With the muted pink light of dawn peaking through the elaborately latticed windows of the palace, Shahrazade made her way back to her own rooms. His voice echoed in her memory as she walked between several large guards.

"So that your sister might hear the end of your tale, I will pardon you for one day more."

She closed her eyes at the memory. Those were always the words he chose. Those words haunted her dreams and refused to give her peace. She didn't dare hope for him to stop saying them, though. As horrible as they were, there was a terrible safety in those words.

The guard in the lead opened the ornate inlaid door of her chamber and stepped aside to allow her to move inside the room. The door shut behind her with a heaviness that never failed to startle her. A woman waited to help her out of her finery, slipping the bracelets from her wrists and the slippers from her feet. Ruby silk flowed off of her shoulders and slithered off of her hips. Jeweled pins dropped from her hair into a waiting box with painted flowers all over it. The fripperies that marked her as queen, the symbols of the danger that she lived every single night, were taken away from her and locked into an engraved ebony chest until she needed them again at nightfall.

The woman left her without having spoken a single word to her. Shahrazade shivered in her simple linen shift, despite the heavy heat of the room. She made her way over to her large, silk-draped bed and nestled among the pillows. Tears began to run unnoticed down her cheeks, dripping to stain the jewel-toned cushions.

She was almost out of stories. With the need to find new ones so urgent, she could only afford to spend a few hours sleeping fitfully before she needed to get up and begin the search again. This was how it was for her now, day after day, month after month. She got what little sleep she could in the morning, but then spent most of the day pouring over texts and listening to the tales brought back by her few allies. Their forays out to the marketplace to hunt for storytellers and travelers had proven invaluable. Without new stories, she would not last much longer. And then Dunyazade would certainly be next.

With a sigh, Shahrazade closed her eyes and curled up on her side. As heavy as her worries were, her exhaustion was heavier. She dropped almost instantly into a fitful sleep from which she would be too soon awakened.