“Rani Amba is a truth seeker,” I tell him. From the corner of my eyes, I see Shayla move closer to us, her atashban raised. “Why don’t you let her do the questioning? Then you’ll know who’s a liar and who isn’t.”
A small frown appears between Sonar’s brows. Before he can answer, a pair of Sky Warriors troop in, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Major! Major Shayla!”
My heart sinks when I see who’s with them—Cavas, held by a pale-skinned woman with gray eyes, followed by another tall Sky Warrior in full armor, helmet, mask, and all, gripping the arms of an older man with graying hair. Cavas’s father.
“Found these two trying to sneak in past the rekha. Probably trying to steal some valuable magical object!”
“Well, well.” Shayla’s smile sharpens. “This gets even more interesting. Thank you, Alizeh. You are most resourceful.”
“Anything for you, Major.” Alizeh’s eyes glint with the sort of madness I’ve only seen among some of the sky goddess’s devotees and worshippers at Sant Javer’s shrine.
“Look at the way she’s looking at her,” I say quietly, careful so that my voice reaches no one except the crown prince. “Look at the way they all look at her for their next instruction. You may kill me, but you’ll be a fool if you think you’ll have any control over these Sky Warriors.”
Sonar’s grip on my hand tightens, making me long for my daggers. But right now, my words are my only weapon, and if they can be used to cast suspicion on Shayla, the better.
“What’s the little murderess whispering about?” Jagat asks, leering at me. “Probably offering herself up to save her lover. Sonar will share with us, won’t you, Bhaiyya?”
“Shut up!” Sonar’s snarl startles him into silence. “Shut up, all of you!”
“Let me handle this, Yuvraj.” Shayla’s smooth voice belies her tense posture. “You don’t have to worry yourself about these petty matters.”
“No.” Sonar studies me with cold eyes. “I am going to deal with her and these two dirt lickers in my own way.”
“If you are, then you better deal with this, too,” a familiar voice says.
Kali! I nearly scream her name. What is she still doing here?
Sonar’s head snaps sideways, his death grip on me loosening. Even if I didn’t feel numbed by everything that has transpired so far, I would have to pinch myself to believe what is happening now.
Amar’s yellow eyes are wide, and his mouth is parted ever so slightly, over the steel glint of a jambiya, its hilt embellished with a single flower bud. Even though Amar is taller than Kali, and most certainly broader in the shoulders, he is no match for her killer instincts. Perhaps Sonar can see the same from the deadly smile on her pretty face or the grip she has on his brother, because, for the first time, he sounds a little worried when he shouts: “By the goddess! Who in Svapnalok are you?”
“Doesn’t matter who she is, does it?” another voice says. I spin around to find Amira pointing an atashban at Major Shayla’s head. “It should matter to you that I’m about to blow your precious major’s brains out.”
“Tahmasp!” Sonar shouts. “Where is he? Where’s the general?”
“In the Brim,” Shayla says, her eyes still on the atashban Amira aims at her. “Raja Lohar sent him there three days ago.”
“Lies!” Cavas shouts suddenly. “The general’s dead! Major Shayla had him killed in the Desert of Dreams!”
“Silence!” Captain Alizeh tightens her grip around his neck.
Before I can move or scream, the armored Sky Warrior holding Cavas’s father lets go of him and spins, catching Alizeh in the eye with an elbow, making her yelp in pain. Alizeh claws out at the Sky Warrior’s mask, loosening it, revealing someone I thought I’d never see again.
“Juhi!” Three screams ring in the air: mine, Kali’s, and Amira’s. Hope buoys under my ribs, strengthens into resolve when I feel Sonar’s grip on me tighten.
“Kali! Amira!” Juhi steps in front of Cavas and his father, her voice ringing in the air: “Remember our plan.”
She spins once more, dodging a red flame of light. The helmet—which must have been too large—falls off her head and clatters to the floor, her braid spilling out of it like onyx and sapphires.
“What happened, Samudra witch?” Alizeh shouts. “Too scared to fight?”
A moment later, Alizeh loses her sneer as she’s forced to put up a shield, dodging something silver lashing out at her like a snake—no, a whip. A Samudra split whip, its four blades slicing the air over Juhi’s head with a deadly ringing sound.
Unlike Alizeh, Juhi is utterly calm as she deflects spell after spell after spell—and I suddenly know what she’s doing. What all three of the Sisters are doing.
They’re buying me time.
I slam my head backward, knocking with Sonar’s. He curses, calling me a foul name. Taking advantage of his momentary pain, I use my elbows next and then my feet, spinning out of his grip. I grab hold of the daggers I’d dropped onto the floor moments earlier.
“You little—”
I slash a dagger upward. The scent of copper fills the air. I ignore the blood spurting from Sonar’s now-torn cheek, the howl of pain, and roll away from a jet of red light, which nearly burns off my hair. Death magic fills my veins, and I shoot green light at the Sky Warrior who had attacked me.
Everywhere is chaos. Amira and Shayla are on the staircase, shooting spells at each other with atashbans. Kali is fighting another Sky Warrior. Amar is nowhere in sight.
On the other side, Cavas struggles against the hold of another Sky Warrior, whose eyes meet mine. Captain Emil. The man who showed me a moment of kindness during confinement. The man who reminded me of my own father.
Please, I plead with my eyes. Let them go. I don’t want to kill Captain Emil, but if it comes down to him and Cavas, there are no doubts in my mind about whom I’ll save. I see the
