The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen #1)(65)

Gauri balked. “Praise him? He did nothing!”

“You would do well to learn how to play the games of court,” I said. “Sometimes an illusion is just as good as the actual thing. The difference lies in the telling. Make this one concession. Find out what happens next. If you bring back these soldiers and word gets out that it was your idea and your escape, he may punish them on your behalf.”

Gauri considered me. “What are you?”

“A maybe-false-queen!” butted in Kamala.

It must have come out as another deranged horse whinny because Gauri nearly jumped.

“I told you,” I said, not meeting her gaze. “I’m a person who lived here once upon a time.”

“You know far too much about the political schemes of Bharata.”

“My father was a diplomat.”

“No, he wasn’t! No, he wasn’t!” sang Kamala. “Lies are fun. Lies are nice. They taste like rice soaked in milk and sliced and diced with cardamom and—”

“Is your horse ill?” asked Gauri.

“No, not at all,” I said and smacked Kamala on her flank. “She’s eager.”

“For blood,” said Kamala.

I forced a grin on my face. “Send the harem wife that you trust the most. We’re going to need her to cause a distraction.”

Gauri nodded approvingly. “If you’re starting anything at the harem, that will get his attention. It’s where he spends most of his time anyway. Give me some time before you send the wife to start a distraction. I need to gather my belongings and say some goodbyes.”

“You have my word,” I said, before adding, “and my admiration.”

Gauri leaned close. “So far, I like you, whether or not you’re a real sadhvi, although I have no doubt that you aren’t. But make one wrong move, hurt a single hair on the head of the harem wife I send to you, and you can be sure that I will have you kicked out of these gates or worse. And my brother will be none the wiser.”

In my head, I heard the Gauri from what felt like only four days ago. She had thrown her arms around my waist and told me she would protect me. At least I knew the protective instinct wasn’t something she’d lost.

Gauri jogged off in the direction of the harem and I pulled Kamala along to the palace temple. “Well? Any word? Any news about the Chakara Forest?”

“None-none-none,” sang Kamala. “But they are still there.”

“How can you recognize their presence against all the others?” I asked. “Surely death isn’t just waiting inside the Chakara Forest.”

“Death is just a little pulse, like a splinter in my veins. But this is different. He rarely leaves so many representatives at once. Certain people, the Dharma Raja culls individually, and then there is a surge in my heart like fire and a thousand carmine flowers blooming all at once.”

“Representatives?” I repeated.

But then I realized. The hounds in the halls, their mouths thick and writhing with human spirits, their coats brindled like emerald and diamond. Living jewels turned monstrous. They were Amar’s messengers, his representatives gone to fetch troublesome souls and bring them back to Naraka. But why have all of them in one place at the same time?

“Beasts,” whispered Kamala, affirming my suspicions. “Four-eyes. Tongues like lashes. Fun to kick. Prone to chasing and nervous flop sweat. They chew on bones, but only the tibias and femurs of virgins with mixed eyes. Preferably when one eye is black as a cygnet and the other is green as a grass shoot.”

Not a very pleasing image. Now, all I could see were giant hounds chasing down the souls of those who wanted to cling to life a little longer. It also meant that they were waiting to gather something and bring it back to Naraka, but why? And why would he need so many? At least I knew where all of the beasts and the people would end up: Naraka.

Perhaps there’d be a way to figure out how to follow them. To get back to Amar. But how could I save him if he wouldn’t know me? How would going to Naraka even make a difference?

“Do you think clouds prefer to drop rain all at once or to test the ground occasionally?” asked Kamala. She was staring at me with a strange intensity. It was either hunger or thoughtfulness.

“Why does that matter?”

“Because you are splitting yourself, maybe-queen-but-certainly-liar.”

Splitting myself.

“You are a fraying, fragmented bone. And no one, not even I, would deign to eat such a thing.”

“What do you expect me to do?”

“I don’t expect anything,” said Kamala archly. “I expect sunshine and moonshine. But I am telling you to stop being a broken bone. You are in one place, so be in one place. Or I’ll bite you.”

Be in one place. I was here. I wouldn’t leave Gauri. It wasn’t like last time, when I had no choice but to flee or die. Right now, she was the one who needed me. And truthfully, I needed her too.

By now, we had nearly reached the palace temple. Beautiful sandstone walls arced around us. I stayed outside, near the pillared mandapa halls where deities with half-lidded gazes considered us stonily. There was a figure moving toward us, an emerald veil pulled low over her face. She must be Gauri’s friend from the harem. I wondered who she was. The figure didn’t look familiar. The woman moved slowly. She was older. Stockier. She had none of the lissome watery-grace of the harem wives I remembered. She moved like someone who had no one left to impress.