Forty-Seven
Padma led Ellie , Constance, Neil, and Adam into the house after they bid Zeinab and Sayyid a quick but warm goodnight. One of the household staff guided Kalb away—the dog, apparently, not being invited to join the meeting.
The kumari’s suite of rooms included an elegant, high-ceilinged salon with screened windows overlooking the courtyard. The space was framed by a divan piled with cushions in colorful patterns of embroidered silk. An altar stood against the wall, draped in a beautiful cloth and hosting murtis of a handful of gods. Incense burned in front of it next to a scattering of fresh flowers.
Padma sat down in the center of the plush bench, looking regal, comfortable, and entirely in charge.
Mr. Mahjoud poured out more tea. Instead of the sweet, minty brew Ellie had become accustomed to in Egypt, this was richly creamy and spiked with notes of cardamom and clove.
Constance cast a distinctly nervous look at her grandmother, even as she clearly aimed to bluff unconcern. Adam cocked an eyebrow as he picked up on the simmering tension in the room.
Neil shifted uncomfortably until he took a sip of his tea, at which point his eyes widened with delight. “Oh! This is…” He took another sip. “This is absolutely lovely! ”
“I am so glad that you enjoy it, Dr. Fairfax.” Padma’s reply was serene—and still somehow carried an air of subtle threat.
Neil’s cup paused on its way back to his mouth—but after a moment, he brought it up anyway. Apparently being deeply intimidated wasn’t enough to put him off his chai.
“Now that we are all nice and cozy together,” Padma said with a dangerous smile, “I thought we might talk about how you will settle your debts.”
Something about the subtle emphasis Padma put on the word ‘your’ made it sound distinctly and alarmingly plural .
“And how many favors are… er, owed you, exactly?” Ellie pressed carefully.
Padma waved an airy hand. “I do not think we need to be so vulgar as to mention numbers.”
Constance frowned, too surprised to keep quiet. “But you always keep count, Aai.”
“I think the little favor I mean to ask should settle any outstanding balances.” Padma waved to Mr. Mahjoud to refill her cup.
Constance looked warily hopeful. “It would?”
“And what is the little favor, Kumari?” Ellie asked.
“Call me Auntie, Jhia,” Padma replied with a frankly intimidating note of affection. “After all, we will be spending a great deal of time together over the next few weeks.”
“We will?” Ellie squeaked, her nerves jolting.
Padma calmly sipped her tea. “What do you know of the Brahmastra?”
Neil and Adam gave each other a blank look. Padma shifted her gaze to Constance, who sank back against the cushions.
“Sorry, Aai,” she admitted awkwardly.
Padma set down her tea before straightening regally. “The Brahmastra is perhaps the most powerful weapon of our Hindu legends and histories. It was used, among other things, by Lord Rama to overcome the demon king Ravana when he stole away Rama’s beloved wife, Sita.”
“Of course!” Ellie exclaimed. “You’re talking about the Ramayana—one of the great Hindu epics. But… isn’t Rama’s weapon described as being unimaginably destructive?”
“A ball of fire that makes the mountains shatter,” Padma confirmed flatly. “Where it burns, not a single blade of grass will ever grow again—not for thirty-two trillion years.” She cast a serious gaze over the four of them. “And certain reputable sources back in India have informed me that the power to invoke it is at very real risk of falling into the wrong hands.”
Ellie felt a thrill of danger… and a whisper of excitement.
She glanced at Adam. There was a knowing light in his eyes as he gazed back at her.
Neil, on the other hand, looked confused… until his face abruptly blanched. “Hold on. Are you asking us to go to India? ”
Padma wore a deceptively benign look as she took another sip of her tea. “I am not sure ‘asking’ is precisely the right word.”
Constance brightened. “Aai, do you mean that we would be going to see Uncle Vijay?”
“Who else do you think told me about the trouble?” Padma replied.
“Uncle Vijay is Aai’s nephew—my mother’s cousin.” Constance practically bounced in her seat with excitement. “He’s the Maharaja of Nandapur and the most terribly dashing and interesting person. He has fought in duels, and once wrestled a tiger, and there was the most scandalous story about a Sikh princess… Oh, Aai! You can’t really mean it!”
“I have taken the liberty of asking Mr. Mahjoud to make the arrangements,” Padma said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We will leave out of Port Said on Tuesday morning. I do hope that will give you sufficient time to pack?”
