Chapter 44
The messenger bowed after I gave him my letter for Lakshmappa.
It was filled with my usual gushing about our beautiful daughter and feigned regret that I hadn’t recovered enough to return.
After learning that I’d given birth to a daughter instead of a son, Lakshmappa had made his excuses about not being able to visit, though he sent a veritable mountain of gifts.
It was only a matter of time before my husband insisted that I return to him, but I pushed that thought to the side and relished the time with my daughter in Ullal.
I kissed Trimuladevi—I called her Devi for short—on her forehead, basking in her warmth.
Her long eyelashes clasped each other in sleep, and she snuggled close to me.
She was wrapped tight in Ektha’s cream shawl—the one that Nikith had sent me so long ago.
I had expected to have far too much extra cloth, but Devi had grown so much in the last twenty days that the shawl wrapped around her perfectly.
“I really don’t see the point in this,” Parushi grumbled. She walked next to me as I carried Devi to Nikith’s chambers. “I made my position about unnecessary risks quite clear when we discussed the Raksha Bandhan festival.”
My cousin hadn’t let me out of her sight since I’d given birth, and she made sure that little Devi was constantly watched as well. The knot of soldiers that guarded us was vetted by both her and Thevan, and they became our living shadows.
“I want Nikith to meet his niece,” I said. “Maybe then he’ll see sense and remember his vows to my sister and Ullal.”
“Maybe,” Parushi said. “But he knew how you felt about the tithes when he sent Kamran to confront you in the stepwell. Alone. It hardly seems worth the risk.”
“I’ll keep my distance,” I reassured her. “But I have to try, out of respect for Ektha.”
Parushi was completely unconvinced, but she stopped arguing since we were approaching the guards posted near Nikith’s room. The woman and man in Ullal’s blue bowed to me and then saluted Parushi.
“Any visitors?” Parushi asked.
“Only healers. Nallini is there now, on Tara’s orders.
” The guard that replied was a hand shorter than Parushi.
Her ink black eyes were sharp, and she wore the curved sword and dagger at her waist with confident ease.
“Nobody else has been allowed through, but he’s been insistent that a messenger be sent to him. ”
“Did you summon one?”
“No.”
“Good.” Parushi gave an approving nod, and the soldiers beamed. Any compliment from Parushi was high praise. “Stay sharp.”
The soldiers saluted again as we left. We’d just gotten to Nikith’s thick wooden door when someone—a woman—cried out from inside.
Nallini.
Parushi swung the door open just in time for us to see Nikith squeezing Nallini’s wrist with his good hand.
“Don’t forget your duty,” he growled, but his eyes widened when he saw Parushi.
“Get off of her!” Parushi charged between Nikith and Nallini, and she shoved him away.
Nikith stumbled backward, falling hard onto the redbrick floor, and his bloodshot eyes filled with fire. “You dare strike me, brother of the rani?”
“I will strike down any friend of the Porcugi!” Parushi spat at him, adding another stain to his wrinkled, sweaty kurta.
Nikith prepared to rush at Parushi, and she grinned at him recklessly, welcoming the challenge.
“That’s enough!” I stepped into the room.
“Rani!” Nikith stared at me.
My brother-in-law looked like he had aged years in the last three weeks. His hair was matted with grease, and the circles under his eyes were so dark they were almost black.
Nallini whipped around, and her gaze went from my face to my arms to Devi, who had managed to sleep through the entire encounter. “She can’t be here!”
Nallini pushed me back toward the door. Nikith reached into his robe, and there was a flash of silver—a dagger?—before Parushi slammed into him. Her blood splattered on the ground as I turned to protect Devi and ran into the hallway.
“Guards!” I screamed so loudly that Devi awoke and began yelling as well, but it served its purpose. Two guards—one from either side of the hall—materialized in front of me and charged through the doors.
A piercing whistle drew even more, and four guards formed a knot around me and the rajkumari, their blades drawn as we stood in the hall.
“Not her! Secure him!” Parushi protested from the room.
“Take me into Nikith’s quarters!” I commanded as I bounced Devi and tried to calm her.
The guards hesitated and looked at the woman who had spoken to Parushi earlier. She gave a curt nod when I yelled, “Now!”
Inside, a guard kept a tight grip on Nallini’s shoulder, and they stood a little more than an arm’s length from where Parushi lay on top of Nikith.
