We were far away from the green valley with its strange bazaar, and had arrived in a place equally as breathtaking. There was a forest to our left, with cackling monkeys and cawing birds. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a herd of brown-and-white-dappled deer run by. Rising majestically to our right was the most awesome palace I had ever seen—not that I’d seen any in real life, but it was more beautiful than any movie or storybook castle. Its spires were golden, studded with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. Its walls were silver and bronze, with carved decorations in them. Each carved panel on the palace walls seemed to tell its own story. Scenes showed a festival, a wedding, and … yup. Two turbaned princes setting off on a journey mounted on their winged horses.
“We’ve got to find Minister Tuni. He’ll probably have some useful ideas about where we should start looking for Just Kiran’s parents.” Lal’s words melted me a little. Even though he’d lied, he was obviously still willing to help me find my family.
“Let’s, ah, get the horses settled first.” This suggestion of Neel’s was made with a funny, teasing tone.
“If you insist, Brother.” I was curious to see Lal squirming a little.
I wasn’t sure what that was about, but Snowy and Midnight seemed to like the idea. As soon as we dismounted, they trotted off in the direction of what must have been the palace stables. The stables were like twenty times nicer than my house—even before it got totaled by a demon with a sinus infection. The walls were made of bronze, with pillars of marble, and images of flying horses were carved into the outer walls.
“Hurry, Princess! I wanna show you my favorite place in all our kingdom!” Lal dashed off, forgetting at last to act like a fancy prince.
Even though I was still annoyed at him, I couldn’t help smiling. Unlike his brother, it was so easy to see what Lal was feeling. And right now, the handsome prince was happy to be home.
“Come on, he wants you to meet Mati.” Neel frowned at me as he said this, as if irritated that I was still there. At that, all my fear and worry transformed back into anger.
“So do you ever smile?”
Neel raised that eyebrow again. “Only when I have something to smile about.”
He really should change his name to Mr. Smirky Cool Guy, I thought. If Lal was always trying to be princely and proper, at least he was actually nice underneath that fake accent. Neel, on the other hand, kept trying to make himself unlikeable. And boy, was he doing a good job of it.
“You really think highly of yourself, huh?”
“You’re really nosy all the time, huh?” Neel countered.
“I wouldn’t call wanting to know the truth about where we’re going or where my parents are being nosy.” I felt my face heating up and my voice rising. “You’re the ones who lied to me.”
“Well, I’m so sorry this rescue isn’t going exactly according to your schedule, Princess. Would you rather we just didn’t help you and let you get on your way alone?”
“You know that’s not what I meant!” I snapped. “But you could have told me the truth back in New Jersey!”
“Would you have come with us if we told you we didn’t know exactly where your parents were?”
I had nothing to say to that. We’d left Parsippany in such a rush, escaping from that rakkhosh. But if I’d really had time to think it through, would I have gone off with two princes I didn’t know, who didn’t even know how to find my parents? Probably not. And where would that have left me? Alone and no closer to rescuing Ma and Baba.
We walked in a tense silence behind Lal to the palace stables. The big double doors had been hastily shut after the horses had trotted in. A little light shone from in between.
“May I come in?” Lal called through the half-open door.
“No, you may not,” answered a musical voice from inside. A girl’s voice.
I glanced at Neel, who muttered, “It’s the custom here,” without meeting my eyes. “You never—never—say you invite someone through a door.”
Before I could ask any more, the ornately carved doors of the stables flung open.
“My princes, you are home!”
Standing before us was a sturdy, capable-looking girl with shoulder-length dark hair. She was dressed like the boys, in loose pants and a flowing top. She had on knee-high boots and held a broom in her hand.
“Princess Just Kiran, I am honored to introduce you to my very best friend.” Lal grinned ear to ear. “Except my brother, of course! This is Mati!”
Mati joined her hands. “Namaskar, Princess Just Kiran, welcome to our kingdom.”
“Um … hi.” I awkwardly namaskar-ed her back. Even with all the stuff I’d discovered about myself in the last day—that I could fight demons, that I really was a princess—I still didn’t like meeting new people that much. I could never think of what to say. Except with Neel, of course, but His Royal Pain-in-the-Heinie was obviously an exception to the rule.
I stepped through the stable doorway and took in the surroundings. The place was sparkling, and smelled like … the closest thing I could think of was the smell of freshly washed cotton—like when Baba pulled me out a shirt straight from the dryer. And what was that other smell? Was it honey?
“This is nectar from the bees in our forest.” Mati pulled out a silver pitcher and poured a rich golden liquid into Midnight and Snowy’s troughs. “It’s the best food for a pakkhiraj horse.”
“A pakkhiraj?” I repeated.
“The name for this type of flying horse.” As Mati moved from trough to trough, I noticed that she dragged one of her feet a little. It was barely noticeable, but one of her shoes had a thicker sole than the other, making up for the shorter leg. “Didn’t Their Royal Highnesses tell you?”
“Cool it with the royal highness stuff, Mati,” Neel ordered. He had taken off his jeweled turban and collar, and his dark hair was sticking up on end. “We’ve known you for way too long to take that kind of beetlejuice from you.”
“Mati is the daughter of our stable master,” Lal explained. “A wise teacher who taught all three of us to ride, to use weapons, to care for animals, and many more things.”
“She’s like our little sister. She’s a lot tougher than she looks.” As he passed by her, Neel playfully messed up Mati’s hair, to which the seemingly mild-mannered Mati threw the nectar pitcher at his retreating head. It hit Neel’s shoulder and bounced harmlessly to the stable floor.
“Nice! Your throwing arm’s improving!” Neel examined a big blob of nectar on his shirt, and took a taste. “Maybe you’ll make it as a bowler in the royal cricket league after all!”
“All credit goes to you for giving me so much reason to practice my aim, Your Royalness!” Mati stuck out her tongue, then lobbed a horse brush at him, which Neel caught with a laugh and a bow.
This was a different side of Neel than I’d seen before. With me, he just seemed irritating and self-centered and maybe even a little dangerous, but with Mati he seemed almost like a nice person. Almost.