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Ibrahim
Chapter 46
The Delivery
An insistent, steady knock at my door had me swearing as I rose from my armchair the following afternoon. I'd just been in the middle of a very good wine as Azizah took an afternoon nap. I opened the door and was barely able to register that it was Nadir before he barged in.
"I," he fumed, "will have words with you."
"Yes," I said lazily, not holding in my irritation, and closed the door. "Please. Do come in, Khan."
"A group of criminals?" he spat, whirling on me. He spoke in French. "You went to the den of a group of criminals? Willingly? Oh - don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Remember my friend Gustave? Father to Christine? He told me all about it - how thrilled you were to go and meet Erik's little thief friend in the shady slums of the Parisian underbelly!"
I snarled, the irritation building dangerously. "Oh, it's even worse than that, Nadir. I'm a spy for the thief in question, as well, now." Probably, in hindsight, not the smartest thing to admit, but-
"Pardon...fucking...me?" His eyes blazed in shock. "You are...what?"
"You heard me. And what, exactly, is it to you?"
"To me? To me? Oh, it's nothing to me. If you want to ruin your reputation - your life - you can be my guest. I don't give a single rat's ass, for me. But you have a very pregnant sister to support. Or did your desperate need for excitement and glory push her from your mind entirely? Did your selfishness give you selective memory loss?"
Anger colored my vision red. "Well, it doesn't truly matter, does it? Since she has you now."
He scoffed. "You childish-"
A yelp came from the other room. A gasp, then a groan. Nadir and I stared at one another.
"Azizah?" I called.
"The baby," she moaned in our language. "I think it's coming."
Nadir sprang into action. "Where is her midwife?"
I stared blankly at him, feeling nothing but alarm. "Her..."
He snapped in my face with his fingers. "Midwife, Ibrahim. Midwife." A pause. He studied my face. "You did choose a midwife already, didn't you? That was the first thing you secured upon arriving in Paris, wasn't it?"
I felt my ears heat. "I-"
Nadir growled and threw up his hands. "You pointless idiot." And he was gone from the apartment.