Prologue

Ali is betrayed at his caravan on the Euphrates and escapes under arrow fire, crossing the river with unnatural ease and without breathing. Stranded in the desert, he prays, trudges on without thirst, and, after eating a poisonous root, falls into a crevasse and dislocates his shoulder. Geziri raiders Lubayd and Aqisa find him, force-feed him a vile cure, and debate killing him for a bounty, blaming Ghassan for their drought-stricken plight.

Lubayd resets Ali’s shoulder and, seeing a spontaneous oasis where Ali lay—springs and green shoots—decides Ali is more valuable alive, planning to take him west to Bir Nabat. Ali, shaken by his marid-touched affinity for water and hunted across Am Gezira, reluctantly goes with them.

In Daevabad, Nahri endures her wedding night with Muntadhir. Awkward and tense, they trade barbs about family histories and past betrayals. Sensing her fear and inexperience, Muntadhir refuses intimacy, fakes the ritual consummation with ash, and orders karkade for her. When Nahri asks about Ali, Muntadhir carefully says he lives but asserts he will always be loyal to Ghassan, chilling any tentative warmth as the palace subtly responds to Nahri’s agitation.

Elsewhere, Dara rests in a tranquil, dreamlike glen with his sister Tamima until an emerald slave ring sears his hand and drags him back to life. He awakens in a tent with a Nahri-resembling woman—Banu Manizheh—who claims to have freed him from Suleiman’s curse, leaving him fiery-skinned with claws. Outside in the Dasht-e Loot, ifrit led by Aeshma appear; Dara panics about Nahri and blinks to the Gozan River, only to find the city’s veil barred to him without the curse.

Manizheh calms Dara, promising they will find a way into Daevabad and that together they will save their people and Nahri. Dara, horrified by his transformation yet desperate to return, accepts her guidance as the first step in a larger plan to seize the city.