have risen and set with no sign of him…and meanwhile I am prohibited from leaving these cursed walls without his permission!” 

“Patience, mistress,” Mandakini broke in sympathetically. “He will come when his visitor leaves.” A glare from Ketaki shut her up so tight that even after the crone left the bath-house, Mandakini could not be persuaded to say another word on the subject.

Later, as Ishvari sat despondently on her terrace in twilight, she saw the royal chariot speeding past. Rushing to the edge of the terrace, she caught a glimpse of Takshak, his arm wrapped around a laughing woman whose loose black hair rippled down to her waist. Angrily she called for Mandakini and this time managed to wring the truth out of her—Takshak was obsessed with a temple dancer from t...

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