She addressed the latter question to Ellie, Adam, and Neil.
Neil looked pale and a little dizzy. “And you are saying that it is real,” he pressed uncomfortably, “this weapon that can raze mountains and turn the land into desert. As real as… that other object of interest we just encountered.”
“Do you doubt me, Dr. Fairfax?” Padma’s eyes glinted like steel.
Neil rubbed a tired hand over his face. “No,” he admitted with a wince. “No, I do not.”
Constance studied Neil with a thoughtful frown. Padma saw it—and the smallest little smile crossed her lips as she took another sip of her tea.
“I’ll do it,” Neil replied firmly, then immediately wavered. “Though I haven’t the foggiest idea what sort of use I’ll be. My education is all in Egyptology and the classics. I barely know anything about Indian history.”
“I am sure you will be a quick study,” Padma cheerfully assured him—and cast a pointed glance over at her granddaughter.
Adam coughed suspiciously into fist, his blue eyes twinkling.
“Jhia?” Padma prompted, looking to Ellie.
Ellie felt as though she stood on the edge of a precipice. A new unknown sprawled out before her, promising untold threats—and wild adventure.
A conspiracy in India. The world-destroying power of a god on the line.
She raised her eyes to Adam.
“I’m game if you are,” he declared, strong and steady at her side.
Ellie drew in a breath. She met Padma’s patient, steel-hard gaze—and gave her answer.
“We should be happy to be of service,” she vowed purposefully. “Auntie.”
Before Ellie quite knew what was happening, Mr. Mahjoud had deposited the four of them in the hall outside Padma’s suite, which fronted onto one of the balconies overlooking the courtyard.
“Would it be too much for me to request that you not get into any more trouble between now and Tuesday?” He gave each of them—but particularly Constance—a pointed look.
“Whyever would you feel the need to ask that?” Constance returned innocently.
“It’s hardly our fault people were shooting at us,” Ellie grumbled.
“I never want to do anything remotely like that again in my life,” Neil blurted forcefully.
“I give it maybe fifty-fifty,” Adam offered.
Neil blanched. Mr. Mahjoud gave an eloquently aggrieved sigh. “Off to bed now, if you please. Before you bring the roof down or unleash a plague of locusts.”
Ellie kept her expression carefully blank. Adam coughed.
“It’s not like we can do that anymore ,” Constance shot back crossly.
Mr. Mahjoud looked up to the heavens, muttered a dua, and shut the door.
“Well!” Constance said brightly, turning to the rest of them. “I should say that worked out quite splendidly. We are going to India! I have always wanted to see it for myself. Of course we will have to visit the temples and pay our respects to Lord Jagannath. I have heard there are the most splendid waterfalls, and still tigers to be found in the more remote areas of the forest… I am going to need to work on my Odia! It is absolutely wretched. Never mind all the shopping we will need to do. You and Adam barely have enough to fill a suitcase, and as for Stuffy…” She cast Neil a look, then patted him sympathetically on the arm. “I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Ellie gave herself a breath to absorb the whirlwind of conversation that had just changed her life.
Constance’s maharaja cousin’s realm lay in the region of Odisha, part of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. That area of India was rich with history from the splendor of the Mughal Empire back to the days of the great conqueror Ashoka. The notion of seeing it for herself was desperately exciting—and deeply intimidating. If rumors were circulating of the re-emergence of the Brahmastra, Padma would not be the only one to have heard them. Ellie would very possibly find herself going up against Jacobs or other agents of the Order of Albion once again.
Till next time…
Jacobs’ parting words echoed through her mind once more. Ellie swallowed her unease and turned her attention to her brother—who had never asked for any of this. “How are you feeling about all of it, Neil?”
“Well—I mean, I have lost my job,” Neil returned a bit helplessly. “Then went on a madcap expedition to find the lost tomb of a woman I’ve studied for most of my life… which I can never actually tell anybody about. Jumped off a boat. Was nearly buried alive in an Old Kingdom quarry. Saw an entire desert move because Sayyid told it to.” He drew in a careful breath. “And now it appears that I am going to India.”
“I suppose that is rather a lot,” Ellie admitted.
“Is this what it’s going to be like from now on?” Neil demanded with a note of panic.
