Page 28 of The Seeker
“Meera Bai was a sixteenth-century human mystic from Rajasthan,” Rhys said carefully, “who was so admired by the Irina that the wisest and most learned singer in all the Eastern world vowed she would name her heir after the woman, therefore giving her eternity, not only in the human world, but in the heavens.”
A smile flirted around the corner of Meera’s mouth. “What a beautiful story.”
Rhys tapped the edge of his teacup. “Isn’t it? And it’s true. Every single word. You’re Meera Bai. You’re not a friend or associate of Patiala. You’re her daughter, the heir of Anamitra.”
“That is quite a leap. I’m flattered.”
“It’s not a leap. It’s a theory supported by evidence. If Patiala called Sari with information, that information would be trusted immediately. Without question.”
He waited for her to respond—to give him some kind of reaction—but she gave him nothing.
Naked chess is a must.
Focus.
“This is not a game,” he whispered. “My mother knelt at the feet of Anamitra and begged for her training, and you are her heir. Your mother must have known that Sari and Damien would send me without thinking twice because if theheir of Anamitrahad found the Wolf, then it meant the sage of Irina sages had found a reservoir of lost magic.”
“A reservoir of lost magic?” Meera’s eyebrows went up, but her placid smile stayed in place. “My goodness, the elder scribes would love to get their hands on that, wouldn’t they?”
“Is that why you don’t trust me?” His heart raced again. “Gabriel’s bloody fist, I am not their lackey!Why are you here?Why are you alone? You have no protection—”
“I don’t need protection.”
“The scribe house in the city doesn’t even know who you are.”
“Don’t they?” She leaned forward, and her mask of amused indifference slipped. “Well, I don’t knowyou.”
“I’m trying to change that.”
“Why? So you can accumulate more magic like a greedy boy hoarding his toys?”
He set down his teacup before it cracked in his hand. “You’re impossible.”
“I could say the same about you.”
How could Patiala allow it? How could Patiala’s mate? Meera Bai’s father was rumored to have come from the Tomir warriors, dedicated to protecting the wisdom of Udaipur. If Meera was the heir, she should be living in a fortress, surrounded by a hundred warriors who could protect her and the treasures in her mind.
Instead, she sat across from Rhys at a wrought iron bistro table, sipping her coffee while a fountain bubbled in the background, wearing a colorful dress and bangles on her wrists like she was an ordinary woman with not a care in the world.
“Sounds like a narrow world.”
“Yes, it was. Until recently.”
“So you did live in a haven once.”
“Not a haven.”
She had lived in a fortress.
His anger dimmed. Meera Bai had lived in the fortress of Udaipur and spent her entire life receiving the knowledge of the Forgiven and the histories of the Irina. Their magic. Their heartbreak. Their power and their struggle. She’d been protected and sheltered.
Hidden.
The child who would become the heir of Anamitra would have been kept from anything that could hurt her. Probably treated like an object of curiosity instead of a person. Awesome to everyone around her, including her family.
“Not a haven.”
A prison.
