“Excellent!” Chintu grinned, and a smattering of agreement sounded from around the table. Only Asha stayed quiet, but Venkat could imagine her disdain. “Is it not, Asha?”

“Splendid,” she agreed, and her sunny smile could have rivaled even the glint of the topaz over the Lake of Lovers’ Tears.

As the rest of the council departed, Nayan motioned for Venkat to stay behind.

“Impressive,” Venkat said admiringly. “I didn’t think anything could get them to quit fighting.”

“My son,” Nayan replied, “everyone enjoys a good story. It gives them both an umbrella to unite beneath and a role to play.”

As they walked out into the corridor, he smiled. “You have won me over with how well you stood up for yourself in there. You request permission to care for Tanvi? Consider it granted.”

20

Tanvi had fallen asleep, of course, and dreamed again. Images of Nitya and Dad in their garden in Mount Airy blended with snapshots of Venkat and Asha outside the palace. Tanvi grabbed the trowel from her father’s grasp and uprooted the daisies from Nitya’s raised bed, the daisies Nitya had planted herself. It didn’t alter a thing; Nitya only picked other flowers, and Dad dug with his hands.

A soccer ball soared past Tanvi’s head, landing at Venkat’s feet. The palace glittered behind him, a mirror for the burning sun. He punted the ball back to Asha. “Come play!” they urged, and Tanvi raced toward them. But before she could get there, Indu appeared and bumped the ball with her head. In response, a trio of garudas swooped down from the cloudless sky and swallowed the three of them. All Tanvi could do was watch, helpless, as Asha, writhing in snake form, disappeared into a vicious golden beak. Abandoned on the grass, the ball cloned itself. Then both balls deflated.

When Tanvi woke, her mouth parched and gross, Indu’s bed sat empty, and the sky had darkened to the color of squid ink. Tanvi practically guzzled the entire jug of lukewarm water, but no matter how much she drank, she couldn’t wash away the ugly feeling in her chest.

Those stupid two soccer balls. They’d even been in her dream.

She sneaked over to Indu’s closet to stare at them some more. Plump and too real, they gleamed at her, the black and white patches spotless like they’d never been tracked through dirt or scuffed by shoes.

How could Indu have two balls while Tanvi didn’t have a single bracelet?

She heard the muffled echo of her conversation with Nitya, when Tanvi had asked after the bracelet Nitya couldn’t possibly know anything about.

My bracelet. The one Tanvi was still waiting to buy with her boon.

No. This was skirting way too close to dangerous territory. As long as she didn’t go any further, what Nitya had said—what Tanvi herself had asked—didn’t exist.