Constance shrugged.
Adam gave Neil’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. “Sorry, buddy.”
Neil pushed up his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Right. Well then.” He dropped his hand, looking from Adam to Ellie. “The two of you. You’re…”
His voice trailed off.
Ellie met Adam’s gaze. A flash of guilt crossed his features—but only for a moment before it was replaced by a look of determination. He slid a hand around the small of Ellie’s back and locked his eyes on Neil.
“We are,” he replied simply.
Constance hung back, watching the exchange with careful focus.
Neil ran a helpless hand through his hair, hopelessly disheveling it. “I can’t pretend I don’t find the notion absolutely terrifying,” he blurted out—then pulled up his shoulders, straightening. “But you’re my sister.” He looked up at Adam. “And you are one of the best men I have ever known. Whatever the two of you end up deciding this all means—you will have my support.” He wavered a bit. “Even if… even if I haven’t always been so good at giving it in the past.”
A pang of old hurt and disappointment twinged inside of Ellie. “It’s fine, Neil,” she assured him quietly.
Neil let out a slightly desperate laugh. “It isn’t, really. But I… I’m going to do better at it. At a lot of things. I’m… I’m quite determined about that.”
His words sparked a warm burst of affection, one that was only deepened by how obviously intimidated he was by the prospect.
Changing oneself was incredibly difficult. One ought to be intimidated by it.
“Thank you.” Pride and love warmed Ellie’s words. “That means a very great deal to me.”
Neil’s face broke into a tired smile. It flinched into a grimace as Constance punched him in the shoulder.
“Well done, Stuffy,” she declared approvingly. “Now that’s settled, I’m off to bed. The rest of you had better get some sleep as well if you want to keep up with Aai. She is an unholy terror once she gets a plan in her head.”
“I think I could sleep for a month,” Neil moaned.
“I’m giving you seven hours,” Constance replied.
His eyes widened. “Seven hours? What happens after seven hours?”
Constance flashed him a smile like a knife blade. “I suppose you’ll find out, won’t you?”
Ellie wondered if Constance’s wake-up plan might involve Neil’s socks and some degree of combustion. It warmed her to see her brother and her friend getting back to their usual affectionate repartee.
Even if there did seem to be something a little more in the looks they kept casting at each other… not that either of them would admit it.
At least, not yet .
The notion left Ellie feeling a little uneasy… but not entirely so.
Constance gave Neil a wave—and shot Ellie a knowing look—before darting into the haramlek, the quarter of the house where she and Ellie had their rooms.
“Goodnight, Neil,” Ellie said, kissing her brother’s cheek.
“You too, Peanut,” he replied, hugging her back.
He started down the hall to the guest wing, where he and Adam were staying. He turned back with a puzzled look.
“Aren’t you coming?” he asked Adam.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Adam assured him. “You go on.”
Neil’s gaze shifted to where Ellie stood beside his friend. He swallowed thickly.
“Right,” he muttered to himself. “Just… heading on, then.”
He hurried around the corner and out of view.
Adam smiled down at her, his eyes bright with a hint of mischief. “All in all, I think that went pretty well. Found the staff. Saved the tomb. Even got your brother to loosen up a little bit. And I mostly managed to keep my shirt on.”
“You needn’t be too proud of that last bit,” Ellie grumbled.
“Saying you don’t mind the view?” Adam returned with a note of self-satisfaction.
“I think you are perfectly well aware of my thoughts on the view,” Ellie returned.
She realized they had come to stand on the same balcony where she had lingered a few nights before when Adam had regaled her with his best iambic pentameter. Memories of how a few moments later, he had tossed her up against the wall and kissed her positively senseless set her pulse knocking a little harder.
Just like before, the gently lamplit garden below them was empty, quiet save for the chirp of a night bird and the soft rush of the fountain.
“Of course, it is worth noting that we have been more or less coerced into going to India.” Ellie looked up at him worriedly. “I am fairly certain if you go to India, you aren’t going to have a position as Assistant Surveyor General for the colony of British Honduras waiting for you when you get back.”
“Probably not,” Adam agreed.
Ellie felt a little dart of guilt. “Adam, I…”
“No,” he cut in gently. “You don’t even have to start down that road. I don’t know if I could’ve gone back to that job, even if we weren’t being blackmailed into going after some apocalyptic piece of Hindu mythology.”
