“Is this real?” the steward Govind asked in awe.

“Oh, yes.” I smiled at his expression. “And the Rani Amrita has promised that all of you will be well cared for here.”

“It’s been so long!” Sudhakar breathed. “I’d forgotten how lovely it was. Only I wonder…” His brows furrowed. “How shall I live here?”

I hadn’t thought about the implications of this homecoming for him. Sudhakar was one of the no-caste lads that Jagrati had taken from the untouchable camp outside the city, the only one to have survived. Leaning over in the saddle, I laid my hand over his. “Don’t worry, Sudhakar. The Rani will take care of you, too.”

Sudhakar flinched away from my touch and didn’t respond. In my mind, I heard the soft, tearing rasp of Jagrati’s laughter. The habits of a lifetime died hard.

That and Hasan Dar’s deteriorating condition were the two shadows that lay over our return to Bhaktipur. Our procession was spotted making its way along the valley, and by the time we reached the outskirts of the city, there was a royal reception awaiting us with Pradeep and a company of guards, and the Rani Amrita herself standing before her palanquin, glowing in a purple sari embroidered with gold, Ravindra resplendent beside her in a saffron tunic and loose breeches, a purple turban on his head.

Both of them were smiling so brightly, it made my heart ache.

Bao and I dismounted to approach on foot. When we were yet a few paces away, Amrita laughed and ran forward, flinging her arms around my neck and kissing me. “Oh, Moirin! I am so glad you’re here. I hated leaving you in that place.” She glanced around, past Bao and Ravindra exchanging bows and grinning at one another. “Is everyone here? Is everyone safe?”

“Everyone is here,” I said. “But Hasan Dar is very ill, my lady.”

“Ah, no!” Spotting his litter, Amrita hurried over and dropped to her knees beside it. Pradeep hurried after her with a length of silk for her to kneel on, but she ignored it, reaching into the litter to take Hasan’s hand. “No, no, my friend,” she chided him. “This is no good! You must get well.”

His eyelids cracked open and a faint smile lifted his parched lips. “Now that you have commanded it, I’m sure I shall, highness.”

Amrita rose. “Let us make haste to the palace,” she said to Pradeep. “Did you tell the physician to meet us in the barracks?”

He bowed. “I did, highness.”

“Good.” She gave a brisk nod, then turned to address the servants of Kurugiri. “If you wish, places for all of you will be found in my household. I find we are quite shorthanded since taking in the Falconer’s harem.”

All save one of them looked profoundly relieved. I don’t think they had let themselves believe until that moment.

Only Sudhakar was not gazing at the Rani with gratitude. He was not gazing at the Rani at all, but kneeling and touching his brow to the ground. “Highness?” he asked in a muffled voice. “You know what I am.”

“Yes,” Amrita said firmly. “You are the young man who assisted Bao-ji tirelessly in tending to my injured warriors. You are the young man who offered to tend to the dead with honor.” Stooping, she put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a little shake. “And there is a place in my household for you, too. Perhaps you would like to be my physician’s apprentice, eh?”

A great shudder racked him, and he gave a single hoarse sob. The Rani straightened. Sudhakar knelt upright, gazing at her lovely face. She smiled at him. Bowing his head once more, he reached out with trembling hands and touched her bare feet in respect and gratitude. “Thank you, highness,” he whispered.

In my mind, Jagrati’s dark laughter fell silent.

“Yes, yes.” Amrita patted his head. “Only let us hurry, shall we? For Hasan Dar’s sake.”

Sudhakar leapt to his feet, his face shining. “Yes, highness!”

It wasn’t really possible to hurry through the crowded, narrow streets of Bhaktipur, especially with hundreds of folk turned out to observe the royal procession and the last of the returning heroes, but we did our best. When they saw the litters and the injured men within them, the Bhaktipuri people called out blessings, laying garlands of dried flowers on them. By the time we reached the palace, Hasan Dar was half-buried beneath a carpet of blossoms.

One by one, the wounded guards were transported by their bearers into the barracks. Amrita gazed after them, worried.

“Do you think they’ll be all right, Bao-ji?” Ravindra asked. “All of them?”

“I am worried about Hasan Dar, young highness,” Bao said honestly. “But he is strong, and a fighter.” He smiled at Ravindra. “And your mother has ordered him to get well. I know he wishes to obey her.”

“Mama-ji said you saved many lives,” Ravindra said in a respectful tone.

“I tried.” Bao stretched out his hands, regarding them. “My mentor Master Lo could have done better, much better. But I did my best.”

“That is all anyone can do,” Ravindra said with dignity, his small face very serious beneath his purple turban. “I think you did very well indeed.”

Amrita gave me a sparkling sidelong glance, and I smiled back at her, thinking that these two were truly very good for one another. “Come!” She clapped her hands together. “Let us leave the horses to the stablehands and the treasure to the porters, and get everyone inside. You must all be very tired and hungry after your journey.”

To be sure, I was.

It was a relief, a blessed relief, to be back in this place where I had found sanctuary after a long ordeal; and with the shadow of the threat of Kurugiri’s assassins lifted, it truly was a place of sanctuary once more.

I didn’t know how Amrita went about settling her expanded staff within her expanded household, and I didn’t care. It was enough for now to know that she did. I trusted my golden Rani to keep her word.

In the chamber I shared with Bao, I removed the pouch containing the necklace with Kamadeva’s diamond from my pocket. It weighed heavy in my hand, singing softly to me. Although I’d thought myself jaded on treasure, this was no mortal gem. I had the urge to open the pouch and look at it once more, to gaze on the dark, shifting embers at the black diamond’s core. In Kurugiri and on the journey, there had been no time to think about it.

Now I couldn’t help but wonder how it would look around my neck, what I would be like wielding it.

“Tempted, Moirin?” Bao was watching me.

“No.” I set the pouch down quickly on a dressing table. “Just… wondering. I can’t help it.”

He came over to me. “You wonder what you would be like?” I nodded. Bao touched my cheek with his fingertips. “You would be desirable beyond bearing,” he said soberly. “You already incite powerful desire. Were you to don Kamadeva’s diamond, I think no one would be able to resist you, for the diamond would reflect your own considerable passions back at them. Men would walk through fire for the chance to touch your skin-and women, too. Men would gladly fight to the death for your favor without being asked. I daresay you couldn’t stop them from doing it. Is that what you want?”

“No!” I said. “Of course not.” And it was true, almost entirely true; but there was a tiny piece of me that said otherwise. The vanity and pride that was wounded by the fact that I had wanted Raphael de Mereliot more than he had wanted me; by the fact that I’d failed to seduce Aleksei in Vralia; even the fact that my lady Amrita had only offered herself to me out of compassion.

But I could envision the Maghuin Dhonn Herself turning away from me in reproach, Her eyes filled with immense sorrow and regret.

I sighed. “I will ask the Rani for a coffer with a strong lock, and I will put Kamadeva’s diamond in it and throw away the key. Let the priests worry about opening it when it is returned to the temple.”

Bao smiled. “I think that is wise. Such powerful objects are dangerous to mere mortals, even ones with the blood of the goddess of desire running in their veins.”