Ara was incensed, and Chetal was struggling to retain control. A part of her will was still locked in the sooth card, and she didn't know how to pull it back. She had no idea how Inharat would react if he saw her without eyebrows, or with eyebrows that came and went. He might think she was a shaper in disguise and attack her. Shit.

Moments away from losing control of the body, Chetal did the only desperate thing she could think of - she pulled out the 'Vanish' card and snapped it into two.

Her will flooded back into her. At once, Ara's attempts subsided, though her rage was still knife-hot.

I need to be in control.

Okay. Just...don't do anything foolish, alright?

Chetal surrendered control to Ara's will.

Ara opened the door. "Where are they?" she asked Inharat.

"They are being held in a cell in the Windbreak tower, Your Highness."

"Take me to them."

Surrounded by Inharat's most trusted guards, Ara made her way down the palace steps.

Chetal felt a strange sense of vertigo at her body moving without her will. She hadn't needed to give Ara control. Once she'd snapped the sooth card and regained her will, Ara's attempts at trying to take command of the body had felt like a matchstick trying to chop an onion. The rage Ara felt was also unfamiliar to Chetal. She'd been too young when someone had dumped her at the steps of a small temple at the outskirts of Hampi. The temple priest already had a gaggle of abandoned children to take care of, so after a few years, he'd given her over to one of the numerous orphanages in the city. It was run by a woman named Jitna, who'd been the first person to teach Chetal that some people could be terribly like stone. Jitna wasn't cruel or violent, but she never showed a shred of emotion. Or interest. She was just...there. When Chetal had been ten, she'd been shifted to a new orphanage, one run by Ahar. That was where she'd learned how to steal, and how to sleep on an empty stomach when your back was whipped raw.

Chetal had no idea what Ara might actually be going through. The closest thing to a parent-figure she'd had was Ahar. And all she remembered feeling at his death, barely a day ago, was relief and fear for herself. But she did understand as a concept that parents were important to people. And she understood anger. So she let Ara take charge.

A light rain had begun to fall outside. As they made their way across the palace back gardens to a tall, spindly tower, it turned into a downpour.

Ara kept walking.

A moat surrounded the tower, and at a signal from one of the guards, a drawbridge was lowered across the water.

The grilled iron gate at the base of the tower squealed open, and they went inside. Ara climbed hundreds of torchlit steps to reach the top of the tower.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

There were cells here. Inharat took her to the leftmost one. Within, a man and woman had been chained to the wall. There was an open gash across the woman's forehead.

Rain pounded the cell through a large open window.

"Who are they?" Ara asked.

"The man is named Birit, he's one of our gardeners. The woman is his wife. Her name is Jeeva, she's a cook in the royal kitchen."

Ice ran through Chetal's spirit. They were Kiara's parents - the little girl she'd met on the roof.

"Have you interrogated them?"

"I have, Your Highness. They are spies from the vassal state of Jitranga."

Chetal knew about Jitranga. It had been a small kingdom near the western edge of the Vijaynagara empire. Ten years ago, the Emperor had sent a delegation to offer the kingdom protection against the enemies in the north on the agreement that it would become a vassal state of the empire. When the 'offer' was rejected, armies followed. The submission of Jitranga had become infamous in the Vijaynagara empire due to the battle of Sikt, where a contingent of the Vijaynagara army almost lost to a much smaller force. The empire won the battle, but with huge losses. Bloodraged and reeling from the battle, the Vijaynagara contingent razed the nearby villages, massacring men, women and children. The sacred river Rehla was so bloated with bodies that it ran red downstream for days.

"They joined the household of the Duke of Tirmi five years ago with false identities," Inharat continued, "and eventually made their way into the royal staff. The night of the assassination of the Revered Emperor and Empress, the cook laced their food with a drug to cause sleep paralysis. The same drug was used for the food served to the royal shapers, and to me. Once they had achieved that, they had the help of a shaper to execute the final step of the plan."

Taro.

"Who is this shaper?"

"They claim to not know her identity. They said she approached them. I have, unfortunately, not been able to ascertain it either. The protections instituted against foreign shapers should render it impossible for any to slip into the empire with their sooth cards, and I have confirmed that no sooth cards were crafted by our palace carvers for any rogue shapers."

"What about the traitorous guards who broke into my room and tried to kill me?"

"As I understand, they were under the thought control of the shaper."

Chetal HAD to know what had happened of Kiara. She begged Ara to ask about her.

"They have a daughter. Where is she?" Ara asked.

The woman and man had their heads hung low, but at that, they looked up. Jeeva's eyes were wide with panic.

"She's a child, Your Highness. I beg for your mercy!" she pleaded. "She had no part in this. Please, Your Highness!"

"The child is safe in the staff quarters, Your Highness. I have stationed a pair of guards with her to ensure that."

"Inharat, are you certain there is no more information to be gleaned from them?"

"I believe so, Your Highness. However, if you wish, I will continue interrogating them."

"No need for that. Throw them out the window."

NO! Ara, what are you doing?

Ara ignored Chetal.

Inharat looked surprised. "Your Highness, until we track down the shaper involved in the conspiracy, it may be best to -"

"Don't ever question me again, Inharat. Do it now."