Chapter 87 Rao

RAO

He watched Malini speak in front of a roaring crowd of Harsinghar’s citizens. Jasmine flowers were thrown. The air was filled with exultation. And Malini, a thin figure in white, stood above it all, and proclaimed the future with as much authority as the nameless god.

This war was won with the help of the Ahiranyi, who turned on their gods for their own sakes, and ours.

They showed courage.

We will bargain with them. We will move forward in peace.

Peace. He wondered what it would look like.

In the midst of the celebrations he found Sima—sitting alone, on the roof where he’d once sat and drunk himself stupid. She had no liquor with her. She was staring up at the sky, but when he called her name, she slid down to join him. His leg wasn’t fit for roof climbs quite yet.

They sat together, listening to the sounds of the city in celebration.

“I think Priya’s dead,” Sima said, eventually. Her hands brushed her cheeks. They came away wet.

“I’m sorry,” Rao said quietly. He couldn’t refute it. He’d seen the devastation in Malini’s eyes. The hollowing weight of it.

“She changed my life, or maybe I changed my own,” Sima said, looking at the horizon—the gold of it moving over her face, liquid, making her eyes blaze.

“I can’t stay in Ahiranya,” Sima said finally, her voice small. “I can’t go back. And I—I don’t want to stay in Parijat. I need an escape.”

Perhaps there was a possibility there—something he’d felt in the drumbeat of quiet when he’d stood beside Kai Ehsan, and the lord had placed heart’s shell against his palm, his fingers warm, his grip an offer and a shelter.

Or perhaps not.

He thought of the kai. He thought of Dwarali’s snow, and how vast the world beyond the Lal Qila had looked and felt. He wanted that for himself. Whether he went to Alor or not, he knew where he would end up: walking into a blue-white horizon.

Ehsan had given up the dangers of the world beyond the Lal Qila for the safety of Parijatdvipa. But Parijatdvipa had almost destroyed Rao. He would have died for it, and he no longer wanted to live in it. He wanted to see stars under a new sky.

It would be like walking straight into a fire that couldn’t burn or break you. A light of possibility.

“As a start, someone needs to watch Kai Ehsan,” said Rao. “He’s a stranger to us, still, for all the good he’s done. And someone will need to keep the peace between him and the ladies of Dwarali and the Lal Qila.”

“You think the empress will let you be the one to watch him when you’re the one who brought him to her?” Sima asked.

“Yes,” said Rao. “I think she will.”

Sima was watching him. Thoughtful.

“And what after that?” Sima asked. Like she was hoping. Waiting.

“There is a world beyond Dwarali,” Rao said quietly. “Beyond the Lal Qila. Beyond even Kai Ehsan and his Jagatay. I know nothing of that world. I’ve never dreamt of it. The nameless god won’t reveal it to me. I know no one there, and no one there will respect me for being a prince of Alor, or a general of the Empress of Parijatdvipa. No one will judge me for murdering the High Priest of mothers, monster though he was. I want to go to it,” he said. “I want to see it. I want to see what I might become out there. But, Sima, what do you want?”

“There are people I don’t want to leave,” she said finally. “But… I don’t want to be a maidservant, or an advisor, or a prisoner. I want to go with you.” A pause. “When I’ve said goodbye—when things are more stable. If you can wait… I’d like to go too.”

He smiled.

“I can wait for you,” he said.

“You spun a fine tale around me, Rao,” Malini said to him. She was still thin, still exhausted—but her smile was real, a light on her face. “Even my own courtiers think I am some kind of god now.”

“It was Lata who did it,” he said.

“Oh, don’t lie,” Malini replied. “She told me where it began. Lata has a great respect for the provenance of knowledge. Rao…”

“Yes?”

“You are free of the burden of having your fate tied to mine,” said Malini. “When you are ready to leave, you may go. I can offer you that.”

He swallowed. He should have refused her. He should have told her he would stay at her side.

“Thank you,” he said instead.

Later, Lata hugged him.

“I thought one day I would be a sage again, traveling the world,” Lata said, muffled against his shoulder. “But how can I leave her? And how can I ask you to stay? I can’t, Rao. I can’t.”

He embraced her in return.

“You are going to be one of the most important people in the empire,” he said against her hair. “And me? I’m going to go out into the world and learn what it is. Like a true sage.”

“Write it all down,” Lata said, tears in her eyes. “And send it to me.”