“He is nothing without me!” Jangir cried, standing. “I have brought him believers, crowds to his speeches, information to his soldiers. The gold caps will turn against him without me.”
“The gold caps are already turning,” Elena said. “Against you.”
Jangir began to retort when the comms cut, and a message appeared on the panel.
“Your Highness,” a guard intoned. “There is a visitor demanding to see you. Varun.”
Elena stiffened. She exchanged a worried glance with Yassen and Ferma. On the screen, Jangir screamed silently.
“Yassen, go to the king,” she said. “Say I wish to see him. Say it’s an emergency, whatever you can think of. Ferma”—and she turned to her Spear—“bring him to the outer office, where the servants can’t see.”
Her guards nodded, but a look flitted across Yassen’s face, one that made her stomach tighten in apprehension.
“Do you think he knows the truth?” Yassen said.
“Nothing will happen to you,” Elena replied firmly. She squeezed his hand. “You’re with me, remember?”
Ferma glanced between them, her face a mask. “Let’s go find out then.”
“This chai is wonderful, Your Highness,” Varun said. “I taste, oh what is that, ginger?”
“Adrak wali chai is my favorite,” Elena said, but she did not drink. She watched as Varun dipped a biscuit in his tea, crunched loudly. He went to dip again but the biscuit broke and fell into his chai.
“Mother’s Gold,” he muttered.
“Don’t worry, I can have another cup brought,” she said, but he shook his head.
“This is fine, thank you, Your Highness,” he said.
Elena waited, fingers restlessly tapping the bottom of her saucer. A fire crackled in the hearth, filling the silence. Varun slurped again, gave a sheepish smile. Still, she said nothing. It was always better, she had learned, to let the visitor make the first move. To draw out silences and observe what they hid behind their pleasantries.
And despite Varun’s polite conversation, Elena saw the nervous jiggle of his knee, how his eyes darted to the door. Sweat glistened lightly on his upper lip. When he sipped again, his eyes met hers for a moment before he quickly looked away.
He knows something, she thought.Something that makes him nervous.
“Your Highness,” Varun said finally, lowering his cup, “I… find myself in a difficult position.”
“How so?” Elena asked.
“Well.” He licked his lips. “With Jangir gone, His Majesty’s followers are a bit lost. They don’t know who to turn to, and with His Majesty remaining silent, they’re demanding answers. Accountability.”
Elena nodded warily. Though this was what she had hoped to hear, she prevented herself from celebrating. “What kind of answers?”
“For one, will Your Highness and your government pursue legal action against Jangir?”
“Yes, if my father does not already plan to.”
“I see. Poor Jangir. Forgive me, I grew quite close with him,” Varun said, but Elena noticed how the sorrow in his voice was not reflected in his eyes. How his hands did not tremble around the saucer. “But he is a traitor, and I will tell all my comrades to treat him so.”
“And your comrades listen to you?” she said.
Varun looked up, and she saw how his eyes sparked at that question. “Oh, yes, they do, Your Highness. But there’s a bit of a problem. Another man is trying to lead them astray. Leelat believes that the reports are fraudulent, that I falsified them. He demands thatheshould be the new leader of our men.”
“And what do you believe?”
“The reports do not lie, do they?” Varun said slowly, eyeing her. “Especially not ones like these.”
Elena sipped her chai. “They do not.”
