“And…and that’s what you are wearing? Flying pants?”
I smile in vengeance. “I stayed away from goats today. You can’t force Zara to hide these now.” I smack my thighs. “But Zara did help me with my hair and makeup.” I twist my head so Riya can see the intricate braid running down my back.
“Your mother accepted this?”
“My father did.” Got his approval this morning when paperwork threatened to overtake his desk. Not like I should evenneedhis approval. My pink wraparound skirt and flying pants are standard Belwarian attire. Besides, Maharaja Naupure respects the Belwarian tradition of heir anonymity and, more important, the secrecy of Project Smoke. Wearing a traditional and over-the-top lehenga last time was absurd on multiple levels and probably confused the staff, who have assumed I’m just a delivery witch for ages. Though today I’m not seeing Maharaja Naupure.
“Fine. Let’s go, then.” Riya arches one thick eyebrow. “Mother wanted me to ask Logen a few questions about security in Maharaja Naupure’s absence anyway.”
“Oh, so you aren’t busy?”Please say yes. Remember anything of importance.
She pierces me to the bone with a single word. She too can play at vengeance. “Nope.”
Adraa is coming to the palace. Which means first I must convince Kalyan to impersonate me again, and second, tell every person in the palace not to call me by my name. With Adraa not out in society because she hasn’t taken the royal ceremony test, only Hughes really knows her and calls her Lady. Some housemaids and a few soldiers have seen her delivering firelight, but that’s about it. This isn’t a guess. I spend my nonexistent free time questioning everyone in the whole palace about what Adraa might look like and then analyzing their response to know if they might recognize her. Chara gave a sheepish grin and told me she was quite beautiful. Somehow my old nursemaid giving me a nod of encouragement wasn’t the highlight of my investigation. The giggles of one particular housemaid or the sly smile of that one leering gate guard weren’t either. Gods, one would think as soon as we see each other we were going to get married on the doorstep and fall into bed before we hit the stairs. My mind unravels at the thought.
Hughes doesn’t like Adraa, which was a change in pace from all the innuendo and reassurance of her beauty. Something about “how she doesn’t obey the social code of maharaja life.” Then he had sighed. “But she’s pretty, so…,” and he let that last word drift. One would think that’s the one attribute I care about. Do I really come across as that shallow?
“Yes, yes, you do. Especially when you go around asking the entire palace how she looks,” Kalyan had said with such a thick layer of dry humor I didn’t stick around to talk to him about the role he must play.
When I went to the barracks later to explain he must be me if it comes to that, I received more of a reaction from him. “Absolutely not.”
I don’t want to order him to do it. Don’t know if I have ever really given him orders before, more like asked for favors. I refuse for this to be the start. “I’m going to try to make sure she doesn’t see you, but just in case.”
He drops the sword he is sharpening. Kalyan actually loves working with metal and fixing equipment, so he lowers it begrudgingly. “You need to tell her the truth.”
“I need more time. It’s only been three weeks since I mether.”
“More like nine years, Jatin.”
“Exactly! Nine years of me being a homesick little brat.” I slide into a chair. “That entire time I never really understood why she hit me. I mean, I know I said the wrong thing of course, mean things. But I didn’t understand her perspective, how deeply I had cut her.” I drag my hands through my hair.
“Please stop looking so pathetic. It doesn’t suit you.”
A laugh erupts from my throat like a gag, unexpected and harsh. “So you will do it, then?”
Kalyan looks determinedly at me, calculating.Oh Gods, he is chewing something over.
“What if she falls for me?”
I hit the back of the chair hard. It’s moments like this when I realize I’ve given Kalyan too much confidence, or at least enough to outdo me. “What?”
“What if, let’s say, I crafted some humble apology, was nice to her, she forgave me, thinks I’m herfiancé,and it just…worked out.”
“You are cruel.” That’s also a lot of what-ifs. He didn’t see her face that night on Pier Sixteen or in the restaurant afterward.
Kalyan picks up the sword again. “I did think she was pretty from the start if you remember.”
“Gods, how are you this manipulative?”
He smiles at the weapon as he scrubs its hilt. “You’ve taught me a lot, Jatin.”
I stalk from the room, but I’m not three steps away when he calls out, “You know if it comes to it, I’ll do it. Just don’t let that happen.”
I wait by the ice door like a stalker, feeling like that sleazy Underground manager cursed me into being one. Minutes phase into an hour until boredom and nerves take over and I grab some ink and parchment. With a swipe of purple magic, a floating slab acts as a desk so I can reply to my father’s most recent letter.
I have received only two reports from him. One, he wrote to say he got to Warwick territory safely. Two, I reread:
Dear Jatin,
