“Do you really? I could teach you.”
“Spirits, no,” Priya said, and watched Malini’s lip twitch once more. “People would say I was pretending to be a princess. I’d be mocked, my lady. No.”
“Then I need a different answer, Priya.”
Priya considered for a moment. But it was hard to think, with Malini’s hands in her own, with Malini’s thumbs brushing the insides of her wrists, where her blood thrummed. There was a promise in this somewhere—in the touch and the smile and the joy written in Malini’s face, the teasing edge to her voice. She didn’t know what exactly to do with it, or with the way it made her own heart turn.
“There are coconuts that you can find growing in the forest,” she blurted out. “Sometimes foragers or woodcutters collect them and sell them at the bazaar. Only the richest can afford to buy them.”
“I said no food,” Malini said in a chiding tone. But she was listening.
“They’re not exactly edible. They’re—the forest, my lady, is entirely Ahiranyi, and sometimes you find strange things inside it. Unexpected things. When you split those particular coconuts, you find flowers inside. Dark purple, violet, black. The color of shadows. The rich place those blossoms in their shrines. Or they used to.” The wealthier pilgrims had brought those coconuts to the Hirana once, too. Priya had cracked one open herself, and nearly wept when the flowers had burst out, tumbling beautifully over her hands, a cascade of darkness. “I’d like one of those coconuts. I’d like to make that offering. It would be frivolous and stupid and… it wouldn’t help anyone I’ve lost. Or summon any kind of luck. But it would be like a cry against the void. And that would be what some of the people I’ve lost would have wanted…” Priya trailed off. “I’m not usually frivolous. But that’s why it’s a want,” Priya added. “Right now, in this place? That’s what I want.”
Malini was still staring at her, wordless. All playfulness had fallen from her features, leaving them blank and austere.
“Such a serious answer,” she murmured.
“I’m sorry.”
“You are,” Malini said, “a genuinely interesting person. I thought it the moment I saw you, and I haven’t yet been proved wrong.”
Malini said it as if it were an accusation—as if Priya’s words were somehow an affront, a blow, a thing that had harmed her. When Priya blinked at her, Malini released her abruptly, moving back to her charpoy and falling down upon it, head turned away.
“Are you well?” Priya asked, alarmed.
“Fine,” Malini bit out. But she did not turn back to look at Priya again.
The sea change in her mood wasn’t something Priya understood. But nothing about the curve of Malini’s spine, the way her arms were wrapped around her body, suggested that she wanted to be asked further questions. As if reading her thoughts, Malini said quietly, “I would very much like to be alone.”
“Of course,” Priya said without thinking, and headed to the door. It was only when she touched the handle that she remembered she no longer possessed the key. The door was locked for the night.
Under her hand, the Hirana listened. The air shifted. The door swung slightly open.
Ah.
Priya glanced back. Malini was still curled up.
“I’ll let you rest,” Priya said. “I’m going for a little walk. I won’t be long.”
When Malini did not protest, Priya left the chamber.
The silence followed behind her. It was the kind that had thorns.
The triveni was empty. There was no rain. No cold wind. Perhaps the monsoon was passing. When she glanced up at the sky, she could see the wink of stars.
She took a few steps forward toward the plinth and—tripped.
With a quiet “oof” she regained her balance, straightening up. It was strange. She knew the triveni. She’d walked it so many, many times. The triveni had held her. But she’d missed, now—slipped against a groove. Her encounter with Malini had left her flustered, but not that flustered.
She looked down.
The lines upon the floor had definitely shifted. Instead of dancing like waves upon the shore, they’d merged together, jagged and strange.
They looked like flames. Like a warning.
There was a clattering noise. A shriek. She saw the shadow of one of the guards in the hall. Saw Pramila running toward her.
“The princess,” Pramila cried urgently, breathless, “is she safe? Is anyone here?”