The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas Page A

still had their battle carpets, which were much more substantial in thickness and could not be folded into tiny squares and shoved into pockets. He feared that even rolled up, those carpets might still signal their mage origins.
    Instead he bought a donkey on the outskirts of the city and laidtheir battle carpets across the donkey’s back. He offered the donkey to Iolanthe, but she declined firmly: she’d much rather walk than wrestle with an unfamiliar beast.
    So Kashkari rode and Iolanthe walked behind him, her face largely hidden beneath her keffiyeh. The buildings they passed were like none she had ever seen, with each story projecting farther out than the one immediately below. Two top-floor residents on opposite sides of a narrow street could almost embrace across what little distance remained between them.
    Their destination was a clean and hospitable guest house. The proprietor embraced Kashkari and greeted him by name. Sweets and cups of coffee appeared as soon as they’d entered their room, followed by bowls of a delicious green soup and heaping plates of dolmas, which were grape leaves wrapped around a savory rice filling.
    â€œYou’ve been here before?” she asked Kashkari as they ate.
    He nodded, reaching for a dolma. “My brother has been in the Sahara for a while. I would come to visit him every holiday, and it was always a hassle to get me back to school at the end of it. Somebody somewhere might have a mobile dry dock, but there wasn’t always a vessel available—and we couldn’t exactly ask to borrow the emergency boat. So sometimes they could launch me to the Mediterranean and take me to the coast of France. Other times I had to fly back most of the way.
    â€œOne day Vasudev had enough of the uncertainty—he also didn’tlike me flying so far by myself. He decided to rig me a one-way portal here in Cairo, since most rebel bases had a translocator that could reach Cairo or Tripoli. So we came here and stayed a few days. And then we went to school together, so he could finish the portal’s other end.”
    â€œHe visited Eton?”
    â€œMet Mrs. Dawlish and Mrs. Hancock—and Wintervale too. Wintervale and I squired him around the school—walked the playing fields, rowed a bit on the river.”
    â€œHe didn’t meet the prince?”
    â€œNo, he left before Titus arrived that Half. And it’s a shame you didn’t have the chance to meet him, while we were still in the desert.”
    Did the timbre of his voice change? And was it sadness that once again darkened his eyes? The flame of a lantern flickered upon his face and threw his shadow on the wall, against a fretwork panel of arabesque patterns.
    She set aside her plate. “What manner of man is he, your brother?”
    Kashkari blew out a breath. “He’s a bit shy—our sister, his twin, has always been the vivacious, assertive one. When Amara spoke at the engagement gala, she said that during his first six months at the base he never said anything to her that wasn’t related to equipment production and maintenance.”
    â€œIs that what he is responsible for?”
    â€œHe’s a marvel, a true wizard, when you need any devices built, improved upon, or invented from scratch. But don’t let that fool youinto thinking he’s only fit for a workshop. He’s also a deadly distance spell-caster—taught me everything I know.”
    And Kashkari had been quite the sniper.
    â€œDo you think he and Durga Devi are a good match?”
    â€œThey are not an obvious match, but yes, I do think they are good for each other. He needs someone full of life to tear him away from his workbench once in a while. And he is a steadying influence on her, as she can be rash at times.”
    Before she could reply, he reached into his pocket. “Will you excuse me?”
    He moved away from the divan on which they’d been eating to read his two-way