Chapter 22: Nahri

Nahri travels in an opulent, shuttered palanquin with Nisreen to the Daeva Grand Temple, chafing at rules that keep her veiled and untouchable. In the garden, Dara is mobbed by admirers, and Kaveh and Jamshid greet her. Following protocol, Jamshid escorts Nahri inside while Dara confers with elders.

As they walk, Jamshid explains the temple’s austerity—no magic, weapons, or jewelry—and shares legends of the marids and the city’s origins. Inside, he points out shrines to famed Nahids like Zal and Irtemiz and even a statue of Dara. The elderly grand priests, led by Kartir e-Mennushur, welcome Nahri at Anahid’s gleaming silver altar.

Kartir then privately leads Nahri to a hidden sanctuary holding recovered emerald-inset slave vessels and Anahid’s original, humble fire bowl. He explains they keep the vessels near Anahid’s flame and urges Nahri to remember that greatness grows from modest beginnings, offering the temple’s support.

Resting in a secluded pavilion, Nahri is joined by Dara, who awkwardly asks her opinion of Jamshid before suggesting him as a suitable Daeva match should Ghassan press a Qahtani marriage. Nahri is incensed, recalling their intimacy, while Dara insists he is not truly alive, likely cannot father children, and that the Nahid line’s survival must come first.

The argument escalates. Nahri retorts she might as well marry Muntadhir, wounding Dara. He confesses his past: banished for carrying out Nahid orders, absent when his family was slaughtered, a life spent fighting the Qahtanis, and eventual enslavement by the ifrit. He admits the pain of imagining her with another but insists nothing can change what he is.

Nahri says he should have trusted her rather than plotting her future. Declaring she needs no one to plan her life, she leaves the temple furious and heartbroken, while Dara lets her go.