Page 95 of Heart of Night and Fire

“The man who raised me,” Zarya said, before pressing her lips together. The title was a close enough approximation of the complicated role Row played in her life.

The man who imprisoned me for twenty years seemed a little dramatic, even to her.

“He thought everyone should know how to defend themselves against an enemy, and I was no exception.”

Amrita sat next to her, wiping a sheen of sweat from her forehead. “Vikram told me about that wicked man. What was it like being confined for all those years?”

“Lonely. Confusing and frustrating, but mostly just lonely.”

Amrita nodded in understanding. “I get lonely, too. It’s nice when Vik and Yasen come to visit me in the palace, but I don’t have any other friends. There are always a lot of people around, but no one talks to me unless they want something.”

“Why do they keep you so… hidden from everyone? And why did you leave after the fire? You haven’t seen your mother since then?”

“Gopal thinks I’m safer here. After all the terrible things going on lately, he doesn’t want anything to happen to me, and the compound is heavily guarded against the blight.” Amrita’s smile was tight. “Royal heirs tend to be closely guarded in general. I don’t have a lot of freedom, which is why I don’t leave the palace much, even when I’m in Dharati.”

When Zarya had first seen Amrita, she had assumed her existence must be so filled with freedom and purpose. That as a princess, she’d be allowed to do anything she wanted, but Amrita also lived in a cage of someone else’s making, just like Zarya had for so long.

“She’s not entirely devoid of personality,” Amrita said. “My mother. Vik and everyone else just see a wall of bark and a woman who can’t speak, but I can talk to her. She’s warm and funny and kind. People don’t see that. They only see what she isn’t.”

“She is beloved by her people. They kept vigil for hours after the fire. They must see some of those qualities in her.”

“Yes, perhaps.”

Zarya picked up on a wave of anxiety in Amrita. “I’m sure they’ll feel the same about you.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that. I mean, yes, I want to be a good queen, but my mother taught me her ways. I am sure I can be what the people of Daragaab need, just as she has been. Perhaps I can be more.”

“More?”

Amrita sighed. “Mother avoids confrontation. Daragaab’s borders are secure, not by her will, but rather that of a strong army and a commander who expanded her territory so wide in the last hundred and fifty years that no one dares touch us. And if it were up to her, we’d never fight for anything ever again.”

Zarya gave the princess a shrewd look, realizing Amrita was not as naïve as she pretended to be.

“But the days of our security are nearing their end. There is unrest in the north—the vanshaj are fighting back against their treatment. And who can blame them? Punished for a millennium for something done by two fabled kings? Who even knows if they were real anymore? And the blight is a threat to all of us. It wasn’t my mother who summoned the Chiranjivi to help. It was Tarin who finally convinced her we needed them. She’d rather ignore problems and hope they go away.”

Zarya laid a gentle hand on Amrita’s arm.

“The people of Daragaab are very fortunate to have you as their future queen.”

Amrita dropped her head, letting out a deep breath.

“So, what is bothering you, then?”

“I’m nervous about the joining,” she said, looking up, her cheeks turning pink.

“The joining?”

She lowered her voice, leaning close to Zarya. “The seeding, specifically.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“During the ceremony, mine and Vikram’s spirits will be joined to create a new heir. There’s a pool of water we both enter where the spell is performed. Amrita’s voice dropped to a whisper. “And we do it… in the nude.”

Her eyes bulged, and Zarya barked out a laugh. “The fate of the world doesn’t trouble you, but getting naked in front of the man who will speak for you for the rest of your life does?”

Amrita chewed her lip. “Well, when you put it like that.”

“Wait,” Zarya said. “An heir? Like getting you pregnant?”