“So you’ve been out there all night?” Harithi demanded.
“Yeah.” He yawned. “I need a new plan. This one isn’t going to work.”
“What you need is sleep.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but she stamped her foot. “No. Go and sleep. You’re useless to Paranjay if you’re not at your strongest.”
Hasan sighed. “Fine. But when I wake up?—”
“We’ll make a new plan,” she said. “Now go rest.”
• • •
When Hasan woke later that afternoon, he found Harithi eating in the kitchen. A second plate sat covered beside her.
“Feel better?” she asked, pushing the plate toward him. “I made some rice and dhal, but the meat and vegetables were spoiled. I had to toss them out.”
“I haven’t really had time to do groceries,” he said wryly. He pulled his plate closer. “Thank you.”
As he ate, Harithi caught him up to speed with what she had learned since returning to the city. “The Marnapur curfew was mandated by the viceroy himself,” she said. “It flew through the House of Representatives and had the signatures of all four men on the Council of Lords.”
“What was the rationale behind the bill?”
“Sutherland said the city had fallen into a level of chaos that wasn’t conducive to the economy.” Harithi rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I think what we did, setting that fire at the museum, has scared a lot of people.”
“What about the arrests?” Hasan asked. “Any word about why they’re taking our men?”
“No,” she said. “But now that you mention it... have you realized that all the gang members they’ve taken are daivyakt? Have any of our vasudhakt members been taken?”
“I?—” He hesitated, his face warm. “I didn’t think to check on the vasudhakt ones.”
“Hasan,” she said, her voice full of reproach.
“I wanted fighters, not informants or runners,” he said defensively.
“In case you haven’t noticed, the Welks are doing just fine fighting without divine energy,” she huffed. “Maybe it’s time we started giving more importance to vasudhakt members.”
“I can look for them tomorrow,” Hasan said.
“No need. When I returned, I searched for you at several of our hiding spots. Everywhere I went, the vasudhakt gang members are still around. Some of them are scared?—a bunch of them have left the city?—but, for the most part, the police haven’t bothered them at all.”
“What could it be?” Technically, the use of magic was not illegal, but the act of making naumya was. And all of his daivyakt members were no fools when it came to hiding their pantheons.
“It can’t be that they’re looking for us,” Harithi said. “Zeyar said he got us immunity.”
“Unless he was lying about that,” Hasan said sourly. “Wouldn’t be the first time he was dishonest with us.”
“He’s lied about many things, but I don’t think he lied about this. If he hadn’t gotten you immunity, Richard would have had you arrested at Sanivali. He had no reason to spare you otherwise.”
“Fair,” Hasan said. Maybe Zeyarhaddone him that one favor. “But then what could it be?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, “but what Idoknow is that the arrests were made by members of Montrose’s squadron.”
Somehow, this didn’t surprise Hasan. “What the fuck is Montrose up to now?”
“Well, at first I thought he was being paranoid because of the wedding,” Harithi said. “But then why would they increase security in the Virian neighborhoods?”
“Wedding?” he repeated. “What wedding?”
