Did they say anything yet?

No. But if anyone can find the solution, they will.

The two of them ended the conversation there, without good-byes. They weren’t necessary, because even separated by thousands of miles, Payal and Canto were never apart, the bond between them a living thing luminous with emotion.

He lived inside her, as she lived inside him.

The Payal before, the one who hadn’t yet met Canto again, she would’ve believed such a thing must be intrusive—but it wasn’t. They didn’t surveil one another. No, it was more akin to knowing that if she held out a hand, he’d be there to grab onto it. Always, he’d be there.

A word hovered on the tip of her tongue, such a huge word, such a massive emotion.

Breath shuddering, she pushed it away. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to face that … to hope for that. It felt like asking for too much.

After doing breathing exercises to compose herself, she took one last look in the mirror before she headed to her father. Sunita, her long gray hair neatly braided and her black staff uniform pressed to within an inch of its life, was hovering outside her room when she exited. “Miss Payal,” she whispered, fear a tremor in her voice.

Payal immediately stepped close to the taller but far thinner woman. “What’s the matter?”

Chapter 44

Murder most foul, as in the best it is. But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

—From Hamlet by the human playwright William Shakespeare (17th century)

“YOUR BROTHER,” SUNITA said, darting looks up the hallway. “He destroyed his suite last night.” She twisted her hands. “He hasn’t lost control like that since the day you saved Visha.”

Payal’s mind flashed to an image of Visha’s wounds, the slick of red on the brown of her skin. “Thank you. Now, I want you to disappear for a few days—log health leave into the system. I’ll authorize it.” If her brother was in a rage, then the older woman wasn’t safe. Lalit might ignore the servants, but she couldn’t take the risk that he hadn’t worked out that Sunita was Payal’s.

The older woman—who put on a good Silent front most of the time, but who’d clearly thrown off the shackles of the protocol with far more success than most Psy her age—looked at her with distressed eyes. “You’ll be all alone.”

Payal had always thought theirs a strictly mercenary relationship, but there was fear and worry in the other woman’s eyes. She could see it clear as day now that she was no longer blocking her emotional center. It shook her to know she’d blinded herself in such a destructive way.

“I’m a cardinal Tk,” she said gently. “He’s never going to be as strong as I am.”

Sunita resisted. “He won’t fight in the open. He’ll be like a snake, sliding in under the door while you sleep—it’s how he was as a boy, so cunning that he hurt you while your father wasn’t looking. I tried to watch, to find ways to distract him, but I was only a maid.”

No doubt in Payal’s mind of the depth of Sunita’s concern. “I’ll make sure I never drop my guard.” She put a gentle hand on Sunita’s shoulder, felt the jut of bone there; she’d looked into Sunita’s nutrition in the past, learned that the other woman ate a normal diet—the thin stature was a family trait and not a cause for medical concern. “But I need you out of the way so I don’t have to worry about anyone else.”

Sunita hesitated again before nodding at last. “I should leave now?”

“Yes. Go.” A storm had been gathering on the horizon for a long time—her ascension to the Ruling Coalition would’ve only fueled Lalit’s fury.

After Sunita hurried away, Payal deliberately called her brother on the phone to keep him distracted. “Has Father summoned you to his apartment, too?” she asked. “I need to discuss something with both of you.”

“No,” Lalit purred, and it held venom. “I’m not part of the Ruling Coalition, after all.”

Yes, the storm would break soon. “Meet me there. Bring an updated version of the Tirawa file.” She made it an order because she had to act as she’d always done with him—anything else, and he’d suspect she’d been warned of his tantrum. “Ten minutes.” It’d take him most of that time to put together the old file, and Sunita would be long out of the house by then.

“Yes, boss.”

She stopped herself from glancing up at one of the security cameras as she spoke to Canto. Can you see me now?

Yes. Not being creepy—I just need to watch over you in that place.

I don’t mind. She wasn’t “normal” and neither was he. This was their normal. I’m going to see my father.

I have no feed in your father’s apartment. Grim words. You’ll have to alert me if there’s a problem.

Shouldn’t be. He likely wants to talk politics and how I can use my position to advantage the family.

I’ll keep you in sight as long as possible.

Payal walked on feeling as if he were right there beside her.

Arriving at the door to her father’s apartment not long afterward, she put all extraneous thoughts aside. Pranath Rao’s assistant showed her into her father’s room, where Pranath sat in bed, showered and dressed in a crisp white shirt with a raised collar. A blanket of fine black wool covered his lower half.

His bed desk was busy with documents and organizers.

“A moment, Payal.”

She used that time to make a subtle scan of the room. The mirrors at the back were still in place, but she felt no minds in that area. That might be true—or it might be a complex shield. It could be done, though it was hard work. As far as she knew, the only people who regularly maintained such shields were those like the Arrows.

Her father wouldn’t have hired just anyone for his guards; his people would be highly trained. Not Arrows, since Arrows couldn’t be bought. Mercenaries, then. Possibly leftovers from the Council superstructure, people who’d managed to get away because they’d kept their heads down.

“Father.” Lalit walked into the room.

Pranath looked up. “I was informed you were here.” A reminder that he knew everything that happened in Vara. “But this is a private meeting, Lalit.”

“To which Payal invited me,” Lalit said with apparent equanimity.