The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)(28)

Esha tried to stand up, only to realize she was stuck. She fumbled with her pack, trying to pull out the crescent pin to cut her sandal free, but she couldn’t find it. With a huff, she tugged the pack into her lap, searching for the pin as a prickle of dread crept up her spine.

The pin was nowhere to be found.

Esha cursed, thoroughly. Stupid. She was so stupid.

Her mind immediately turned to the worst. What if the soldier had found the pin? If he knew anything about the Blades, he would recognize it. And if he was clever enough, he’d put the pieces together. That the Viper worked for the Blades.

She took a calming breath, thinking of what Arpiya would say. Don’t assume, she would say. It only makes you look foolish.

A coolness washed over Esha and she focused on the facts. She couldn’t find the pin. That might mean the soldier had found it, but it could also mean she had dropped it somewhere in the forest. It didn’t mean that her secret was out.

Esha scowled. And in any case, whoever framed her already knew her identity.

She found her knife and cut the loose thread, freeing herself. She had meant to slip in and out of the Tej without notice and be halfway on her way to Faor by now, maybe take a day to collect information if she had time. Her only suspect for the murder and her framing was in that city.

But now the soldier had seen her face, knew she was the Viper, and worst of all, might connect her to the Crescent Blades.

Esha breathed out a sigh of frustration—she couldn’t do anything about it now anyway. But she would make it hard for the soldier to find her again. And without proof, it was unlikely that any of his fellow soldiers would accept that the Viper was a mere woman.

The thought brought a little smirk to her face. It never failed to delight her, knowing that all these soldiers, these men, were terrified of her.

A minute to catch her breath and she would keep going. Night had already started to fall, and she needed to make camp somewhere. Then she’d steal a horse and make her way to Faor, where she’d set the next part of her plan in motion.

To bring back her calm, Esha repeated what Arpiya would say if she was there, wishing that her friend was by her side. She was the closest thing to a real confidante in her life—her relationship with Harun, her co-leader, was more complicated.

It bolstered her spirits for a moment. Esha knew she would keep running and fighting for her freedom no matter what or who may come.

But maybe not looking like this.

She stared down at her dust-streaked pants and dirty shirt. She looked like a vagabond. First priority, new clothes and food. Maybe pick up another weapon or two.

Her hands left dirty prints on her silver flask and she made a face at her reflection.

She would kill for a bath. And she did mean it literally.





Chapter 17


“We separate here,” Kunal said, his hand shading his eyes as he peered out from his mare, his gaze roaming over the horizon.

The soft ground turned into sandy, cracked earth to the west. To the east lay the port towns, and beyond, the glossy sheen of the sea.

He had underestimated Esha, the Viper, before. He wasn’t about to do that again.

Kunal grasped the small pin he had found in his palm, fingering it as he looked to the horizon. He had remembered the pin that morning, cleaning up the mud to discover that it was the symbol of the Crescent Blades. His heartbeat had risen like a steady thrum as what it meant hit him.

It had been a stroke of luck from the gods.

It had been the clue he needed, one that would put him ahead of the others. He would have time later to unravel his excitement and terror that the Viper was one of the Blades.

Kunal couldn’t know for sure that this was the right path—he had also considered that finding the pin had merely been coincidence. Maybe she had found the pin somewhere, had stolen it or kept it for a future mission.

But if it was true and she was a Blade, the pin told him something important—the Viper didn’t work alone.

And now he had a plan for tracking her.

“Uh, why are we separating?” The question from Amir knocked Kunal out of his thoughts.

“Because this is a competition, Amir,” Kunal said.

“And some of us could also do without the dead weight,” Rakesh said, kicking Amir’s shin.

Kunal rolled his eyes. He would miss Laksh. He was always a step ahead—analyzing and weighing everything behind those dark eyes. In fact, Laksh was probably the perfect match to go up against the Viper, and his heart clenched for a second, feeling guilt at withholding the information from his friend earlier that day. He had lied when they had discussed their plans—Laksh had decided to gather information from the iron blacksmiths and Kunal had made up a story about visiting the House Ayul.

No, this was his advantage and his Viper to find.

He had to admit, it hadn’t been horrible to have the other soldiers around. If nothing else, it kept him from drowning in his thoughts. But from this point onward, he would have to be focused.

“It’ll be easy enough to keep in touch if anyone’s in dire need. We all have the whistles for the messenger hawks. Don’t lose them and you’ll have a higher chance of coming back alive,” Laksh said, sounding bored. Kunal saw the tension in his jaw, though, as if he was just as eager to separate from the others.

“Agreed. Now, where to go?” Rakesh asked as he squinted into the sunlight.