“Did you really see them, my lady?” a middle worlder is asking Tabassum Naaz.

“Yes, they’re definitely in Lucknow,” she answers. Because she’s telling the truth, her voice rings with conviction.

“Hey, where’s Jaffar?” Someone has noticed that the middle worlder left behind is no longer at his spot.

The men look for their companion; one of them comes a bit too close to us. Thankfully, Tabassum Naaz calls him away. A few minutes later, making an excuse to search in this direction, she makes her way over.

“What did you do with him?” she whispers to the dark that contains us.

“He’s behind that pillar,” Ligaya replies, pointing. Tabassum Naaz doesn’t change her expression. A quick spell later, the body’s gone.

“The Dar is supposed to hold the pendant in his hands, right?” Tabassum Naaz raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Valentina replies. “But make sure you don’t touch it.”

Tabassum Naaz pats Valentina’s cheek and gives her a smile. “I won’t.”

She leaves us to cling to the shadows and walks back to the chamber. The middle-worlder goons mutter loudly about the disappearance of their companion. Someone wants to report to Baarish, but Tabassum Naaz persuades them not to, saying that it will cause him to be embarrassed in front of his friends. The men agree to postpone their report.

Ten minutes later, Baarish arrives with four middle-worlder men who all, to some degree, look like him: hungry for power and entirely without hearts. They don’t travel with the entourage we expect. Perhaps they left their attendants in the Imambara below. Baarish’s goons set up chairs on one side of the chamber and offer them refreshment in the form of chilled soda.

Baarish, especially, is in a jovial mood. He circles around the chair Taraana is shackled to, looking him up and down like he is livestock. Perhaps, to them he is.

“It was originally my turn to harvest a keeper,” one of Baarish’s friends says, with a hint of grievance in his voice. “You harvested the last one.”

“I was the one who found him, Haaruv,” Baarish replies. “So, I get to keep him.”

“Well, I don’t care who finds the next one. Whoever it is, the keeper will be mine,” Haaruv says with a pout. He needs to die too.

Baarish doesn’t respond. Instead, he grabs Taraana’s chin and forces him to look up. We all shudder. In the next moment, he slaps him so hard, Taraana’s face hits the side of the chair. I stuff my hand into my mouth for fear I will make a noise. Taraana jerks forward and the pendant falls out.