POISON AND GOLD
1
Aasha glanced around the sumptuous throne room. For once, it was empty. Though not for long. Any moment now Gauri would enter through the heavy, golden doors. Aasha could picture her friend. Radiant and powerful, every bit the queen she would soon become. She could already see Gauri smiling broadly, relaxed, in a way she hardly ever did in public. She only did that because she trusted Aasha. A trust she hardly deserved. Gauri might smile at her, but that was only because she did not know the terrible secret that lurked in Aasha’s heart.
And she must never find out, thought Aasha.
She glanced around the room. The two thrones that would soon officially belong to Gauri and Vikram looked foreboding. Around the thrones’ raised dais were gilt chairs and cushions for the councilors and diplomats. Four large windows stretched across the tapestried walls. Today, the scarlet curtains had been pulled back to letin the morning sunlight. Normally, a gossamer net hung from the eaves of the palace, a barrier that kept out any curious birds. But it must have been damaged. The proof lay in Aasha’s cupped hands. She opened them a crack, as if peering slowly might change the outcome. In her hands lay a small bird that fit in the hollow of her palm. It was dead.
In her hand, it looked asleep. The bird’s small body was still warm. The glossy feathers of its chest stuck up as if it had very recently been wind-ruffled. Tearfully, Aasha smoothed down its blue feathers. The bird was blue, as blue as the five-pointedvishakanyastar printed on Aasha’s throat. The very star that had ended its life.
For avishakanya,all it took was one touch to end a mortal life.
“I am so sorry,” murmured Aasha to the bird.
“Who are you talking to?”
Aasha looked up. She hadn’t heard Gauri opening the door. Gauri walked toward her, smiling, until she saw what lay in Aasha’s hands. Gauri looked at one of the windows, frowning.
“It must have flown in and gotten trapped,” she said. “But you really shouldn’t touch that, Aasha.”
Gauri was right. She really should not have touched the bird. The truth was, she had not even noticed. It had flown in silently. Aasha had been sitting down with her back turned to the window when the bird alighted on her shoulder. The animals of Bharata always crept a bit closer to her, as if they knew she was not human and therefore less likely to harm them. But all Aasha had felt was the rasp of claws along her shoulder. She had jolted upright. In her panic, thevishakanyastar had flared to life on her throat and the small bird’s life had gone out like a light. Aasha should have been able tocontrol it. That was the wish that the Lord of Wealth and Treasures had granted her after all. A choice. To live as a human and know the touch of a new life, and still be able to turn into avishakanyaand know that a life could fall at her touch. But lately, she could not rein in her power. It made her a deadly risk. Gauri had no idea.
Slicing a section off one of the silk banners, Gauri used it to pick up the bird and set it aside. Someone else would take care of it.
“There is something I must ask you,” began Gauri. “Do you remember the meeting with Ujijain’s intelligence committee?”
Aasha… remembered. In a fashion. She remembered that someone had brought in a strange arrangement of flowers with the spikiest, glossiest leaves she had ever seen, and that she had been entranced with them for nearly an hour. Normally, she could control when her touch was deadly. And though she had been in Bharata for nearly a year, she was still enamored with the feeling of living things beneath her hands. Every texture was a lesson in wonder. Every animal muzzle that pushed into her hand was a gift.
Which was all to say: no.
She had no memory of that meeting.
Gauri must have sensed as much because she laughed.
“To be fair, I do drag you to far too many meetings.”
“I know,” teased Aasha.
But she did not mind. She liked having a duty. She had never really had one in thevishakanyaharem. Besides, acting as a sort of guard for Gauri allowed Aasha to indulge in her favorite pastime: watching humans. Humans had so much etiquette. Their desires hardly ever matched their actions. To Aasha, they were fascinatingcontradictions that spoke a language she only knew in snatches and phrases.
With their wedding fast approaching, Gauri and Vikram spent most of their waking hours in the company of their councilors. Once they were wed, their kingdoms—once ancient rivals—would join. It was a dream that the people of both kingdoms held tight to their hearts. Their two monarchs, young and beautiful and already legends in their own right, would steer the world into a new age.
But as beautiful as that sounded, the reality of merging the two kingdoms was less like a dream and more like a nightmare. Political plots were subdued with all the regularity of sunrise. Conspiracies thrived in the shadows, and loyalties to Gauri and Vikram changed by the day. Which was where Aasha’s abilities came into play. As avishakanya,she might have a deadly touch, but she had another power too. She could read the desires of others. All she had to do was reach forward with part of her mind, and card through a human’s intentions as if they were cloth. From intentions alone, she could discern who meant Gauri and Vikram harm, and in this way keep them safe.
Looking at Gauri, she did not need her powers to know how her friend felt. Dark presses hollowed Gauri’s eyes. But she wore an exhausted smile like a badge of honor.
“Why did you wake up so early to speak with me when what you really want, and quite probably need, is sleep?” asked Aasha.
“As a queen, I don’t always get to do what I want,” said Gauri tiredly.
“But that’s the whole point of being queen,” said Aasha. “You get to make rules.”
“True,” allowed Gauri. “But ‘let the monarch nap’ is a far less important rule than the one I wish to speak with you about.”
Aasha plopped into one of the thrones.
“Speak!” she said, clasping her hands in her lap.
