He nodded briskly. Uncle Setu—known to the rest of Jansa as the revered, and feared, General Hotha—wasn’t one for lateness either.
“Of course. I’ll show you to the footpath that leads down to the harbor. I can take you there right now.”
Something akin to relief passed over the girl’s face. This captain must really have a lot in common with the general if she was that worried.
Kunal glanced up at his station at the top of the Fort. Even with the soldiers preoccupied by celebration in the courtyard inside, they would make their way outside at midnight without fail, only a quarter of an hour from now. He would have to make this quick before the western gates opened. He made a note to remind the sentries to keep a closer eye on traders from now on.
Kunal led the way to the footpath in silence, stealing glances at the girl when her gaze was dropped. The girl’s steps were jaunty for a trader, her shoulders held a bit too high. Most traders at the Fort crept about with their shoulders around their ears, in fear of invoking the general’s wrath.
But this girl. Her eyes . . . they were filled with fire and the depths of water. It bothered Kunal. Fire and water didn’t live together in harmony, yet in her eyes, it seemed perfectly natural. Something about her was so familiar, but Kunal couldn’t place it.
Perhaps she was one of the daughters of the new trade leader? Or had just arrived on one of the trade ships from the Western Lands, across the sea?
He scuffed his toe against the stones as they crested the hill to the back entrance of the Fort where the footpath lay. One of the Fort’s five sandstone pillars towered at the top of the path, the inscriptions of King Vardaan’s edicts from the past decade gleaming in the light. There was a cracked white line in the stone, where a statue of the first queen of Jansa, Naria, and an eagle, the royal family’s sigil, had used to stand. He still remembered the day he had asked his uncle why there was a king on Jansa’s throne, instead of a queen as the gods had decreed—it had earned him his first beating.
Kunal didn’t want to think about what his uncle would say if he found out he had abandoned his post, whatever the reason. An unfitting decision for a dutiful Jansan soldier, especially now with his promotion.
“Are you all right?” the girl asked. Her words were quick and unmeasured, a stark difference from her previous tone.
Kunal nodded. She arched one dark eyebrow at him. “Do soldiers normally go around frowning at imaginary people?”
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He hadn’t realized he was that easy to read. “Only every other day. You caught me on a bad one.”
She chuckled, low and hearty.
Where had that come from? Kunal wasn’t a flirt, wasn’t even one for a bawdy song.
The girl was now glancing at him as they walked, the grimness of her earlier expression gone, something mischievous in her eye.
“Is it always this chilly on this side of the coast, or did I just come on a bad day?” she asked, referring to the peninsula that the Red Fort was situated on.
“It’s been getting cooler over the past years.”
She made a concerned noise. “And I haven’t seen any storm clouds. Good for our trading ships, but not so good for the land, I’m guessing.”
“The land has become more arid. A quick dry spell, that’s all,” Kunal said, remembering what the Fort leadership had told them about the change in the land.
“I’ve heard tales of more than just a dry spell up north,” she said, almost cautiously. When he inclined his head at her, she continued. “The price of wheat has increased this season, which I’ve heard is because of a lower yield due to the weather. It’s even affecting the pearl market in the far east.”
She was smart, that was obvious. But most of the traders who passed under the shadow of the Fort were content to know only what was going on within Jansa’s borders. Kunal tried not to show his surprise at her knowledge. What made her different?
“You’re right,” he said. “I’ve heard a number of traders who were stopping by the port complain that their goods aren’t selling like they used to, even in Gwali.”
“Even in the capital? Must be serious,” she said, chuckling. For a second she had looked as if she was going to say something else, but instead she changed the subject, asking about other news from the capital.
Kunal told her what he knew of the new cease-fire, watching her out of the corner of his eye. There was something about her, something fascinating, that compelled him to keep talking.
They arrived at the start of the graveled footpath, following the edge of the cliff the Fortress sat on down to the sandy beach below.
A tendril of black hair escaped her uttariya and fell across her cheek. Kunal wondered what it’d be like to brush it aside, draw that gaze to him.
He considered the impulse, but his hands remained at his sides.
Helping the girl was one thing. His uncle wouldn’t excuse anything more. He shook his head as if to erase the thought. He needed to get back to his post before anyone noticed he was gone.
“Follow this path down to the harbor and you should be able to slip onto your ship before the captain notices,” Kunal said.
“You’re not going to walk me down?” she asked, angling her face up at him.
He hesitated. It was a bold question, but not without cause. He couldn’t tell if she actually wanted him to, her face unreadable.
He shook his head. “No, I have to get back to my post. But I’ll watch from up there,” Kunal said, pointing up to his perch. “If you need anything, anything at all, wave.”
Her eyes darted between him and the Fort.
“Thank you,” she said, her words carrying a strange intensity. He nodded.
“It was a pleasure to meet you.” He reached for her hand. Startled, she looked up and he held her gaze, refusing to give it up. Kunal brought her hand to his lips. “What is your name?”
Chapter 2
Esha was so unsettled by the soldier’s warm gesture that she spoke before thinking.
“Esha.”
She took her hand away and had to stop herself from clamping it over her mouth.
Stupid.
What had possessed her to give him her real name?
His warm eyes? The first kind expression she’d received from a boy in a while that didn’t hide a secret agenda or dismiss her because of her gender?
Three weeks without regular human contact would drive anyone out of their mind, and it had turned her weak. Falling over herself and revealing her name for a handsome face and a kind word? Who was she?
She needed to remove herself from this conversation, finish her mission, and return home to feast with her friends and comrades. She’d even let herself find a boy to kiss under the stars.
Maybe Harun. But it couldn’t be this one.
Esha looked at him standing across from her, his black hair blowing in the gusty wind. She took in every detail, sizing him up and folding the rest of the information away. He was a soldier, thickly muscled and sturdy, his brown skin tanned from days spent outside, she guessed. Scars crawled up his knuckles and a few dotted his shoulder, one carving into the edge of his full lips. But his pale amber eyes revealed something gentle.
If he was gentle, he wouldn’t be able to survive her. If he was a brute, he would be like every other Jansan soldier and she’d be glad to end his life.