For a moment, all I comprehend is how intricate and precise the purple magic is. Then something clicks in my brain. I recall the letter, Jatin talking endlessly of how he helped search for people after a monsoon, how he found one boy trapped in a house, how they had to amputate his leg. I had forgotten the boy’s name over the years because I had been so focused on how much Jatin had proved himself in Agsa, how much he was beating me back then.
“The Southern Bay Monsoon,” I whisper.
Kalyan nods. “You have a right to be mad. Just…just hear him out, okay?”
I step back into the room. Here I am, wanting to be seen as more than a rani, and I have yet to apologize for seeing Jatin as nothing more than an unfeeling man. Of course I’d be wrong about this too. “I’ve misjudged you and I’m sorry.”
He laughs lightly. “Because you thought I was Jatin, right?”
“Partly. Well, mostly.”
“At least in the end I can say I was right.”
Like most times I have entered the palace, I encounter Hughes giving me a discouraging look.
“I’m going to talk to my fiancé. Don’t announce me.”
Hughes’s eyes tighten, but he doesn’t move as I vault up the staircase and rush through the hall.
I pull open the door without thinking. For what feels like the twentieth time today I’m startled. Inside, Maharaja Naupure and Jatin sit side by side engrossed in paperwork. Both stand immediately at my entrance, chairs screeching, papers diving to the floor. I wasn’t expecting to find Maharaja Naupure here. But of course,of course,he is home if Maharaja Moolek is gracing us with his horrid presence at Belwar Palace.
Pure surprise splashes across Jatin’s face, while a blazing grin pulls at Maharaja Naupure’s lips. Normally I would return his smile. But I don’t know whether I can trust him anymore. All my doubts come crashing to the forefront. Could he be stealing my firelight? A voice whispersyes.
“Not even knocking anymore,” Maharaja Naupure says, with a knowing look at Jatin. He thinks I’mthatfamiliar with his son. Ha, if he only knew.
“Sorry, I hope I’m not interrupting a father-son moment.”
Jatin inhales, sharp enough for me to hear it.
“Kalyan told me where I might find you,” I add.
Jatin steps forward, but I halt him with my hand.
Maharaja Naupure looks between us. “Are you twostillfighting after all these years?”
“You could say that.”
At first, I was surprised to hear the door open. There hadn’t been a knock and none of the servants would dare enter unannounced. Then Adraa steps in and my heart smiles and collapses within a two-second span. How did this happen? How did everything go so wrong so fast?
I was anticipating telling her any day now, but in all the scenarios I ran through my head, I never imagined her this mad. Not when I explained myself, not when we had shared so much in the past weeks.
I have to say something. After all these weeks of lying I have to say something.
Like always, my father beats me to it. “Are you twostillfighting after all these years?”
“You could say that,” Adraa answers. “And I could tell you about it. Or you could tell me why I have found zero proof Maharaja Moolek has been stealing my firelight.”
Is she serious? We’re going to talk about Project Smoke right now instead of the fact that she knows who I am?
I draw toward her. “Adraa, we need to talk.”
Her eyes cut into me. “Not now.”
My father interrupts our standoff. “Jatin told me you two haven’t found proof yet. There’s the possibility it isn’t Moolek getting the Vencrin to steal firelight. Maybe it’s only the Vencrin.”
“Onlythe Vencrin?” Adraa says, her voice hard. What’s going on with her? She’s using her interrogation voice.
“Adraa, what’s wrong?” my father asks. I guess he can sense it too.
