“Oh, my dear one,” Lalita said. Her voice trembled with joy. “What are you doing here?”
This had to be a dream—a mirage. But the pain in her chest, the ache in her feet, told her this was all too real. Lalita was here. Lalita was well.
“I thought you were dead,” Mehr said, in a voice that trembled like a leaf. “I went to your haveli and I thought …”
“No, no,” Lalita said, shaking her head. “I am sorry you saw that, so very sorry, Mehr. But I’m safe.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She managed a smile. “You didn’t come here to find me, did you?”
“No,” Mehr said softly.
“Look at her clothes,” Kamal said in a low voice. “She’s come from the temple.”
Lalita was still looking into Mehr’s eyes, her face full of wonder. She barely seemed to hear him. “That isn’t possible.”
“Perhaps you can’t see what stands in front of you, but I see one of the Maha’s creatures.”
Lalita laughed faintly. “Mehr’s father is Ambhan,” she said. “She doesn’t have the gift. The Maha would hardly trouble himself with her.”
It was astonishing, how love could blind someone. Lalita was looking right at her, and yet Mehr had a sense that Lalita was not seeing her at all, that hope and love had reshaped Mehr in her eyes into someone softer, someone safer to love. Perhaps that was why she had never warned Mehr aboutamata, or sensed the gift that lay under Mehr’s skin. Perhaps some part of Lalita had sensed the truth and shied away from the knowledge, far too aware that the only future that awaited mostamata-gifted women lay at the end of a knife.
Mehr swallowed. “Lalita,” she said. “Look at me.”
Mehr’s voice finally dispelled the wonder in Lalita’s eyes. She took another step closer to Mehr, her gaze sharpening, taking in the sight of Mehr’s faded clothing, her gauntness. Finally, her gaze settled on the marriage seal around Mehr’s neck. Her mouth thinned.
“I’m sorry, Lalita,” Mehr said quietly. “But I do. Have the gift. When the dreamfire came to the city, it showed itself. And the Maha, he …” She paused. Touched the edge of her seal. “He found me.”
“She’s been sent here to trap us,” Kamal said, more loudly now. “I’m sure of it.”
There were uneasy murmurs from the circle around them. She saw hands move back to their blades. For a long, painful moment, Lalita was silent.
Finally, Lalita spoke up. “Mehr is telling the truth. She has a good heart. I trust her completely.”
“She belongs to the Maha,” Kamal said. “She doesn’t have a choice. Do you?”
“I’m not bound to the Maha any longer.” A ripple of utter disbelief ran through the Amrithi at that, but Mehr held on to her courage and rallied on. “I don’t expect you to believe me or—trust me. I don’t. But I am not his property, and I am not subject to his whims. I’d never let harm come to my mother’s people.” She spoke fiercely, pushing her heart into every word, hoping he would believe her. “Never.But you needn’t believe me. Just let me go, and I’ll bring you no more trouble.”
“Let you go so you can lead the monster directly to us?” Kamal said angrily. “We’re not fools, girl. We’ve not survived this long by being half-wits.”
Mehr laughed. She couldn’t help it.
“Lead him where?” She raised her hands helplessly into the air. “I don’t know where I am! Even now, I can’t see a thing through the storm.” She shook her head. “I have lived my entire life in the city. I know nothing of navigating in the desert.”
“How can we trust your word?” Kamal said, just as Lalita snapped, “You think I’ll let you wander off after a statement like that? You’ll die out here on your own.”
“Be sensible,” Kamal said. “Think with your head, Lalita.”
“I could say the same to you!”
A figure on the edge of the circle yanked their hood away from their face and said, “Must we watch you argue all day? Let her go, kill her, bring her with us—we don’t care.”
“No one is killing her,” Lalita said sharply.
“That’s good to hear,” Mehr said faintly, but no one was listening to her.
“Fine, fine, no killing. But …” Kamal raised a hand to his head, massaging the groove between his eyes as if the entire situation pained him physically. “A blindfold. We’ll walk her away and let her go. That’s all I can offer, Lalita, and far more than I should.”
Lalita shook her head, mouth pursed.
“We can’t let her go.”
