a brisk business to keep from killing myself. Soon I earned a reputation as Kairavi Yavana’s most desirable courtesan—but, on those rare nights when I slept alone, I could not stop thinking of Saundharya and Alatu, exceptionally lovely women who had both been destroyed by the Melukhhan king. Indeed, my nightmares forced me to seek the advice of a scholarly friend—and it was he who assured me Alatu was a sorceress who had done indefensible evil. He told me that Takshak had turned on her only after discovering she had hidden a message concerning the innocence of the fugitive High Tantrika.”

Ketaki’s missive again! Fearing to arouse Amrita’s suspicions, Ishvari kept her expression impassive, but the courtesan was too engrossed in her own story to care. “Perhaps my mother is right...

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