The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)(87)

She was here because she was angry, furious at Harun. This may have been how they used to handle conflict, the fighting, kissing, and making up, but this time she knew better.

He couldn’t make a power play against her and get away with it.

He needed to know that.

“You seem to have forgotten I came here for an apology. You almost tarnished the Viper’s reputation. Swear you will never do it again,” she said, her voice clear in its vehemence.

He stilled, staring her down. Finally, he sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. Esha did a double take, shocked. “And I swear.”

She couldn’t remember the last time Harun had apologized, to anyone. She knew he saw it as a weakening of his position as the prince. He took on the responsibility and the ire for any and all decisions within the rebel ranks while she remained unscathed, the beloved of the two.

It weighed on him, but it was a burden he had chosen, no matter how much she had argued. “I promise, Esha. I swear, I hadn’t planned it. But Adviser Jehek said . . . and then I saw their reaction to us on the dais . . .”

Harun was stuttering, but it didn’t give her as much satisfaction as she thought. Her annoyance still ran hot.

“Capitalize on your own reputation, Harun. Also, I hate that man. I thought we agreed he was a slimy toad.”

“He is a slimy toad, but he’s also a toad with money and influence.” Harun sighed, and she felt it ripple through his body. There was clearly more troubling Harun. “You know why we called the cease-fire. You agreed. A few more moons and our troops would’ve been decimated, especially after Sundara. Esha, there’s so much I need to catch you up on—”

“Same here,” she said, thinking of the squad she had just sent out with orders to join the search for Reha.

“—But I never meant to undermine you.”

“Doesn’t matter. You did. And Kunal—”

He cut her off with a finger to her lips. She started pulling away, her whip uncoiled and fallen on the floor.

“I don’t want to talk about the soldier. He’s alive,” Harun said, his tone biting, his eyes flashing with fury. He trailed a finger up and down her skin in a way that made her shiver. She knew that look on his face, the one that was asking her to stay.

“I have to go,” she said with a shake of her head. He may have apologized, but she’d nurse a grudge for another day or so, for sure.

“Do you?”

“I have training with the team in the morning.”

“I’m canceling it.”

“You can’t do that, Harun.”

“No, I can’t, but it was worth a shot.” He looked at her, grinning. “I just wanted to talk.”

And in his eyes was a softness she missed. The softness of familiarity and acceptance. And they did have so much to talk about.

But another pair of eyes flashed in her mind, amber and gold.

“Actually, I do have something to tell you,” she said, with a frown. “And you won’t like it.”





Chapter 56


Arpiya found Esha as she sneaked back into her rooms in the morning, desperate for a bath and some chai before having to go down for training.

Esha had stayed till the morning and taken advantage of the safe space of Harun’s bedroom to finally reveal the truth of the night of the general’s death—and to admit to not telling him about what she’d discovered from the report, that Vardaan was onto Reha’s trail.

She had apologized for that to Harun, but she had needed the past week to gather information and begin evaluating everyone on the base. Esha had started to check each squad’s postings and that someone else, a contact or another rebel, could vouch for them being there.

Once she had cleared the Red Squad, she sent them out to help in the search for the lost princess. They needed to get there before the others did.

Harun might not have acted so rationally when it came to his sister. His response to the truth of the night and her confession had been expected: shock, fury, worry.

And in that moment they had forgiven each other—they realized their own internal power struggles were nothing to the larger game someone had set up around them. Esha still had no idea who the killer was and it bothered her. Her stomach turned at the thought of being a fly in a vicious spider’s web. She had asked Arpiya to set up a meeting for that reason.

Arpiya stood outside Esha’s room, leaning against the ajar door, which Esha distinctly remembered locking the previous night.

“Sleep much last night? I’ve been looking for you,” she said to Esha, smirking. Esha rolled her eyes and pushed past her into the room.

“It wasn’t like that this time.” She didn’t know why she felt the need to explain herself. It wasn’t like Arpiya was Kunal. Or that Arpiya even knew who Kunal was, though she was sure Bhandu had spread the news around. “Where have you been?” Esha asked in response.

“Harun’s had me training the new recruits. A bunch of rotten, lazy mangoes, the lot of them.”

“We used to be those rotten, lazy mangoes once.”

Arpiya gasped. “No, never!” She plopped herself down on Esha’s bed, fingering the soft sheets. “Are his any better?”

Esha wished she didn’t understand her question. “Of course. They feel like clouds. “