“You’ll kill me after all, Priya?” “No, you fool woman,” Priya said, eyes blazing. “No. Never me.” Malini was not sure she understood what she felt in that moment—the furious storm of feeling in her—but she knew the choice that lay before her. “I vow it,” she said. “If you save my life—if I am reunited with Rao—then Ahiranya is yours.” “Well, then.” Priya exhaled, long and slow. The thorns around her receded. The vine at Pramila’s throat crumpled. “We need to go. Now.”
