I wait, but he does not go on. “Did you change your mind about giving it to Natesa?”
“No.”
His one-syllable replies rub me the wrong way. Yatin and Natesa can be together. They have nothing standing in their way. I pray every day for Kali and me to gain that level of freedom. Why is he squandering it?
Indah comes down the hall wearing all-white robes, the preferred state of dress in the Pearl Palace. I have not known her long, but she looks more tired than usual. I knock on the door, wait a moment, and then open it for her. Within the chamber, Natesa arranges the low neckline of Kali’s white-and-gold robes. Her hair has been brushed to a shine, and she has color, albeit from the rouge on her cheeks. I step in, staggered by her loveliness.
“You look stunning, Kalinda,” Indah says.
“As do you,” Kali returns.
“What do you think, General?” Natesa asks, her smile impish. She is a quick study at ways to boil my blood.
I clear my throat. “Um, yes. Stunning.”
Kali lowers her kohl-lined lashes, her dark hair forming silky waves around her lean shoulders. “Any word from Iresh, Indah?”
“I’ve spoken with the datu,” she answers. “Deven, would you please close the door?” My insides grind as I shut Yatin outside and give Indah my focus . . . barring the part of me that wishes to run my lips across Kali’s cheek. “It’s been too dangerous to send scouts into Iresh, so Galers have been listening from the coastline. From what they can tell, the refugees have taken over the city under the Voider’s direction. He and his soldiers are gathering resources to march.”
This was my fear. The demon rajah is pillaging Iresh to feed, clothe, and arm his troops. Once he finishes picking the city clean of everything valuable, they will march on Vanhi.
“The Voider has declared Kalinda and Prince Ashwin traitors. He offered the sea raiders ten thousand coin each for their return. Should Kalinda and the prince return to Tarachand, imperial soldiers are ordered to seize them on sight.”
“I know at least two soldiers who won’t obey that command,” I say, referring to Yatin and me.
“It’s all right, Deven,” Kali says, more weary than outraged. “The people already despise my bhuta heritage. That I anticipated. But Ashwin is their ruler. They need him. We all do.”
Her loyalty to him jabs at me. Does Kali need Ashwin any more than any other citizen of the Tarachand Empire?
Prince Ashwin enters and strolls directly to Kali. He changed his attire to the local cultural favorite for men: baggy trousers and a lightweight tunic with a low-cut collar. Pons is not with him, nor did I see him in the corridor.
“The palace library is larger than the sultan’s,” Ashwin tells Kali. “I’ve already found several texts to comb through while we’re here.”
She grasps his hand in hers. I force my jaw to unclench. They’re friends, family, co-rulers. Nothing more.
“We have news from Iresh,” she says. “The demon rajah has declared us traitors.”