Jitesh saw a knife fly through the air and bury itself point first in Lord Iskar’s throat. Then the crowd of panicked fleeing guests crashed into him like a wave, and Jitesh was pushed back out of the room.
He ran through the haveli corridors, stumbling, blinded by panic. He ran even as he heard screaming begin from within the household’s upper levels and saw the first hints of golden fire at the windows. He ran even as other guards spotted the blaze, shouted, “Water, water!”
He ran. And then there was someone standing before him, blocking his path.
“You did well,” said a masked figure. It was not the masked rebel from before. The voice was younger, the eyes lighter. “A good run. I watched you. But now you’re going tostay still.”
He tried to run, but it was as if the ground tipped beneath him. He fell.
Frozen, he looked up at the figure above him.
“Thank you,” the rebel said. They took a knife from their belt. “That will make things much easier.”
PRIYA
It takes poison time to leave a body. And yet it seemed as if Malini improved almost immediately. She remained awake for once at night, instead of falling directly into a stupor.
“Light a lantern,” she insisted. “I want to try walking about.”
Would anyone notice that Priya had used more lamp oil than usual? It was something the senior maidservants in the mahal would have noticed. They would have remarked upon it. But Priya didn’t think anyone cared here. Certainly not Pramila.
Malini clung to the wall for support and walked around the edge of the room on unsteady feet. Priya watched, seated upon the charpoy Malini had abandoned, as the princess pressed her hands to the stone, feeling the edges and curves of the obliterated carvings, a map destroyed. “It feels like the walls are always changing,” Malini said with the faintest laugh, her eyes bright. “I feel like I’m swimming in this place, I’m so unsteady.”
“Do you want to try letting go of the wall?” Priya asked.
“I’m not sure that’s wise,” said Malini. She looked at the blackened image of the yaksa on the wall. Then she exhaled and said, “Why not.”
Priya stood up and walked through the spill of lantern light. “Here,” she said, holding her hands out before herself, palms up. “Let me help.”
“Thank you,” said Malini. She took a tentative step forward and placed her hands above Priya’s. “I want to walk on my own, I think.”
“Then let me just keep my hands below yours,” said Priya. “You try to walk, my lady, and I’ll be here to catch you if need be.”
Their hands weren’t touching but shared the same air, the same fall of shadow, as Malini took one tentative step after another, and Priya walked backward in front of her.
Malini’s eyes met her own, face alight with a smile.
“You’re doing well,” Priya said, encouraging, and Malini’s smile deepened.
“I feel less dizzy than I did a moment ago,” she agreed. “I never thought I’d see the day when I would be complimented on not falling over. How my life has changed.” Her voice turned wistful. “You’ve never seen me how I really am. I wish you could. I used to wear the most lovely silk saris in Parijat, and flowers twined in my hair like a crown. I was beautiful then.”
Priya swallowed.
You still are.
“There is a way you have to move, when you’re dressed like that,” Malini went on, apparently oblivious. “A way you have to behave. You can’t hold yourself hunched, as I am now. You can’t lower your head. You can’t show any weakness. You have to look strong.”
“Strong,” Priya repeated, turning a little to match the curve of the room. Malini turned too, as if they were dancing. “How so? You don’t mean like a soldier, I think.”
Malini laughed.
“No, not like a soldier. Strong like… Ah, perhaps it would be simpler to show you.”
Malini straightened her spine. Lifted her head, her neck an elegant line, her eyes suddenly cool. She moved with grace, lifting her feet with a subtle kick that Priya could tell would make an overlong sari—the kind of impractical length Priya would never wear—flutter where it touched the earth. For a moment she was utterly transformed, untouchable and yes—strong. But it wasn’t anything Priya had ever known as strength before.
Then Malini stumbled. Priya caught her hands immediately, taking Malini’s weight. They were so close, Malini’s face so near to hers, that their breath mingled. Their eyes met. Malini exhaled another faint laugh and drew back a little. Priya did the same. Her heart was pounding.
They were still holding hands.
