Ana slid the ring onto her finger and then twined her hands around my neck. “Then the ring is something I will cherish,” she said.
Wrapping my arms around her, I called upon the power of the amulet, and the two of us leapt through time. We rematerialized in the palace of Lokesh and stayed phased out of time so we’d be invisible to those around us. Ana took my hand and strode forward, following the sound of voices. Turning a corner, we came upon my former self talking with Lokesh.
“Where is he?” my old self demanded. “You can’t just throw him in prison.”
“Calm down, young princeling. He has come to no harm.” Under his breath, Lokesh added, “At least nothing he won’t survive.”
My younger self whipped around and narrowed his eyes, but Lokesh affixed a politician’s smile on his face. “You must trust me when I say this will work. All we need to do is show him that my daughter loves you and your Dhiren will tear up the betrothal agreement himself. After that, if he is truly the loving brother you claim he is, he will negotiate new terms.
“As for me, I will play the part of the vengeful father who has been deceived by the Rajaram family. To protect his honor and that of his family, Rajaram’s heir will pay whatever price we wish to make this ugly business disappear. Oh, he may hate you for a while, but I am certain it will all work out the way it should in the end.” He gripped the shoulder of my former self. “We’ll find him a new bride together, one that will be a more fitting choice. Once he is happily married, he will soon forget all this unpleasantness.”
Vile man, Ana hissed. I am glad the demon is dead.
I agreed. We stayed to listen to the two men make their plans and then followed my old self outside, shadowing him until he found Yesubai. As she fell into his arms, she pulled back her veil and I heard Ana’s gasp of surprise.
She is lovely, Ana said. Your memories of her were imprecise.
Memories often are. I was fancying myself in love with Kelsey when you saw Yesubai through my eyes before. It likely tainted my recollections. But you’re right, Yesubai was beautiful,” I mused as I watched the two people embrace. I glanced at Ana’s face and found her expression unreadable. Does she hate Yesubai? Is she jealous? If Ana had been the one falling into the arms of a stranger, I don’t know what I’d do. Strangle him probably. But Ana just watched quietly.
I, too, studied the violet-eyed girl, for that was what she was, a girl, merely sixteen years old. Yesubai would have been a fitting match for either me or Ren at that time. But now, centuries later, she seemed so very young to me. If I looked in the mirror, my face might not appear that different than the young man holding Yesubai, but my eyes showed my age. I carried the years inside. They’d stretched and shaped me just as much as marks upon my flesh would have.
So much had happened to me since I’d been that boy. I felt like a completely different person. My body was youthful but my spirit was so very old. As I watched them together, my heart swelled. Not with a blushing affection for the sweet girl who was the daughter of a monster but with a sense of wistfulness and of sadness for a life cut short.
“What’s happening?” Yesubai asked, stepping away from the embrace.
My younger self answered, “Your father says we’ll have to confront him openly and that he believes Ren will be more amenable if he sees the three of us as a united front. My brother is technically your father’s prisoner, but he assures me he only means to threaten Ren until he gives us what he wants, then he’ll sign a new betrothal agreement.”
“But—”
Just then, Lokesh came upon them. “Ah, there you are, my dear.”
It was obvious that Yesubai was deathly afraid of her father. She drew her veil up immediately upon hearing his voice and lowered her head. Backing quickly away from the boy she loved, Yesubai placed her arm across her father’s.
“If you will excuse us, Kishan,” Lokesh said, “I will escort my daughter to her chamber to rest and change before your brother is summoned.”
“Of course,” my old self said.
I was careful to stay a good distance away from him as we left the old Kishan behind and trailed after Yesubai and Lokesh instead. He took his daughter up a set of stone steps. With no less than three locked doors between her chamber and the garden, he’d made it so there was no possible way for Yesubai to escape.
Once Yesubai and Lokesh entered her room, the door was locked behind them. We decided it was best to wait in the hall. Even so, we heard snippets of conversation and whispered threats. Ana was about push her way in anyway when the door suddenly flew open and Lokesh exited. Since Yesubai was safely ensconced with her nurse, we decided to follow Lokesh.
Yesubai’s father locked her door and then disappeared through the next. Just as we were about to follow him, we heard the girl’s alarmed voice through the door. Yesubai spoke softly enough that the soldiers outside couldn’t hear but loud enough for a goddess and her tiger to make out.
“Isha,” she said, “I’m so frightened! He’s going to kill them!”
Ana gave me a meaningful look. I took her hand and squeezed. As her servant comforted her, we moved across the courtyard in an instant, disappearing through the very walls of the palace, and trailed Lokesh, who ended up in the throne room with his advisor.
“When you bring him in,” Lokesh said, “make sure Yesubai is the first thing he sees. The two lovesick princes will be stumbling over each other to give me what I want.”
“Of course, and then, after they’re dead, I’ll get my reward?”
“Yes, yes, my daughter will be yours. Now go. Make the prisoner ready.”
Once the man left, Lokesh closed the door and bolted it, then he raised his arms and practiced wielding the power of the amulet. Ana watched him, transfixed. The power didn’t come naturally to Lokesh. Both of us could feel the amulet resisting his commands.
It’s not his to control, Ana said. It fights him.
It does.
Lokesh and his ancestors were never meant to wield the power. They were only caretakers. We watched Lokesh stumble. The veins in his arms stood out almost black against his skin. It’s destroying him, she said. Making him mad like Kadam said it would.
Will it affect Kadam the same way? I asked.
Ana bit her lip. The more the power is used, the more it destroys those who employ it. But Kadam holds only one piece. She put her hand on my arm. We will keep watch over him.
Then what’s protecting us? I asked.
The girl next to me gave me a look that spoke volumes. The only problem was, I didn’t know exactly what she was saying or not saying.
Perhaps someday we will find out, she answered softly.
Lokesh had worked up a good sweat after an hour or so of using the amulet. He reached for a towel and mopped his brow just as there was a knock on the door. He wrenched it open. “What is it?” he hissed.
“Your daughter is ready. Even now she is with the younger prince. I thought it best not to leave them alone too long.”
“Very prudent of you,” Lokesh said. “Give me a moment and then escort them in.”
The man disappeared and Lokesh used the power of the amulet to cool his frame. He pulled on his robe and smoothed his hair. As he did, his servant entered, bowing, and escorted Yesubai and my old self into the room.