All This Twisted Glory

Months later, Kamran, the crown prince of Ardunia, flies into Tulan with his entourage. The entire party rides a fleet of fabled, sacred birds with a wingspan as wide as a room. The magnificent bird Simorgh and her four children came to Kamran’s aid after Cyrus murdered King Zaal, Kamran’s grandfather, and lured Alizeh, Kamran’s love interest, to Tulan. Accompanied by the eccentric young heiress Miss Huda, 12-year-old orphan Omid, apothecary Deen, and Jinn Hazan, Kamran plans to avenge his grandfather and rescue Alizeh from Cyrus. As the graceful, plush birds descend into Tulan, Kamran reflects on Alizeh’s betrayal. He still cannot understand why she chose to accompany Cyrus. The extraordinarily beautiful Alizeh—forced into hiding as a snoda, or attendant—is actually the fated queen of the Jinn, while King Cyrus is known for his cruelty and dark magic.

Kamran is frequently annoyed by the irreverence of Miss Huda and Omid. Miss Huda eats an orange atop her Simorgh, an action that strikes Kamran as outrageously common. Hazan chides Kamran for taking himself too seriously. Kamran’s royal upbringing has left him arrogant and judgmental of others. Though Kamran does not argue with Hazan, he continues to feel annoyed by his companions. Kamran’s annoyance partly stems from his wish to be as free as Huda and the others. While the other Ardunians are traveling to Tulan for an adventure, Kamran is on a serious mission to rescue his legacy and throne.

The last few days have been tumultuous for Alizeh. In These Infinite Threads, Alizeh learned there was more to the dreaded King Cyrus than she had assumed. Cyrus’s bargain with Iblees extracts a huge cost, with Iblees often tormenting Cyrus. When Iblees assaulted Cyrus in the last book, Alizeh tended to him. Cyrus magicked the two of them to his private chambers in Tulan. Meanwhile, as rumors spread of Alizeh’s presence in Tulan, thousands of Jinn show up at the palace seeking reassurance that their queen is okay. Alizeh emerges from Cyrus’s chambers with her dress torn and bloody from tending to Cyrus, leading Queen Sarra, Cyrus’s mother, to reflect that soon there will be gossip that Cyrus and Alizeh have slept together.

Alizeh puts on a robe and addresses the Jinn from the palace parapet, acknowledging that she is their chosen queen. She promises to bring her people water; water is a rare resource, and the Jinn need it, rather than food, for sustenance. The crowd begins to weep and a moved Alizeh starts to approach them. However, Cyrus emerges from his chambers and forbids Alizeh from mingling with the crowd, instead sending out skins of water for the gathered Jinn. The crowd disperses and Cyrus strides out of the palace, Alizeh secretly following. He enters an illuminated forest at the edge of a salt flat, and disappears. Alizeh waits in front of the flat, determined to find out the secrets of the man who murdered King Zaal and his own father and stole the Book of Arya, the sacred text of the Jinn. The book has a map only Alizeh can access, which leads to the mystical mountains of Arya, whose crystals hold the world’s greatest magical powers.

Cyrus knows that Alizeh is following him, so he takes a long, twisted route in the hope of throwing her off. However, stubborn Alizeh does not give up. Cyrus wants to turn around and shout at her for endangering herself but knows she will not listen to him. He wishes he did not love her with the intensity that he does. Cyrus hardly knows Alizeh, having met her in person only a few weeks ago. However, Iblees planted Alizeh’s vision in Cyrus’s head a long time ago, making Cyrus fall in love with her. Now, as Cyrus heads to another audience with the devil, he wishes Alizeh would stay away from the darkness that always accompanies him. When he reaches the forest, Cyrus vanishes, summoned by Iblees.

Kamran thinks about the two-line inscription he read on the mysterious book (the Book of Arya) he found in Alizeh’s bag. The inscriptions spoke of a “woven kingdom” in which “clay and fire shall be” (36). Unable to parse the words’ meaning, he turns to thoughts of Alizeh. Kamran is enchanted by Alizeh, who seems to him incomparable in beauty and wit. In contrast, Huda, raised in an aristocratic household (although she is rumored to be illegitimate) is loud and unrefined. Kamran wants to finish his mission to kill Cyrus as soon as possible so he can be rid of Huda. At the same time, Kamran is aware of the flaws of Zaal’s rule. Zaal hid the water crisis from his people, letting them believe they had an unlimited supply. Kamran knows he just has a few years before the drought hits Ardunia.

Hazan interrupts Kamran’s musings to give him some news. Before their flight to Tulan, Kamran had sent the Jinn to the northern countryside to secure a safehouse. Hazan ran into Kamran’s mother, the queen, at a tavern. She had already found Kamran a safe room at the inn and gave Hazan a pink envelope for her son, saying she would be waiting for Kamran on his return. Hazan hands Kamran the envelope, warning him that the contents are not a letter.

After waiting for a long time in the cold for Cyrus, Alizeh decides to return to the palace. Striding into the dark, Alizeh reflects on the land around her. Tulan is much smaller than her native Ardunia, but it contains many more climates and geographical features, such as waterfalls, salt flats, and mountains. There is something mysterious about Tulan, and perhaps because of that, Ardunia has never been able to take over the kingdom.

Alizeh’s thoughts drift to Kamran. Though she left him behind, she wishes the prince well. It was Kamran who first believed in her, understanding that she was the Jinn queen. Caught in her thoughts, Alizeh notices that it has been growing steadily colder. Her fingers turning blue, Alizeh hurries toward the castle and is seized by chills. She collapses, instantly able to somehow sense Iblees. As she faints, the word “eyes,” whispered by the devil, echoes in her mind.