a tight knot a little way off. Waves of disdain were rolling off them even from this far away. When they caught me looking back Ayet whispered something to Mouhna. They descended into fits of giggles like crowing birds.