“Whyever not?” Ellie asked, confused.
He sighed, looking out over the courtyard—and perhaps beyond it, to where the lights of the city gave way to the vast, starlit sprawl of the unknown. “I don’t know what I’m meant to be doing with my life, Ellie. And that restless feeling has been itching at my brain since long before you dropped off a balcony into my lap. I know what my dad would have to say about it,” he added dryly. “But I’m choosing not to listen to that anymore. Leaves me wondering what should go in its place.” He glanced down at her. “I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on that.”
She felt the seriousness of his question—and the honor of what it meant that he had asked her.
“I think…” she began carefully, “that I have already seen you make a tremendous impact on the world, just by being who you are in it.”
“That isn’t exactly going to keep a roof over our heads—not that I’m claiming some patriarchal responsibility to support you,” he added wryly. “I just… I dunno, Princess. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out who I’m supposed to be. Not for George Bates, but… maybe for you, a little. And for myself, mostly,” he added quickly before Ellie could protest.
Swallows flitted overhead, delicate shadows against the purple span of the night. The fountain splashed quietly in the lamplit courtyard below.
“Do you… think that’s something you could explore in India?” she asked.
Adam looked tired and a little battered—just a rough, scarred, soon-to-be-unemployed surveyor who also happened to be the bravest and most honorable man she’d ever known.
“Pretty sure I’ve told you this before,” he replied. “But where you go, I go… for as long as you’re willing to keep me around.”
“For as long as I’m willing?” Ellie pushed back crossly. “What—do you think I’m going to banish you to the hinterlands for displeasing me? We’ve already been to the hinterlands, and as I recall it, I was quite insistent on wanting to keep you very close indeed!”
Adam’s hand firmed on her back, pulling her a little nearer as a self-satisfied smile quirked his lip. “That does ring a bell or two.”
The strength of his grip—and the reminder that she stood inches from six-feet-or-so of wonderful, disreputable man, pushed Ellie’s thoughts in a somewhat less… collegial direction. “And what about tonight? Did you have any… thoughts on where you might like to go?”
“You mean…” Adam prompted carefully.
Ellie elaborated quickly. “Of course, we are guests under Lady Sabita and Sir Robert’s roof, and I suppose it would be extremely inconsiderate of us if we were to engage in any less-than-entirely-proper activities while enjoying their hospitality. So I’d understand if you wished to… er… keep to your own devices for the evening.”
“My own… devices?” Adam’s words sounded tight.
“You know,” Ellie clarified. “Retire with a good book.”
Adam moved closer. It made him seem to loom over her, even as the heat of his body warmed her through the fabric of her blouse.
“Something on Latin conjugations, maybe?” he suggested silkily.
Ellie frowned. She was feeling a little distracted, which was making it hard to put her thoughts together. “I suppose that might be a fair option if you’re looking to go directly to sleep.”
“I’m not looking to go to sleep,” Adam said in a low rumble.
“Oh?” Ellie appeared to be going over a mite breathless.
His fingers grazed along the line of her back. “And as it happens, I can think of a thing or two I’d rather do to pass the time than conjugate. ” His hand stilled. “If you’re feeling amenable.”
Ellie had not wanted his hand to still. She slipped her own palms up the front of his shirt, feeling all the firm, elegant planes and contours that lay beneath the fabric. “I believe I could be quite amenable to a bit of consummation… I mean, conjugation!” she quickly corrected, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “No—caddishness!”
“Caddishness?” Adam carefully pressed.
“Definitely… caddishness,” Ellie breathlessly replied.
His mouth widened into a grin that bloomed like a slow summer sunrise. “Well, then,” he concluded—and swept her up into his arms.
He carried her down the hall, pushing open the door to her room with a precise tap of his boot. The space beyond was dark, quiet—and full of promise.
“So what are you… thinking, exactly?” Ellie asked, sliding her hand up the back of his neck to let her fingers tangle in his hair.
“I’m not.” Adam’s tone was darkly wicked as he gazed down at her, limned by the soft golden light from the hall. “I’m improvising.”
He was impulsive. Reckless … and Ellie was deeply, wildly grateful for all of it.
“Fiddlesticks,” Ellie breathed with approval.
Adam grinned, carried her inside, and kicked shut the door.