I went so long without my powers that I immediately recognize the sensation. Does Tarek know? He could have brought me here to disarm me, but he sat beside me all day without any indication that he knows what I am.
I do not think about it long, for I see Gautam and Jaya. I restrain a gasp. My friend’s face is bruised more than before, and her lip is split. The scar across her cheek has been reopened, cut in a precise, purposeful line. I wrap her in my arms.
“What has he done to you?”
“The rajah knows,” she whispers back.
My windpipe seals shut. Knows what? That I am a Burner? About Deven and me? That we are after the Zhaleh? That I am aiding the bhuta warlord? I have so many secrets that I do not know which to prepare a defense for.
Tarek invites us to the table. He and I kneel on floor cushions beside each other, and Gautam and Jaya sit across from us. The table is set with elegant plating and silverware, including carving knives, golden chalices, and satin linens. A platter of bread and honey has been set out as an appetizer. I touch none of it.
Jaya tucks her arms and legs close to her body, like an insect curling in on itself. I wish that we could link hands under the table like we did in Samiya. I could gut Gautam for what he did to her. The cut on Jaya’s cheek had healed, but now it will leave an ugly scar.
A servant offers wine to the rajah. He waves her away and selects a portion of cheese that he lays on my plate. “Good matches today, wouldn’t you say, General?”
“A headache forced me to miss most of the morning,” replies Gautam.
I resist the urge to look at Jaya. I want to praise her slyness for poisoning her husband, but for all I know, he caught her and repaid her with new injuries.
“I did see the victors’ match. That courtesan of yours, Fareeshah, is a master with the blade. The viraji will have to dirty her hands with a sword. A slingshot will not hold up in the arena.”
“Why don’t I use my fists—like a man?” I ask, with a pointed look at Jaya’s split lip.
Tarek strokes my arm to shush me. “See her spirit? My viraji is eager to battle. Now, Jaya”—my friend shrinks under the rajah’s full attention—“how are you enjoying your stay?”
“Very well, Your Majesty. Your gardens are lovely.”
“You should tour more of the grounds, see my execution yard.”
“I’m certain there are lovelier places for her to visit,” I say, laughing lightly.
“Are there?” Tarek’s question is meant to set me on edge. I want to parch him unconscious for threatening my friend. When will he tell me he has imprisoned Deven? What is he waiting for?
Chuckling to himself, Tarek inclines toward me. “Glare any harder and you will peel off my skin. Relax and enjoy the evening.”
I could no more relax there than in a den of wolves.
Servants set out a roast goose. Above us, the fire-washed sky cools to inky azure, and Tarek and the general discuss the tournament further. Jaya curls her hand around her supper knife and picks at her food. I try to catch her eye, but she will not look at me.
At the end of our tedious meal, Tarek wipes his mouth clean on a napkin and smiles. “I have arranged for entertainment.”
Jaya’s gaze jumps to mine. I know that look of fright. The last time I saw it, we were outside the temple when an avalanche started and she told me to run inside. But I have no time to run now. The avalanche has struck.
Into the atrium walk several imperial guards. Terror drives icy spikes into my bones. Between the guards, shackled in irons, is Deven.
28
Chains lock Deven’s wrists behind his back. His uniform jacket is missing, and his undershirt torn. His face is beaten nearly beyond recognition. The lips that kissed me this morning are swollen and bleeding. Yet Deven stands with his chin high and his gaze forward.
Behind him, floating on a cloud of arrogance, walks Lakia. The kindred is followed closely by . . .
Gods, no. Manas.
“Captain Naik, this isn’t one of your better looks,” says the rajah. Gautam chuckles, and I cut him a sharp look. That is your son. “I heard you were poking about the palace grounds. Find anything of interest?”
Deven stares straight ahead.
Gautam answers for him. “We caught the captain associating with a Burner.”
Panic drives a battering ram through me. Brac must have been captured as well.
“You wouldn’t be aiding the bhuta rebels, would you, Captain?” Tarek asks. “Not my most loyal of soldiers who roped me to a boulder when a Galer attacked. Not the man I trusted with my life and the viraji’s life.”
“I should have let you die,” Deven says, meeting the rajah’s gaze.
Tarek barks a sardonic laugh. “You will beg my forgiveness for that when you’re being crushed under a pile of rocks.” He clasps a hand on my shoulder. “The viraji will do the honor of casting the first stone.”
My heart dives to my knees. I would never stone Deven.
“The viraji is as guilty as the captain.” Lakia lifts a book in her hands. “This was in her bedchamber.” She lays Bhuta Origins before the rajah.
“That belongs to me,” Deven answers. “I hid it in the viraji’s chamber, on the bookshelf by the door.”
Tarek arches a questioning brow at Lakia, and she nods begrudgingly. That is where she found the book.
“You were hiding it for your bhuta accomplice?” Tarek prompts Deven.
“Yes, Your Majesty. The viraji did not know it was there.”
I cannot bear to listen. Why are you doing this? my eyes shout at Deven.
His gaze pushes back his answer. I have come to read his thoughts as well as Jaya’s, and I see his request clearly.
Save yourself.
He does not want me to put up a fuss. I am to let them drag him away, innocent in all except that he wished to be with me.
“Captain,” Tarek says, “for conspiring against the throne, you are hereby stripped of your military command and sentenced to death.” Tarek pours himself a chalice of wine in celebration, grinning like a lynx with a sable in its jaws. “Your execution is set for dawn.”
Deven licks his bloodied lip and says nothing, his gaze so far off that he could be across the desert.
Tarek watches me, waiting for a reaction. My instincts scream at me to scorch him to a pile of ash, but I still have no powers.
Tarek dismisses his soldiers with a wave, and they lead Deven away. My gaze claws at Deven, begging him to look at me, but he does not glance back.
“Rajah Tarek, thank you for the meal.” Gautam blots his greasy lips with a cloth. “Will you attend the captain’s execution?”
“The viraji and I will be there.” Tarek’s smile twists his ruthlessness deeper into my back. “And, General, I expect you will control your wife. One more slipup and she’s gone.”
Gautam bows his head. “I apologize again, Your Majesty.”
Jaya lowers her watery eyes. What happened? Was she caught with Deven and Brac? Is that why she cannot look at me? Was it her fault?