SIXTY-EIGHT

No one loved the plan, and our young chess-master Ravindra liked it least of all.

“It’s very dangerous, Mama-ji!” he said in an unwontedly frightened tone. “What if Moirin…” He made a helpless gesture. “Falls victim again?”

“I won’t,” I murmured. “Not this way.”

“She won’t,” Amrita said with conviction. “Not with Bao-ji at her side, not with me there. I will not allow it.”

Bao met my gaze. “If we’re to survive the maze, it will require your magic after all, Moirin-even before we reach Kurugiri. There’s no other way. We’ll have to kill in stealth, you and I.”

“I know,” I said steadily. “And there is no honor in it. But I do believe that the stakes are high enough that the Maghuin Dhonn Herself will forgive me.”

Ravindra’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”

“No, young highness,” I said honestly to him. “Very little in life is certain. But I am quite sure that if we navigate the maze, I can find Jagrati and encompass her in the twilight, rendering her and Kamadeva’s diamond invisible for a time.”

“A time,” he echoed.

“A time is long enough for us to secure the fortress,” Hasan Dar said in a pragmatic voice. “That is all we need. Once it is done, there will be too many of us for her to contend with.”

“Once we have gained entrance to the fortress, she will make her stand in a smaller place.” Bao pointed at the drawing of Kurugiri’s layout. “Here in the throne room is my guess. We will not be able to fit more than a score of men in there.”

“How many can she control at once?” Hasan Dar inquired. “Can she force them to turn on their fellows?”

“I don’t know,” Bao admitted. “Only that the compulsion to do her bidding is powerful, but it can be overridden.”

“How?”

“Love.” Bao glanced at me, eyes crinkling in a smile of rare sweetness. “It is a force strong enough that it allowed me to walk away from her. It allowed the Rani to protect Moirin. Kamadeva’s diamond commands a powerful desire, but there is no love in Jagrati, only rage and hatred. So. I suggest you meditate on those you love, commander, and advise your men to do the same, whether it be their wives and sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, priests and mentors, or their love for and loyalty to the Rani Amrita herself. Love, and love alone, is the force that will allow you to resist.”

It was not a speech anyone would have expected Bao to make, me included. Hasan Dar inclined his head in surprised respect. “I will do that, Bao-ji.”

“Good.” Bao returned his attention to the map. “If I may make one more suggestion, I would advise dividing your men into two companies. Jagrati will have Lord Khaga and every last man standing guarding her.” He tapped the map. “The harem will be unguarded.”

The commander followed his thoughts. “So if everything else goes wrong, we can still rescue those poor unfortunates.”

Bao nodded. “Jagrati allows Lord Khaga his harem as a sop to his pride, a place he can go to prove his manhood when she denies him to dally with his assassins. Whatever else happens, we should plan to free the harem.”

“How many are there?”

“Counting the children?” Bao frowned in thought. “Twenty-five or thirty, perhaps. I do not know for sure. I was only allowed there once to search for Moirin.”

“There are children in that place?” Amrita asked in horror.

“Yes, highness.” Bao was silent a moment. “I do not think they were treated cruelly, at least not as children. The Falconer finds them distasteful, and avoids them. Even a woman bearing a child is repulsive to him.” His mouth tightened. “I heard it said that in the harem, it was every woman’s goal to conceive a son.”

“Why?” I asked, perplexed.

He looked askance at me. “If a woman bears him a son, the Falconer would not return to her bed. And she would not have to worry about a daughter growing up and being forced to share his.”

My stomach churned. “And you said it wasn’t terrible there?”

“I was in a very dark place within myself, Moirin,” Bao said quietly. “The hatred that Jagrati carries within her, it is like a sickness. I am still learning to live in brightness again.”

“It is not your fault, Bao-ji!” Ravindra said with indignant loyalty, his narrow hands forming a mudra of reassurance. “The gods always test the strongest heroes, the ones they love best in the world. Surely you passed!”

Bao smiled at him with genuine affection. “You are quite the hero yourself, young highness, rushing to protect your mother as you did! It would have gone far worse for me if you hadn’t.”

“Truly?” Ravindra flushed with pleasure.

“Truly.”

Thus for better or worse, our plan was established. It would take some days to assemble a sufficient force and arrange for supplies and other necessities, such as a battering ram that would have to be carried through the winding maze on foot.

In the meantime, we lived in fear.

Hasan Dar insisted that the Rani and her son continue to sleep in the hidden room. It made sense, for although the assassin Zoka had tortured the secret out of poor Sameera, he had taken it to his death.

Still, I could not blame either of them for being reluctant to return there.

“Would it help if Moirin and I stayed with you?” Bao offered. “I am sure it is against protocol, but…”

My lady Amrita fingered her bruised throat. “Yes,” she said gratefully. “It would help very much, thank you.”

I didn’t think there was room in the small space for another bed. “We can put a pallet of blankets on the floor between you.”

“Even better!” Ravindra clapped his hands together with glee. “Bao-ji can share my bed, and Moirin can share yours, Mama-ji. It will be as though we were a large family, like your family in Galanka, eh?” The notion delighted him. “Yes, I will pretend Bao is my older brother, and you will pretend Moirin is your little sister.”

“I don’t think-” I began diplomatically.

“Would that make you happy, jewel of my heart?” Amrita asked her son. He nodded. She summoned a weary smile. “Then if Moirin and Bao do not mind, we shall do so, and have a game of pretending.”

Bao made a show of weighing the matter. “Do you snore, young highness?” he asked in a serious tone. “Because I cannot abide snoring. Do you steal the blankets at night? Because I do not like to be cold.”

Giggling, Ravindra shook his head. “No, older brother! I promise, I do not do either thing.”

Amrita touched my hand. “Do you mind?”

I smiled at her. “What do you think, my lady?”

She gave me a sidelong glance, a hint of her familiar, amused sparkle returning to her eyes. “I think I am very glad to see my son happy in the midst of this nightmare. I think your bad boy has a very large heart.” She caught my hand and squeezed it fondly. “And I think you do not mind at all, little sister.”

Of course I didn’t.

Even so, my nerves were strung tight that evening as Bao and I ascended the narrow stairway to the hidden room to ensure it was safe, both of us wrapped in the twilight. The memory of the assassin Zoka’s attack was fresh in my mind. Bao searched every corner, peered under the beds, over the balcony, his staff at the ready. Not until he nodded at me did I kindle the lamps and release the twilight, the bright-burning wicks turning from cool silver to flickering gold.

Safe; we were safe.

This time it was true.

It was a little bit funny, a little bit awkward, and altogether sweet as we turned our backs on one another to change into sleeping attire. The beds creaked as we climbed into them, a comforting, homely sound.

I was careful not to touch my lady Amrita, not wanting to presume on her affection.

“Oh, don’t be foolish, Moirin,” she chided me, laying her head on my shoulder. “All of us need all the comfort we can find. I am glad you are here.”