Rajah's Curse

Chapter 14: The Wait

I placed the sheet on the bed. Then I forced myself to stop growling and took a step back.

"I'm just going to take that piece of paper," he said moving towards the parchment.

I nodded, but he did not seem to notice. He was focused on crawling over his enormous bed. Once his hand grabbed the slightly damp piece of parchment, he scuttled back to the middle of the bed.

"There now," he said. He gave me a jolly look like that would show that he wasn't afraid of me, but I could sense otherwise. Even this fool occasionally remembered I was a predator by nature.

I just nodded again.

"Let's see what this says."

He held the parchment up to his eyes and read it aloud. There was no need. I knew what the parchment said. I had made Jasmine make a new template when she had started going out with Prince Ali. It read:

You are receiving this paper because I, Princess Jasmine, have been

gone for too long. I went out with Prince Ali. I am riding his magic

carpet. I have instructed Rajah to notify someone if I have not

returned by sunrise.

Jasmine and I had several of these parchments for different scenarios as part of the contract terms we had drafted years ago. The parchments were all color-coded and I had memorized what each of them said. It had to be that way since my tiger eyes were too unfocused to actually read them. It had seemed like a solid idea when we thought up this contingency plan, but this was the first time I had needed to actually use one of these.

I waited for the sultan's reaction. He looked up at me and said, "Rajah, this says she's with Prince Ali."

Yes, I was aware. Even if I had not memorized the parchment's words, he had just read it aloud. I was not deaf.

The sultan managed to ignore my dark look and smiled at me as he said, "So, all is well."

He tossed the parchment back at me. It barely when a half meter before falling onto the bed. "If she's with the prince," he said with a yawn, "she'll be fine. No need to worry, Rajah. We can go back to sleep."

He laid back down and gathered the covers around him.

I let out a whine. That was it? His daughter had been out all night and could be anywhere and he was just going to go back to sleep? So much for a father's love.

I climbed onto the bed and grabbed the parchment. Despite the tiger crawling on his bed, the sultan was already fast asleep and snoring.

I glared at him. Did he have no shame?

The sultan seemed to sense me because he mumbled, "Stop moving around, Cyrila. I'm sure Jasmine can wait..."

I snorted. I was not his wife. I was tempted to bite him and show him exactly who I was but I didn't have time. I had to go notify someone who might actually do something.

I leapt off the bed and dashed out of the sultan's rooms. It was time to go see the grand vizier.

Jafar didn't have guards posted outside his rooms. The dark doors were ominous enough. I knocked and then I attempted to enter.

Before I got inside, a parrot flew out and closed the door.

Iago.

"What do you think you're doing fish breath?" the parrot jeered. "Jafar is getting his beauty sleep."

I growled. The parchment nearly flew out of my mouth.

Though he played dumb in front of the court, Iago was never afraid to show his true colors to me. Judging by his high intelligence and odd metallic smell, I assumed that Iago wasn't just a bird, but I had no idea what he actually was, besides annoying that is.

"What's that you got in your mouth," he asked. He flew down to look at the parchment.

I snarled at him. I didn't like speaking to Iago on the best of days and I had no patience for him now.

"Jasmine's been out all night, eh? Bet she's having a good time," he said, giving me a toothy grin.

Of course, the bird could read. If I didn't have the parchment in my mouth, I would have snapped at him.

"Let me guess, you wanna bother Jafar about this? What are you, a mamabear? You afraid your precious little princess is finally gonna get some action?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

That was it. I dropped the parchment and lunged.

The parrot avoided me easily. He was high above me and squawking with laughter. "You're such an easy mark, catboy. It's great."

I huffed out a breath and then picked up the parchment sheet. It had officially graduated from being damp to being wet.

Damn it.

Enough of this. I needed to get past the bird to see Jafar. I pushed open the door again.

"Hey!" Iago said. He had finally stopped laughing. He dove down and grabbed the handle with his wings. Somehow with me pushing the other way, he managed to pull the door closed again. "I wasn't kidding. I ain't letting you in to see Jafar just 'cause you're worried about that pampered princess. Let her have her fun. Maybe she'll finally lose that stick up her-"

I lunged again as Iago cackled. At that point, the doors swung open.

"Iago, what is going on here?" Grand Vizier Jafar had appeared, fully attired. He sneered down at us.

Iago immediately flew to his side. "Nothing master. This idiot was just leaving."

Both Jafar and I ignored the parrot. I grabbed the parchment that had fallen onto the floor during our scuffle and presented it to the vizier. He took it using the tips of two fingers. It was still wet, unfortunately.

I watched as Jafar held the sheet up. His ever-present ruby ring gleamed on his finger as he scanned the page. "Prince Ali has a magic carpet?"

I blinked. That's what he noticed?

"Why was I not informed about this?" he snapped, glaring at me and then Iago.

Neither of us had anything to say. Though it was a bit odd. Prince Ali bragged about so many things at dinner, yet he'd never mentioned he had a magic carpet. It was probably Jasmine's doing. She probably hadn't wanted him to reveal how they'd been sneaking out this whole time.

"No matter," Jafar said, "We must send out the guards to find them at once."

Finally.

"But Jafar-" Iago protested as Jafar started off.

"Silence Iago," Jafar said, "We must notify Razoul. There is much work to be done."

Yes!

I followed Jafar and Iago. The grand vizier strode to the guards' quarters. Before he opened the doors, Jafar turned and looked down at me. "I do not need an escort, tiger."

I have a name.

"Leave," he commanded.

"That's right," Iago jeered, "Scram, fish breath."

Jafar stroked Iago's back like the bird had been the one to deliver Jasmine's message.

I glowered at both of them and then I left. It was fine. My job had been done. I had notified the sultan and Jafar. The guards would be sent out.

Now I had to wait. Even if all I wanted to do was go out and search for her myself, this wasn't like the time with Prince Nadim. There was no trail to follow when your quarry flew kilometers above the city on a magic carpet. And as I had learned before, I was not exactly inconspicuous. So, I paced in the princess's rooms hoping that she was alright as my mind thought of worse and worse scenarios.

Around mid-morning, I was dead on my feet. Tigers needed a lot of sleep to function, more than a human, but I would not sleep. I wanted to be there for when Jasmine returned. I needed to see her home safe before I could even think of rest. For now, all I could do was pace, worry, and wait.