Bhumika waited. Then drew the bottle toward herself. “This is a very fine Saketan vintage,” Bhumika said, looking down at the bottle. “Vikram was fond of good wine. Once, I arranged for a cask to be brought from the Sonali stores. An old vintage, beloved of my uncle. He didn’t even touch it. And yet sometimes, I thought he valued me.” She raised her head. “Do you love her more than your own family?”
Of course Bhumika knew. Priya had never been good at hiding her feelings.
“We’re not a very good family,” Priya said. “We never have been. But she… she isn’t very good either.”
“Ah, Priya. That isn’t an answer.”
“Here’s my answer, then. I chose you. I chose—Ashok.” Her voice broke a little. She swallowed. “I choose Ahiranya first. I have to. It lives inside me.”
“One day you’ll leave,” said Bhumika. “I know you will. But I need you to make me a promise you won’t break.” Bhumika turned to look at her. “Make an ally of her,” she said. “A sweetheart, if you like, but an ally. If you cannot do that—if she will be a threat to our country—then I need you to remove her. Do you understand?”
Silence.
“You want me to kill her,” Priya said.
“I want you to use your closeness to her, if Ahiranya requires it,” Bhumika said calmly. “I want you to remember, always, where your loyalties lie.”
“Here?”
“Yes, Priya. Here.”
Priya shook her head.
“You think strangely,” she said.
“I think like a ruler,” Bhumika said, resignation in her tone. “I have to, now.”
“I may never seek her out. I may…” Priya shrugged, helpless beneath the weight of want and duty both. “She may not want anything to do with me. But if I go to her, if she does…”
“You shouldn’t lie to yourself,” Bhumika said gently. “Believe me. It does no good.”
Priya nodded. Pressed her knuckles lightly to her ribs, where Malini’s knife had touched her.
“You’re right,” Priya admitted. “I will go to her. But not right now. Perhaps not for a very long time. And if I do—if she will see me, if she…” Priya paused. Swallowed. Said carefully, “I won’t forget where my loyalties lie.”
“Thank you,” said Bhumika. She touched her shoulder to Priya’s. “More wine?”
“Absolutely.”
Priya drank, one deep swig, and lowered the bottle again. “I meant it, when I said I’m no politician and no warrior.”
“I know that, Pri.”
“But there is something I can do,” she said. “Something useful. Something good.”
“What is that?” Bhumika asked.
Priya looked out at the Hirana again. She thought of how long she had kneeled on the bed with Rukh. Rukh crying, devastated and full of hope.
She and Bhumika were finally the cure they were always intended to be. The destiny they deserved lay inside them, belonged to them alone.
A cure.The thought made her skin burn.
She touched a hand to her cheek, feeling the line of warmth that lay there, a stitch of throbbing fire. She breathed through the hope and her chest took in air, hollow to it like a thing carved open. For a second, one dizzying second, she felt as if she lay under water still, something growing in her lungs, her heart, something blooming, something she hadforgotten—
Then the moment passed, and she lowered her hand. She was Priya again, and she knew what she needed to do.
“The rot,” she said. “I’m going to destroy the rot.”