My brother-in-law screamed his protests about the indignity of such treatment, while another guard stood nearby with his blade drawn.
Blood dropped from Parushi’s left arm, and a dagger lay beyond their reach.
The scene was completely at odds with the sumptuous room.
Nikith had never moved out of the quarters that he’d shared with Ektha, and I’d never asked him to do so.
Beams crossed beneath the high ceiling, large paintings and colorful dhurrie rugs covered the floor, and there was a sofa covered with too many pillows opposite the desk and bed.
Ektha’s portrait hung in a corner, and she watched all of us as we scuffled in the space that was once her sanctuary.
“Stand up, Parushi,” I said.
Parushi glared at me mutinously but complied. She kicked Nikith’s dagger farther away and then unsheathed her own, keeping it pointed at Nikith as he rose. Blood trickled down the fingers of her left hand. It freckled the redbrick floor, which drank in the droplets as they fell.
Nikith kept his eyes on Parushi, but he shifted his body so he blocked everyone’s view of the desk behind him.
“Move again, and you won’t be running into the flat of my blade.” Parushi pointed the dagger’s tip at Nikith’s face.
Devi had calmed down, and her blinks were getting longer again as I bounced her behind the guards that stood between us and everyone else. “Parushi, report.”
“Nikith tried to stab you.” Parushi still had her dagger pointed at my brother-in-law, and she dared him to argue with her glare.
She used her bloody left hand to point to the blade on the floor.
“That’s his dagger. Luckily, Nallini had already pushed you out of the way, and I managed to disarm him. ”
The guards tightened their knot around me.
“I was trying to protect you from the Banghervari assassin!” Nikith pointed at Nallini, and she would not meet my gaze.
Nikith’s eyes flicked back to the desk, but he caught himself and tried to redirect all the attention to Nallini. “See! She won’t deny it!”
I looked from him to Nallini to the desk. Most of it was covered with scattered papers filled with sloppy scribbles or long neglected food and drink. But on the corner nearest to me sat one pristine folded paper.
“Bring me that paper,” I commanded, convinced that this was the reason he’d called for a messenger. “The one on the corner.”
“No!” Nikith tried to stop the guard that fetched it but ran into a Parushi-shaped wall.
Holding Devi close, I unfolded the paper and skimmed it.
Although it contained no signature, I was certain it was in Nikith’s hand.
It had all the information about our latest trades as well as details about where Nikith was being confined and information about how many guards were posted around my chambers.
I reread the last part carefully—it was out of date!
It would have been accurate prior to Devi’s birth, but Thevan had insisted on an increase in guards since then. Nikith wouldn’t have known that.
My body lit in a fiery rage as the depth of his betrayal sank into my bones. I looked down at Devi, who now slept peacefully in her aunt’s shawl. I had to be strong for her.
“She forced me to do it!” Nikith accused Nallini again. “She’s been working for Vishwajeet all along!”
I waited for Nallini’s denial. If she had forced Nikith to write the letter, she would have made sure the information about the guards was current.
Nallini took a deep breath. “It’s true that I have been in touch with Vishwajeet—”
“You what?” I yelled so loudly that Trimuladevi’s eyes snapped back open, and she began to cry.
I patted her on the back as I bounced and made a quiet shushing noise. My little rajkumari snuggled into me, curling herself against my curves. Thankfully, she fell back asleep quickly, and I returned my attention to Nallini.
“Explain,” I commanded.
“When I was in the infirmary for my arm, I received a note.” Her voice was shaky at first. “I didn’t know who it was from—it was lying next to me when I woke up—but it made it clear that Vishwajeet still expected updates from me. And that he could make me suffer if I didn’t do as I was told.”
“A note? In my infirmary?” If that were true, it meant that someone in my palace was able to get a note to Nallini without being noticed or intercepted. It would need to be someone who was trusted and could come and go without question.
“I sent a few notes to Vishwajeet with things I overheard in the infirmary about how many soldiers were injured at any given time, but nothing important,” Nallini said. “I had no idea who had left me the letter until Nikith reminded me of my duty just now.”
“Your duty?” I repeated. My thoughts were flying.
Nallini was definitely in touch with Vishwajeet; she would have no reason to lie about such a thing.
But the question was whether she was being truthful about her motivations.
Either she was loyal to Vishwajeet and was trying to find someone else to blame, or she had been forced to write, and Nikith really was colluding with Vishwajeet to pave the path to victory for the Porcugi.