Page 140 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

Yasen whistled. “Woah.”

“He called you his friend.”

Yasen said nothing for a moment and then replied, “Well, now I feel like an asshole.”

She shrugged against him. “He didn’t make it easy, did he? But it turns out he wasn’t such a bad guy.”

“That idiot,” he said with a touch of reverence in his voice, and Zarya laughed.

Row leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed as he watched them.

“How’s Amrita?” she asked him.

“Koura is doing what he can, but she continues to live in a lot of pain.”

“Have you all discussed what we learned from my father’s journal and the Jai Tree being the seal for dark magic?”

“We have,” Row said. “And we think we finally have a solution.”

“It’s us, isn’t it?” Zarya asked. “The ‘chain’ my father referred to? Amrita needs the magic of the Chiranjivi to contain the darkness.”

“That’s the same conclusion we came to,” Row said.

“Dhawan asked me how we survived the Kiraaye Ka, and it was clear he didn’t know how potent our combined powers would become.”

Row blew out a breath. “So, despite everything, he did us a favor by forcing us together like that.”

“So it would seem,” Zarya said. “I want to go and see her.” She shuffled off the bed and glanced at Yasen. “Can you walk?”

“Of course, I can walk.” He swung his legs over and stood, wavering for several seconds before he steadied himself. “But let’s walk slowly.”

Zarya smiled and held out a hand for him. The trio made their way through the quiet halls of the palace, where signs of the battle were visible everywhere. As they neared the courtyard, the halls fared worse and worse. Chunks were carved out of every surface, scratches marred the floors, and there was blood, so much blood.

They exited into the courtyard, where they found Apsara, Koura, Kindle, and Suvanna. Apsara was holding one of Koura’s hands as he pressed the other to Amrita’s bark. Koura’s light flared as it shot up the trunk, returning it to glistening white. Light filtered through her branches and spread, flowers blooming as his magic traced along Amrita’s damaged limbs.

“How did you do that?” Zarya asked. Koura’s healing magic typically only offered some relief but couldn’t actually heal the queen. However, Zarya thought of the way her nightfire had shattered Amrita’s branches during the battle, and it was clear some types of magic could work on her.

Dark circles ringed Koura’s golden eyes, and he looked like he must have been working around the clock. Amrita had healed considerably, her shining white bark restored in many places. Patches of black and grey marred some of her trunk, while bare branches, stripped of their flowers, reached into the sky.

“We figured out that if we use the chain of our Chiranjivi power, it works on Amrita,” Apsara said. “With our help, she can heal much more quickly.”

“That’s incredible,” Zarya said. “So, what do we do about the blight?”

“Let’s go in,” Apsara said, and they all filed into the Jai Tree where Vikram sat quietly next to the shadow that was Amrita.

“We’ve spoken with Her Majesty,” Apsara said. “It will require her strength to push the blight back, but we do not know what it might cost her.”

Everyone’s attention turned to Vikram. “Once fully healed, she is prepared to do whatever is necessary. She is not afraid. She is a queen, and if this is her destiny, she is willing to shoulder whatever burden is required.”

“Are we certain we’re the ‘chain’ Abishek referred to in his notebook?” Suvanna asked. “Why are we so sure he was right about this?”

“Abishek has been alive for a very long time,” Row said. “He knows more than most people have forgotten. And what else can we do but try?”

“But now we’ve lost one,” Kindle said. “We are only six.”

“I’m sorry,” Zarya said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have made him leave.”

“No,” Row said firmly. “He lied to all of us. You were right to do what you did.”