The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)(110)

Esha snorted, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. Blood came off her cheek.

“And this? You like me like this? My knife freshly blooded from killing soldiers like yourself?”

She waited, expecting another pithy comment, a sly retort, a smart evasion.

“Yes. I’m more than just a soldier. You’re more than just the Viper.”

Esha saw the truth of it in Kunal’s eyes, shining at her so bright and eager. It made the hard steel edges of her heart melt.

She shook her head. He was insane, but who was she to question it?

It was what she had always wanted, deep in a secret place. Someone who saw both Esha and the Viper and ran from neither. She had a hard time with that herself.

“I had come back. I realized what you had offered me, that it had been my choice.” He hesitated. “I was coming back to you when Laksh found me.” Esha tilted her chin up at him, trying to show him with her eyes that she understood. She had seen his face at the clearing. “And as long as it’s other people you’re trying to kill and not me, everything will be fine between us,” he said, smiling.

The laugh that burst from her was free, unencumbered, a sparrow taking flight in clear skies. Lightness was returning to her world and she noticed the breeze on her skin, the warmth of Kunal’s fingertips against her temple, the feeling of knowing someone saw her.

And something began to fill the hole that had been in her heart since her parents died. Bit by bit, grains of sand in an hourglass, Esha realized that maybe she would be healed and it wouldn’t be solely through revenge.

The thought confused her after years of the dark hurt in her soul and she pushed it aside, leaving it for her future self to unravel. Could they truly overcome their pasts?

Reality loomed over the lightness and Esha returned to it.

“Laksh knows you’re a Samyad now, for sure. I saw it all.”

Kunal shook his head. “I should’ve known about Laksh, what happened to me.”

“How could you have known? If anyone is at fault here, it’s me for letting him escape. Now he might return to this new rebel group, to this Dharmdev, and your life will be forfeit. The poison will slow him down, since it grazed his arm, but it likely won’t kill him. That’ll be up to us.”

Esha let out a sigh. “And Reha,” she continued. Kunal gave her a questioning look. “The girl, the precious cargo. It has to be her. Somehow, Vardaan has found her.”

“Of course you were eavesdropping,” he muttered, but there was no rancor in his voice, only faint amusement. He quirked an eyebrow. “But how can you be sure she survived? That this isn’t a false rumor they’ve started to manipulate us?”

She cleared her throat and he gave her a questioning look. Now was as good a time as any for honesty. “I kept something from you earlier. Not just that the Fort was looking for Reha. But also that I knew there was a possibility she was alive. I was there with her, on the Night of Tears. I helped her and her nurse to escape.”

Kunal said nothing, his mouth in a tight line as he waited for her to finish.

“We’ve had rebels out looking for her since, for her nurse, for any sign. Only bits and pieces here and there, never a full enough picture until now. Vardaan is scared of her, Kunal. She is the rightful heir and when she comes into her powers . . . Even if there’s only a small chance that the cargo is Reha, we can’t leave her there.”

He pulled her close and kissed her again, but it was soft, a balm on her soul rather than one to set her aflame.

She pulled away before the kiss became unbreakable, knowing their work wasn’t done.

“And we need to track down Laksh, find him before he tells the rebels. They’ve already been searching for you.”

Esha hoped he understood what she wasn’t saying, that they’d have to do that without the team.

It shouldn’t have surprised him but it still did, this newfound closeness between them. He could almost see her mind working in tandem with his own.

“The soldiers said the cargo was still en route to Gwali. If we go now, we can intercept Reha. Rescue her before she reaches Vardaan,” Kunal said.

“If we go now, we can capture Laksh and make sure your secret stays secret. That you stay free,” Esha countered. They stared at each other. Neither willing to break the gaze.

It would be dangerous either way, going into the heart of Jansa alone.

A cadre of soldiers protected Reha on her journey to the capital and Laksh was still out there, left to his own machinations. And now he knew Kunal’s true identity, how valuable he would be to any side. How long before Dharmdev and his rebels came after Kunal?

If they tried to capture Laksh first, Kunal might stand a chance at a real life, one without becoming a pawn of powerful people.

If Reha fell into Vardaan’s hands, it might not matter. She would become their pawn instead.

His own freedom or the freedom of the people he had sworn to protect?

Kunal didn’t want to be passive anymore, living a stolen life. He would rather take his chance out there, risking himself for something he believed in.

This would be his first decision unencumbered by the shadow of the Blood Fort. The first step toward his new future.

He heard a rustle in the underbrush to his right, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of orange and black. A tiger.

Kunal turned his head to look, but only the fluttering leaves of a banyan remained.