Vijay had opted to make the evening meal a casual family gathering… which was good, as Adam had left his only dinner jacket in a broom closet at the Puri Beach Club.Kalb hadn’t been invited to join them, because while Adam had been giving Ellie a thorough re-education in the arts of mutual pleasure, the dog had been rolling around in a swampy puddle at the bottom of a broken fountain.He was being thoroughly scrubbed down by the palace staff.
Adam wondered what it’d be like if he and Ellie got muddy together.He supposed he could haul her into that pool he’d found earlier to rinse off.Watch the water slide over every one of those fantastic curves…
“More pilau, Mr.Bates?”Constance’s auntie asked the question in a tone that implied she’d done it once or twice before.
“Huh?”Adam returned blankly.
“She means the rice.”Constance elaborated wryly.“Or did you want something more spicy?”
“Rice,” Adam blurted out.“Rice is great.”
“I’ll take the spicy stuff,” Neil cut in cheerfully.
Adam froze with the spoon of rice suspended in midair.
“The Andhra chutney?”Parvati offered helpfully.“Or the chili dosa?”
“Both?”Neil asked hopefully.
Parvati loaded the pancakes and crimson peppers onto his plate.Neil dug in with obvious relish.
Constance shifted a surprised and questioning look to Adam.
Adam shoved the rice into his mouth—which kept him from needing to say a damned word.
?
After dinner, Parvati and Balaram took their leave for the evening, and the rest of the party retreated to Vijay’s study.Kalb was delivered back to Adam, thoroughly groomed and clearly miserable about it.The dog immediately plunged behind Adam’s legs and hid there as though Adam’s shins were capable of concealing sixty pounds of quivering Seluki.
The generously sized room was hung with antique tapestries and paintings that even Adam could tell were worth a small fortune.Bookshelves showed off an assortment of objects that looked to have been chosen out of personal interest rather than value.Musical instruments accompanied well-tended orchids, and tattered novels were stacked beside a wind-up bird that glittered with jewels.
To the left of the bird sat a rock.As someone who’d once had a particular attachment to a rock, Adam strolled over to check it out while the others settled in.
“Look, Princess,” Adam said as Ellie came into the room.“The maharaja’s got a lucky rock.”
The rock was less ordinary on closer inspection.One side of it had been sheared off to form a flat surface that was covered in lines of carved text.The glyphs reminded Adam of Neil’s transcription of the Tulsidas manuscript.He leaned in to read aloud the small type on the card next to the stone, where a translation of the script was written in both English and Odia.“Two and a half years have passed since I became openly a Sakya…”
Ellie’s focus sharpened with rabid interest.“That’s one of the edicts of Ashoka—the earliest evidence for the existence of the Buddhist faithin the world.”
“Definitely lucky then,” Adam concluded.
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.“Don’t even think about stealing it to replace the one you lost.”
“I didn’t lose it,” Adam reminded her.“You threw it in a river.And anyway, I don’t need to.I’ve got Kalb.”
“The dog?”Ellie looked down at the animal with obvious skepticism.
Kalb wagged his tail hopefully in response.
“He’s lucky, too.Aren’t you, buddy?”Adam gave the Seluki a vigorous rub between his ears.Kalb panted blissfully as he absorbed the attention.
“That one’s from a ruined stupa at Deomali.”Vijay sprawled across one of the chairs in a manner that perfectly balanced comfort with regal elegance.
The way Ellie fixed her attention on him reminded Adam of how Kalb looked when he spotted a pigeon.“Were you able to date the site?”
“There were other engravings with references to the Kalinga War.”
“The Kalinga War?”Ellie’s eyes glittered avidly.
