We descended to the base of the stepwell and gathered on the largest platform in a circle. Water lapped up on the base, but nobody spared the bobbing lotuses more than a glance.
Tara was the last to join us. “She is the rani. She’s supposed to be headstrong. Ullal would be doomed if she wasn’t.”
“Strength alone is not enough.” Nikith spoke determinedly, even as the shadows under his eyes exposed his exhaustion. “We need to be wise. We cannot take a stand for the sake of taking a stand. We need to take the right one?—one where we can win.”
“We can win anything we decide to win,” Thevan bristled. “You constantly doubt me and my soldiers, but we will be victorious.”
“Even victory comes at a price.” Nikith turned to me, loosening the tie on the papers he carried. “I updated the tallies last night?—just look at the figures. The costs are adding up, and we can’t afford to keep paying if victory doesn’t come quickly.”
“But we can’t surrender,” I said. “We didn’t start this fight. They did. They attackeduswithout provocation and demanded we pay them. For what? For the courtesy of not attacking us and our ships?”
My heart hardened against my sister’s murderers. “I will not pay a tithe. No, Nikith?—don’t even try to argue. It’s not an option.”
Nikith sighed. His papers flapped in the wind as he threw his hands in the air. “Well, if you’re so determined to have this war, then there’s only one way for you to get the money we need: Marry someone who can fund it.”
“Marry?” My jaw dropped.
Thevan looked as if he’d just been slapped and Parushi looked more bemused than anything else, but Tara and Chaaya both appeared thoughtful.
“A worthy idea.” Tara tapped her chin as she spoke. “A wedding would solve both our problems.”
“Bothour problems?” I asked. “We only have two?”
“Nikith is right: We need to find a way to pay for this war.” Tara raised one finger as she brought up her first point. She paused before lifting a second. “And we also need to establish a line of succession.”
My mouth fell open. “A line of succession? We’re fighting battles, losing ships, and bleeding money, and you’re... you’re worried about me having a baby?”
“Not to mention the attempted assassination.” Thevan shared my bewildered expression.
“It’s because of the assassination attempt that we must secure a line of succession,” Tara argued. “I can’t speak to why Raja Trimulya was poisoned, may the Spirits guard his memory, but I’ve been told that Shalini spoke of options when she attacked our rani. I think she was trying to trigger the line of succession.”
That didn’t make any sense to me. “What do you mean? I’m the last in my family’s line!”
Behind Tara, Chaaya backed toward the wall. She looked like she wanted the shadows to swallow her whole.
Tara turned to face her. “I have my theories, but Chaaya would need to confirm them.”
“Chaaya?” Nikith, Thevan, and I asked in unison.
“Chaaya has worked at this fort since she was a child.” Tara dragged Chaaya into our circle. When she continued, the master healer spoke to me. “She served your mother before your birth, and it was your mother who asked for her to watch over you. Chaaya knows, and has kept, many of your family’s secrets.”
Parushi piped up. “Perhaps those secrets should remain undisturbed. Why share them if there’s no benefit? Some secrets are better left in silence.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Tara snapped. “If I’m right in my suspicions, you’re the only family she has left.”
“What?” I turned to Parushi and glared at her, demanding an explanation.
Parushi scowled from Tara to me and crossed her arms. Even though she maintained her defiant silence, I recognized something in her expression. It was the same look she’d had when she screamed down the Porcugi after she’d run out of arrows. She was cornered, with nowhere to go, but she wouldn’t surrender.
Had she forgotten I was her rani? For all the jokes she’d made about it at my expense, she’d conveniently ignored the power that went along with my title.
“I will command you to speak if I must.”
Parushi threw her hands up and lowered them with a flourish as she bent into an exaggerated bow. “As you wish, Rani Abbakka.”
Poison laced her voice.
“Stop acting like a spoiled child and explain, or I will,” Tara snapped.
