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Eleven
Two days later
Constance jabbed herelbow into Ellie’s ribs.“Wake up, Eleanora!You’re missing Nandapur!”
She returned her attention to the window of the carriage, soaking up the view with a hungry sense of wonder as Ellie blearily lifted her head.
Constance shared the conveyance with Ellie, Neil, Mr.Mahjoud… and Adam’s dog.Kalb had been unceremoniously tossed in with them a few hours before.They had completed the two-day journey from Puri at a breakneck pace.As they moved deeper into the Odishian countryside, muddy rice paddies had given way to rolling green hills speckled with wildflowers.
All of their travel had been expertly arranged, from the first-class tickets waiting for them at the train station to the well-sprung carriage they had transferred to after completing the rail leg of their journey.
The carriage only seated four—plus the dog.Adam had quickly volunteered to ride on horseback instead, along with a trio of Uncle Vijay’s guards, who had forgone their vivid livery for less conspicuous attire.
Ellie rubbed her eyes.Kalb thumped his tail hopefully.Mr.Mahjoud looked bored.
Neil had stuck his nose into a book all day.He pulled it out at Constance’s exclamation, blinking through his spectacles at the window as though just realizing there was still a world outside.
They passed down a broad street lined by charming buildings painted in bright colors.Rolling hills rose up behind the structures, richly green with the abundant rains of the monsoon.The town was busy with shoppers and pedestrians.Vendors showed off their wares under bright awnings.Constance spotted the confectionery layers of a temple rising to the east behind a market that covered most of a tree-lined plaza.
It was all she could do not to jump from the moving carriage to explore.
Ellie leaned over to share the window, her curiosity awakening with the rest of her.
A twenty-foot wall loomed ahead of them, punctuated by two gleaming white towers.The enormous wooden doors between them were carved with a scene of warriors on horseback marching in triumph under a gleaming sun.
“Is that the palace?”Ellie pressed wonderingly.
“No,” Constance corrected her with a grin.“That’s just the front gate.”
The doors swung open, pulled by servants in Vijay’s familiar purple and gold livery.The carriage rolled past them into a broad courtyard.They had barely stopped before Constance wrenched open the door and spilled out into the afternoon sunlight.
The royal palace of Nandapur sprawled before her.The main building, set across from the gate, rose five generous stories with wings on both sides topped by soaring spires and elegant domes.
Constance had seen it before, but only in faded photographs in her grandmother’s albums.Those images didn’t even start to do justice to the splendor before her.
Pale stone walls gleamed gold in the afternoon sunlight.Beyond the roofline, rolling green hills were accented by the sparkling silver ribbon of a distant waterfall.
This magnificent place belonged to her, in a way.Constance wasn’t here as a guest.She was cominghome.
“Fiddlesticks!”Ellie breathed out beside her, staring at the sight.
Adam swung down from his horse with easy grace.The animal nosed him affectionately as he paused to rub its neck.His lanky yellow dog leaped out of the carriage and shook itself vigorously—then launched across the courtyard like a golden comet, scattering a cluster of alarmed doves.
“Nice place,” Adam commented, ignoring the dog as he raised an eyebrow at the building.
Neil joined them, staring up at the palace with shock.Constance caught his book as he started to drop it.She pressed it back into his chest.
He clung to the volume like a life preserver.“You can see the Mughal influence in the window arches,” he mumbled helplessly.
Constance repressed the urge to smirk at him.“I believe the oldest parts of the complex date to the time of the Gajapatis.”
Neil pinned her with a hungry look.“Do you know where they are?”
Constance found herself wondering distractedly what else might provoke that darkly intense interest besides historical architecture.
The entrance to the palace sat at the top of a low, broad stairwell.A pair of servants in purple and gold waited there with an air of stoic gravity.
