Page 141 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

“If only that made me feel any better.”

Zarya looked up. If she’d been hoping to see a huge black dragon soaring across the sky, she found herself disappointed.

“You really think it will work?” she asked.

“The chain still works when there are only two of us linked,” Apsara said. “With six of us, it will have to be enough. And as Row said, all we can do is try.”

Zarya nodded. “There’s another thing I don’t understand. Dhawan was trying to use some kind of binding trick on me. I could feel him trying to tie up my magic so he could take me back to Andhera, but something strange kept happening. A power that knocked him back, but I wasn’t controlling it.”

Puzzled looks greeted her, and then Row reached out, running his finger under the thin golden chain around her neck. The translucent turquoise stone caught the light as he freed the necklace from under the fabric of her kurta.

“Your mother loved you. Asha had no choice but to give you up, but had she lived, she would have thought about you and regretted the choice she had to make every day of her life. She told me to give this to you and never to let you take it off.”

Zarya reached up to grasp the stone, remembering the words she’d unlocked that night on Ranpur Island. This gift had followed her throughout her life without her even knowing it.

“Asha was a very powerful Aazheri in her own right. A protection spell. Something to keep you safe even when she couldn’t be with you.”

Zarya might never get to meet Asha, but she had this. The unchangeable proof that someone had loved her as a parent should love their child. She looked at the man who had been given the unenviable task of being her keeper. Love comes in many forms, even if it’s not one you immediately recognize.

“Row,” Zarya said. “Thank you. For doing what she asked. For keeping me safe. I know it wasn’t an easy choice for you, either. And I’m sorry I made it so hard.”

He took a deep breath and blinked watery eyes; this warrior who had never shown her an ounce of emotion until a few weeks ago. Or so she had always believed. Row wasn’t entirely the man—the villain—she’d created in her head. Without the tint of her rage, she was finally seeing him for who he really was.

Stern. Yes. A bit grumpy. Sometimes. Brave and strong and good. Definitely.

“Thank you.” He grabbed her and pulled her in close, wrapping his arms around her. “Thank you.”

And a father. Maybe that, too.

For a moment, she hesitated, still unused to affection from Row, and then she laughed and hugged him back, freeing herself from the last shackles of her anger.

He might not be her real father, but for now, she’d have to accept that Row would be the closest thing she would ever have.

And she couldn’t have asked for anyone better to fill the role.

FORTY-ONE

Aarav was buried at sea. Barges carried the dead, floating in the waters of the Nila Hara laden with flowers and surrounded by hundreds of coppery lights bobbing amongst the waves.

Zarya found Lekha standing on the beach, surrounded by her family, tears shining on her cheeks. At the sight of Zarya, she broke down into a fresh wave of sobs, and Zarya went over to embrace her.

“His last words were about you,” Zarya said. “He wanted you to know that he loved you.”

Lekha’s body shook as she cried on Zarya’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” Zarya said, squeezing Lekha tight. “If it’s any consolation, it was a noble death.”

“He would have wanted that,” Lekha whispered.

“I agree.”

They clung to each other for another moment, and then Lekha pulled away. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course. Keep in touch. I’d love to see you again.”

Lekha wiped her cheek. “Yes. I’d like that.”

After another hug, Lekha returned to the embrace of her family, and Zarya wandered down the beach, finding Yasen staring into the distance. She looped her arm through his, and they watched the current take Aarav, along with those who’d lost their lives in the fight for their queen, away.