The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)(77)

Harun appeared by her side, offering his free hand. She swatted him away.

“All in good fun,” she said happily. “I’ve been alone for a while.”

She turned toward Harun as Farhan reached to fix his brother’s waist sash.

“Indeed.” Harun gave her a pointed look. It made Esha’s body tighten with familiarity and she turned away abruptly.

Bhandu was pulling up behind them, Kunal over one shoulder. The horse carrying Rakesh trailed behind, moving faster as Harun tugged at the slack rope.

“Did someone get attacked?” Bhandu asked.

“What happened to pig boy?” Esha asked at the same time.

Rakesh seemed to have gathered layers of dirt since they had started their journey. Bhandu snorted.

“Pig boy. I like that. He keeps falling over.” Bhandu glared at Harun’s back. “I wanted to leave him behind. Dead weight. Literally. We are going to kill him, right? After we get information?”

Harun shrugged, his dark eyes unreadable. His jaw showed the beginnings of a beard, one that he hadn’t been wearing when Esha had left. It complemented the strong angles of his jaw and made him look more like his father, King Mahir.

Esha had always found him attractive, but the last vestiges of boyhood had melted from his face, leaving behind a young man who had become harder to decipher than her old friend.

“Probably. Let’s see what we can do with him first.”

“And then kill him?” Bhandu was like a cat with a mouse.

“Eventually,” Harun said.

Esha watched it all with a faint smile. She had missed them. This was her family. Her eyes drifted back to Kunal, his face slack in poison-induced sleep. Faint purple tendrils curled around his temples, reaching down to his eye like grasping tentacles.

She looked up only to see Harun, who, of course, had been watching her.

“What’s happening to him?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

Harun paused, and she knew he was deciding how much to tell her.

Moon Lord’s fists, after everything they had been through, this was how he repaid her? Mistrust? She knew she was hiding things from him, but he didn’t know that. She should be owed good faith.

He seemed to have reached the same conclusion. His face opened up and she could read him again. “It’s just the beginning stages. If we woke him, he’d be in faint pain and feel nauseated but nothing more. But we’ll need to get him back quickly. We can administer the antidote in small doses when we arrive.”

Esha couldn’t control her reaction. “You didn’t bring the antidote?” she seethed. The twins looked over, aware of the danger in her voice. “What if one of us had gotten hit instead?”

Harun scoffed. “The twins never miss—”

Esha cut him off. “This isn’t about them. I know they’re spectacular.” She threw them a sweet smile and Farhan blushed. “This is about you putting us in danger, however unlikely.”

He looked back at her, a small frown forming.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Esha. We’ll get him back in time, and if you hadn’t noticed—we’re all fine.” Harun moved closer to her, his voice dropping low so that the others strained to hear. He placed his hand on her elbow. “Are you sure there isn’t something else going on here?”

She shook her head a bit too hard. What did he want her to say? That somewhere in her cold Viper heart, this enemy of theirs mattered to her? It was laughable. But Harun knew her, and she wouldn’t be able to avoid his probing for long. Just for now.

The lie came easily.

“No, I just don’t want anything to happen to my team.”

His hand was still warm on her arm and she wanted to lean into it, tell him everything, as she always did, just to have someone to tell. But instead, she moved away. They continued the trek up from the Mauna Valley to the rebels’ hidden pass.

This valley was known to be one of the most beautiful and magical places in Jansa outside of the Tej. A place where deep ravines met thick, grassy fields, where elephants and tigers lapped at the water streams together at dawn, oblivious to humanity. She had only ever seen a peacock, and those cursed howler monkeys, in her visits so far.

Puffs of breath led the way as they left the valley, the air turning thinner as they approached the highest point of the lowest peak in the Ghanta Mountains. A low cloud, supernatural by the light gold color, enveloped them as they climbed, its soft chill wrapping them in its embrace, turning everything into a light fog.

These clouds always drifted over the Ghanta Mountains, though no one could agree on whether they were elemental spirits or those of the mountain gods.

She turned her head, straining her neck to see if she could catch a glimpse of the Aifora Range to the north. It was rumored that at the right time, on the right day, the highest peak of the Aifora Range would turn a shimmering, burnished gold and those who saw it would be blessed for the remainder of their lives.

The myths also said the tallest mountain of the Aifora Range, Mount Bangaar, was shrouded in chilled gold clouds that led up to the home of the gods. The bottom of the mountain was a site for holy pilgrimage, or at least it had been before the war had started. Now the path taken by thousands through history was blocked off by border patrols.

Another thing the Pretender King had ruined.

They emerged from the cloud soon enough, frost coating the ends of Farhan’s hair and the tips of Aahal’s long eyelashes. Harun seemed unaffected except for a small shiver, having given the gelding’s reins back to the twins.