Page 33 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

“But Amrita is much smarter,” Yasen said. “And wants to put her mind to helping Daragaab. Once she’s in her place, I’m confident she’ll put all of the queendom’s resources into action.”

“You know about her wishes?” Zarya asked. She’d never gotten the sense that Yasen and Amrita were close.

“I asked,” he said. “I wanted to know what sort of queen we were all waiting on. I think she was so grateful that anyone cared that she told me everything.” He pressed his lips together. “Nearly talked my ear off. I had to fake a migraine to get away.”

Zarya laughed. “I’m sure you loved that.”

“I kind of did. Ever since, she finds me occasionally to ask about my thoughts or opinions on an idea she has. We aren’t really friends, but we have a mutual respect for each other.”

Zarya stared at Yasen.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You have many layers,” Zarya said, and Yasen laughed.

“I’m not just a pretty face.”

She smirked and then tapped his cheek. “Shame. It is just so pretty.”

They both fell silent as they stared out over the blight, simmering in its eerie stillness. It draped in the air like thick velvet, muffling her senses.

“How are you feeling?” Yasen asked. “With Row back? You haven’t talked much about all the things he said.”

She took a moment to consider her answer.

“I feel overwhelmed,” she finally said. “Of all the wild reasons I’d imagined for why Row kept me locked away, none of them came anywhere close to the truth.”

“What did you think?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t want to subject anyone to my terrible singing voice? My horrible morning breath? The way I can’t make a proper samosa to save my life?”

Yasen smiled. “Or maybe because you cry so much?”

“Shut up,” she said, playfully punching him in the arm. “I do not.”

“You do. Look, you want to cry right now.”

“Because you’re so mean to me,” she said, and they both laughed.

“No, really,” Yasen said. “Tell me how you’re doing. I want to know.”

She shrugged. “I finally know who my mother is, and while I always knew she was dead, maybe a small, tiny part of me always hoped that Row had been wrong or was lying about it. But that hope is gone now, and I’m having trouble reconciling that. I lost something I never even had.”

“But you have a father.”

“I do. Who’s apparently a murderous tyrant. So that’s… certainly something.”

Yasen snorted. “Drama does seem to follow you wherever you go.”

“Only recently. My life was as boring as dry rice until a few months ago.”

“Would you ever want to go back to that? I mean, not the captivity part but the quietness of it? The solitude?”

She shook her head. “No. That was never the life I wanted. Despite everything, I am grateful for how it all turned out. Meeting you and Amrita and Vik and all the others. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

“Hmm,” Yasen replied. “A quiet cottage by the sea sounds like a nice kind of life.”

“Yeah, I could see you there. Maybe one day you can have that. As long as you let me come visit you sometimes.”