“The Night Market. We would’ve gone last night, but I had to set it up with her first.” With that, Venkat led Tanvi into the tunnels and through a back corridor she’d never known existed, which he said terminated right in the middle of Asha’s apartments.

Tanvi rolled her eyes. Of course Asha had her own secret passageway. Rich carpets and intricate mosaics lined its depths, and sconces posted every few inches provided way more illumination than any troublemaking princess could possibly need.

Venkat must have caught Tanvi’s expression, because he looked sheepish. “Asha used to use this tunnel all the time to get around the palace. These days, Madhu’s minions keep a close watch on it, so we have to hurry.”

Tanvi shivered at the thought of all those eyes on them. “What if someone sees us?”

“I promised you I’d get your memories back, and since it turns out we don’t have any actual boons here, the Night Market is the only place I can think of.” He smiled sadly. “Besides, it’s the least Asha and I can do for you after . . . everything.”

As they walked, he filled her in on his research. “I think the initiation took your ability to dream and filtered it into a fake boon. And since the last thing you had with you when you got here was the thing you”—he winced—“became obsessed with, that was the only thing you could dream of.”

“Until I woke up, you mean.”

“Exactly. There was one boon that was thinner than all the others. I figured it was yours, and I was right. It was so flimsy it dissolved the second I cut into it, probably because your ability to dream had already gone back to you.” He frowned. “You were dreaming when I woke you up, weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Tanvi admitted.

Venkat hesitated, then took her hand. “I’m not sure I can make you a dream runner again.”

The implied question drifted between them: Did she even want that anymore?

She’d thought so, but the world had gone topsy-turvy while she wasn’t looking. When the fake boon failed to restore her memories, it should have been a comfort.

Instead, Tanvi felt deprived of her past. Talking to Nitya had made her want to remember, to plug in the missing puzzle pieces, at least temporarily. Who had she been before? Who had they been?

All that was too much to worry about right now, so she nudged it into the waiting room at the back of her mind. “But why the Night Market?”

Venkat’s shoulders dropped in obvious relief, and he squeezed her fingers. His hand felt so solid in hers. “You know how you shared the fireflies I gave you with the other runners?”

She nodded, wondering if she was in trouble.