Trishala’s plump lips thinned, and she hissed at Himanshu. “We must reinforce the troops guarding the borders and fortify their armory. If the council insists on dithering, perhaps the clan of Kauravya must take matters into its own hands.”

The susurration of heated hisses and the flashes of fangs battered Venkat until he had to tune them out. He thought of Tanvi, alone in the sad room where he’d left her. Her smile, so unexpected and pretty, more precious for how quickly it had vanished, warmed him even now. He should have given her a book to read. Something to keep her company since he couldn’t.

“The time before, it was six deaths. What if this time, it had been the princess?” inquired a sly voice. “I do not believe she has clarified why she was on Prithvi to begin with.”

Karan. The type of naga who gave snakes on Prithvi their bad reputation. Exchanging a glance with Nayan, Venkat caught a flicker of displeasure beneath Nayan’s cultured façade.

Asha’s father, on the other hand, made no attempt to hide his vexation. “Princess Asha’s affairs are of no consequence to you.”

“I disagree; she placed all her subjects in danger,” said Sunaina, and Karan could not have looked more pleased with himself.

Venkat fought down the urge to argue. Asha still owed him an explanation, and he wouldn’t be surprised to learn the reason the garudas had found her was because she’d been indulging one of her unauthorized whims again. But that didn’t mean Karan could just offer her up for his own ends.

And Asha didn’t let him. She met his derisive smirk with her beaming menace. “I do not mind recounting for the sake of clarity,” she said, sweet as champak perfume. “As a future monarch, I took it upon myself to investigate the current security of our dream running operations on Prithvi. As you may imagine, however, I did not anticipate being attacked while on my mission.”

Not bad. Venkat would give her that. She’d certainly gathered herself, to the point he would never have guessed how shaken she really was. But that didn’t mean her cover story would hold. All someone had to do was poke a hole in it—like Nayan wondering why she had been with Tanvi. During the day, no less.

And then taking a closer look at Tanvi and realizing her condition had nothing to do with burnout.

“This is unacceptable,” Falgun of the clan of Takshaka announced. “You present a singular target, and yet you act as though this were all for sport!”

“I fully admit it was unwise to have gone alone,” Asha agreed, and despite everything, Venkat bit back a laugh. Asha never troubled herself about what she should do, only what she wanted to do. “My haste was born of care for the people I serve.”