Page 34 of Her Soul for a Crown
“I see no injury.”
“It’s true.” Bithul moved swiftly, revealing scars scraping down his calf to his heel. “Polonnaruwa tried to take my legs.”
“What happened?”
“I took their hands instead.”
“If that doesn’t instill confidence, I don’t know what would.”
With a swish of her bloodstained sari, she glided past Tahan. Bithul kept pace a step behind her. A thud sounded every other step.
“I don’t believe the raja will agree to this, my raejina consort,” he said, deftly walking with an unusual cane. “You must be properly protected.”
“If you aren’t up to it, why are you stationed as a guard within the palace in the first place?” Anula led them past dozens of rooms, none of which brought them closer to the raja’s chambers. There were more important places to be.
Bithul squeezed the top of his cane. “Because I was once the best, destined to be commander. Now, though, my body isn’t suited for skirmishes in the jungle. By the Heavens’ grace, I’m still able to stand guard and serve my kingdom.”
Anula tucked the information away. “I didn’t choose you for that,” she said, halting at the end of a hall. “Your reputation says you’re loyal to Anuradhapura. All I ask is that you continue to be.”
He bowed. “Of course, my raejina consort.”
Anula turned to proceed with her plan when a flash of flame outside a window caught her eye. She rushed toward it, pressing her nose close. A throng of servants cleaned the inner city. Chora Naga’s destruction was a clear blazing path from the palace doorto the gate and out into Anuradhapura, where the people would be putting out fires, patching thatch roofs, tending to the injured. Things they’d become practiced, even skilled at.
“How many did we lose?” she asked.
“Only a handful in the city, by early accounts. Most were our own guards,” he said gruffly.
That wasn’t any better. Innocent lives were still lost for a senseless, greedy purpose. Sons and husbands never to return home, never to hug their loved ones again. She stared at a helmet, bloody and bent. A woman’s sari pota lay drenched next to it.
It pinched at Anula.
She had lost not only Auntie Nirma, but also the women who’d been placed here to aid her rule. What about the others, the ones still in Kekirawa? Her fingers twitched. She should write to them, ensure they were safe and hiding in case Chora Naga had spilled any of their secrets. Then she should ask for aid, for them to send more allies—
But would that risk them? If the letter was intercepted, if any of Chora Naga’s own allies now infiltrated the palace, she could be the cause of more loss. Perhaps it was best to wait for a missive from one of them. They knew she was here, and they’d see that she had not given up. Decision made, she turned from the helmet and the loss and continued on. Bithul was right behind her until she rounded the last of the corners.
“If you wanted for food, I would have summoned a servant to your chambers,” he said.
“But that’s not what I wanted.” She took the corner, half hoping to find two maids kissing.
The hall was empty. A few hours ago, the palace had been under attack, ransacked in parts, no doubt. Blessed gifts could earn two lifetimes’ fortunes. Anyone standing in the way would be seen as a mere hindrance, especially the maids.
“Premala?” she called, entering the kitchen. Perhaps she hadalready returned to the concubine estate. The clink of dropped dishes echoed, taking with them the tension from Anula’s shoulders. “Good, you’re just as I left you.”
The young woman scrambled across the floor and Anula marveled at how someone so bad at their job, worse at lying, and missing from any of Anula’s lists, had managed to make her worry.Suspicion, she told herself and let it drop there.
“Oh!” the cook gasped, falling into a bow. “Raejina Consort, twice in one day, how…thoughtful of you.”
Aside from the plates on the floor next to Premala, the kitchen seemed untouched. Even the food prepared for the celebration sat pristinely on the tables.
“I wanted to make sure everyone was all right,” Anula said.
Premala jerked up at the words.
“Thank you, my raejina consort.” The cook blushed. She hissed at two maids and Premala, fluttering her hands toward the food. “You must be starving after—here, let me get you something to eat. It was meant for your enjoyment, after all.”
Anula let her hand land across her heart. “After how cruel I was to you?”
The cook shook her head. “You were right, my raejina consort. A soft word does more to move a cow. Please, enjoy.”
