Page 129 of Storm of Ink and Blood

Vikas’s face turned pale before he croaked out, “Yes, Your Highness.”

“And it is needed to break the collars?” he asked, now addressing Zarya.

“It’s one way,” she answered. “Along with my nightfire.”

“And you two are the only ones?” he asked, looking between Zarya and Vikas.

“So far, yes,” she said with a nod.

Miraan rolled his neck as if he was about to reveal something heavy. “Well, now you have one more,” he said. “This secret has shaped the course of my entire life, always hanging over me. I have the sixth anchor, and if you will show me the way, I will do everything I can to help you.”

Zarya’s brows furrowed. Today certainly hadn’t ended the way she’d expected.

“What are your plans?” Miraan asked after a moment. “In the grand scheme, what do you hope to accomplish with all of this?”

“We want to see the vanshaj freed,” Ajay said.

“But how? You break the collars, and then what?”

Zarya had been thinking about the question ever since Rabin had brought it up.

“Revolution,” Rabin said, filling the silence with his deep voice. “I already told you, free as many as you can, and that’s how we can make a difference.”

“And then what?” Miraan asked.

“And then we storm the palace,” Rabin said, his gaze sliding to the prince as if gauging his reaction. “We take back what was stolen from a people who never deserved their chains and demand reform. There are far more of us than there are of you.”

Ajay shook his head. “How do we do that? These are simple people, not soldiers.”

Rabin placed a fist on the counter. “With enough numbers, anything is possible.”

“You really think that would work?” Zarya asked.

“We’d have Daragaab’s number-one army commander on our side,” Yasen said slowly. “If anyone could do this…”

“Daragaab?” Miraan asked as he blinked and scanned Rabin up and down with a piqued sense of interest. “Commander Ravana?”

He nodded with a sharp jerk of his chin.

“The same Commander Ravana who decimated Gi’ana so many times. Who stole our library? Who brought our army to its knees during the Khetara Wars?”

Rabin’s answering smile was cold and vicious, spreading slowly across his face. “One and the same… Your Highness.”

Miraan exhaled a puff of air and then looked around the room.

“Yes,” he said. “Then maybe there is a chance we could win this.”

FORTY-FOUR

Everyone continued talking well into the night before retiring to their sleeping quarters, agreeing to meet in the morning to continue discussing their plan. Row returned to the flat to check on Koura and see how he was faring with Farida, while Apsara and Suvanna returned to the palace, lest they arouse any suspicion with their absence when it was discovered that Zarya and the others had gone missing.

Miraan insisted no one would suspect him, nor would they miss him for a few nights. It wasn’t uncommon for the prince to take off for days or sometimes weeks to attend to clandestine royal matters. He sent a note to his staff, letting them know he’d departed on such a journey and would return when he was through.

They set him up in one of the manor’s empty bedrooms, and Ajay, Yasen, and Vikas all retired to their usual beds. Zarya and Rabin were the last ones up. She stood on the bottom step with her arm on the railing when he came up behind her.

Brushing her hair to the side, he whispered in her ear, “Would you like me to sleep somewhere else?”

She looked up at him and then shook her head. “No. I want you with me.”