Perhaps.
Ektha was sure to think so. She’d never let me hear the end of it. No point in delaying the inevitable, though. I’d have to tell her as soon as we found her.
We turned back toward the fort but ignored the central wide staircase and its ornate archway. Instead, we ducked behind the row of hedges to its side, where the servants’ door was hidden. The humble brown entry, designed to be as small and unobtrusive as possible, cowered next to the grand staircase with carved lions on either side. I went to open the door, but Parushi stopped me with a shake of her head.
She knocked four times and waited. The response was two crisp knocks followed by a pause and then one more.
Satisfied, Parushi pushed the door open, and we hurried inside.
“Duck down,” Parushi instructed, and I complied just in time to avoid brushing my head against the top of the small entryway.
Two wide-eyed guards stared at us as Parushi closed the door behind her.
“Where is Rajkumari Ektha?” one of them asked.
My stomach flipped. “She hasn’t come yet?”
Their anxious silence answered my question. A voice bellowed from farther down the halls.
“I’m the raja of Ullal, and I can damn well be wherever I want to be!”
My uncle limped into view. His walking was much improved since the first attack, but he still used a walking stick when inside the fort. His gaze flitted back and forth between me and Parushi. “Where is Ektha?”
“A Porcugi attacked,” I said. “I sent her ahead while Parushi and I took care of it. She’s not here already?”
Worry knitted my uncle’s brows. Behind him, Tara approached, followed by a young servant I didn’t recognize. He gingerly balanced a plate heaped with biryani and couldn’t seem to decide whether he should keep his eyes on the plate, Tara, or my uncle.
“You need to get back to the infirmary,” Tara said. She pointed to Uncle Trimulya’s bandaged left arm. “Raja or not, you need to rest that wound.”
“It is fine. Your bandages have done wonders.” My uncle turned his attention to the servant behind her. “Come here with that food.”
The young man trembled as he stepped forward. His amber eyes kept flitting between the raja and the ground, and sweat trickled from his hairline to the back of his low ponytail, which pressed his collar against his skin. My uncle shoved food into his mouth, chewing as he thought.
Pointing to my left arm, I mouthed my question to Tara. “Is it bad?”
She shook her head.
After only a few bites, my uncle had done some serious damage to the plate of food. “I am bandaged. I am nourished. I am going to go find my niece.”
I stepped between him and the doors. “Ullal can’t have both its current and future leader outside of the fort and vulnerable. I will find her and bring her back.”
“You need to stay here more than I do.” He tried to push me aside. “You are the future of Ullal. You need to be protected.”
“You trained me for this from the moment I was old enough to carry a blade.” I held my ground. “Maybe even sooner than that. I am going. You are the raja, and you need to stay.”
I glared at him until he finally nodded. He wavered a bit as he turned?—it seemed like the wound on his arm was far more serious than he wanted to let on. Even Tara looked surprised as she hurried to his side. She would make sure he got some rest while Parushi and I found Ektha and brought her back. With a start, I realized I never asked Parushi if she would come and help me.
“Parushi, will you?—” I began.
“Let’s go,” she said.
Two more guards came outside with us. We kept our weapons drawn and stayed hidden behind the enormous, dense hedge. I signaled to the pair of guards that they should check the other side of the central stairs, but they shook their heads and pointed to me.
My uncle wanted them to stay with me. So be it.
Even though the clamor of battle raged at the back of the fort, the front remained eerily still. We crept to the side after Parushi checked to make sure it was safe. This part of the grounds had been deserted, except for the four bodies that remained where I’d seen them earlier. They were crumpled like paper, and their limbs bent where joints had never existed. My feet squished on the ground as I approached. I tried not to think about the color dying my soles as I gingerly lifted the helmet covering the face of one of the soldiers.
My heart became a stone, falling from my chest down to my toes.
