“Sikander?” I gasped.
“Your highness!” he exclaimed, forgetting all about his sword as he came forward and embraced me tightly. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”
I couldn’t hug him back because I was holding my katars, but I was too confused to embrace him anyway. “Have you been crying?”
“What?” He let me go and frantically wiped at his face. “I . . .”
“It’s my doing, your highness,” said Viputeshwar, though his eyes were red and puffy and he had tracks of tears running down his dark, wrinkled cheeks and into his white beard. “Sikander and I were having a talk about you.”
“About me?” I frowned, wondering what he meant by that, and wondering what he was doing here in Lakshmi’s bedchamber in Ahura, but none of that really mattered. What mattered was getting her out before someone noticed us. I shook my head. “Well, whatever conversation you were having, it’s over now. We’re leaving, and if you try to stop us, I’ll kill you.”
“Your highness!” Sikander exclaimed, suddenly horrified at the thought of killing a man. I wondered what had happened to the man, if perhaps he was an impostor.
Viputeshwar held up a hand for calm. “Sikander was telling me what Karim did to you six years ago. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
“Is that your way of saying that you’re with us?” I asked.
“If you’ll have me, your highness,” he replied, bowing deeply from the waist.
“Once Karim and Ahmed have joined Lady Asma in the grave, we’ll talk about it,” I assured him.
Sikander’s eyes widened. “She’s dead?”
“She is,” I affirmed. “And Kadiro is ours.”
“How?” he wondered.
“There will be time to tell you later,” I said, and I would tolerate no more distractions then, because Lakshmi was still sleeping soundly in her bed, looking so peaceful. She was safe. God, I would give Sikander such rewards for keeping Karim away from her if we all survived this.
I sat on the bed beside her and stroked her hair gently, knowing that would wake her up, but it wouldn’t scare her. Sure enough, she cracked an eye open and caught sight of me, her vision a bit dazed at first, but after a second she sat upright and threw her arms around my neck. “Akka!”
“Shh . . .” I whispered. “Karim can’t know I’m here. We have to leave now, okay?”
“Is Sikander coming with us?” she asked.
“He is,” I agreed.
“Good.” She smiled, and I wondered at that. But I supposed he’d kept her safe in a scary new place. He’d protected her. He hadn’t beaten her or yelled at her. He’d been the bodyguard that he never was for me.
“We’re going to have to climb out,” I whispered. “Arjun is waiting up there with Padmini to take you with him.”
“Prince Arjun is here?” She seemed thrilled by that for a moment, but then she frowned. “But what about Mohini?”
I took a deep breath, because this was the hard part. “We’ll have to come back for Mohini.”
Lakshmi shook her head. “No, Akka, we can’t—”
I held a hand over her mouth, because she was shouting. I pulled her up against me tightly. “We can’t shout. Prince Karim will kill us. His father will kill us. We have to be quiet, okay?”
I let go of her mouth when she nodded her agreement, but that didn’t stop her from voicing her protest in quieter tones. “Okay, but I’m not leaving Mohini!”
“Lakshmi—” I began, but I was interrupted by Viputeshwar.
“If I may, your highness, I might have a solution,” he said, keeping his voice soft and quiet.
I frowned. Viputeshwar had been kind to me, but he had raised both Karim and Ahmed from children. He was loyal to Mahisagar, and I had murdered his queen and admitted as much in front of him.
He seemed to sense my thoughts, because he said, “I know you don’t think you can trust me, your highness, and I can’t blame you, but I ask you to remember what I told you about my sister, remember how I felt then when I told you that story, and realize that Sikander just told me tonight what Karim did to you, what he has been doing to you.”
My mind went back to that conversation, weeks ago in the palace of Rajkot, and I remembered the rage in his eyes, the anguish in his voice, and the strength in his arms when he had spoken of the client who had murdered his sister. The one he’d had butchered like a goat. I nodded then. Maybe I could trust him. “What is this solution of yours?”
“Lakshmi is a hostage here, it’s true,” he said, “but I am not, and neither is Sikander. Ahmed and Karim both believe that Sikander is committed to this alliance. I could take him to the stables on the pretense of caring for the zahhaks. No one will challenge us. We will take Mohini and Parisa, and we will fly them wherever you need them.”
“The coast due north. There are cliffs.”
“I know the place, your highness,” Viputeshwar assured me.
“And you can fly an acid zahhak?” I asked.
“I can, your highness,” he said. “And Lakshmi has already shown me Mohini. We’ve become acquainted. And Parisa will prevent me from being eaten if Sikander is there.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “The two of you get to the stables now. I’ll get Lakshmi to the roof. She can ride Padmini back to the cliffs, and then get Mohini back.” I looked to Lakshmi. “All right?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes, Akka.”
I sighed, glad to have that settled, because it meant we’d have two more zahhaks for the coming battle. “You two get moving. Stay safe. I’ll get Lakshmi to the roof.” To her, I said, “Put your climbing
