Free The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi Page A

wheedled a matronly looking being. She had wings pinioned to her back that were dull gold and edged in fire.
    “I’m not interested,” I said, thinking of my own horoscope.
    “What about a love charm, then?” persisted the owner, pushing a flower carved of pearl to me. “To awaken your lover’s interest,” she added with a wink.
    At this, Amar walked to the table and slid the flower rather ungently back toward the owner.
    “I am her husband. She needs no charm to hold my interest.”
    At the sight of Amar, the shopkeeper grabbed the flower and bowed repeatedly. We continued walking through the market when I saw a being with arms banded like a snake holding a platter of carrot halwa high above his head. It was Gauri’s favorite dish. The longer I looked at the halwa , the more I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten.
    I was desperately hungry. I fought the knee-jerk urge to swipe something off one of the hundred platters of food. I was a queen now, or something like that. I had to show composure. Calm. My stomach betrayed with me a loud grumble and Amar’s lips quirked in a smile.
    “Have you had anything to eat all day?”
    The reek of mandrake poison stirred in my memory. Somewhere between thinking I was about to die and fleeing for my life, eating hadn’t factored into my plans.
    “It seemed unnecessary,” I said drily.
    “After your brush with death, your first taste should be sweet and bitter. Like freedom itself.”
    I glanced back to the carrot halwa . “It’s too late for bittersweet food.”
    “I can change that.”

 
    8
    THE PALACE BETWEEN WORLDS
    Trees like cursive script stretched above dark plots of earth, entwining against pale beams of ivy and sprouting flowers that turned their heads to watch us pass.
    “This way,” said Amar, lifting a cluster of branches.
    An orchard festooned with silver trees greeted us. Amar walked through them, leading me toward a grove of five trees. The first had emerald bark, the second sapphire, the third ruby, the fourth quartz and the fifth pearl. Sparkling fruits hung beneath their dark branches.
    “Pick one,” said Amar, plucking a shining sapphire.
    I winced, waiting for his teeth to chip and clang against the rind. But his teeth sank into the sapphire fruit and juice dribbled between his fingers. I was still suspicious, but I reached into the pearl tree and pulled out a fat fruit with spherical markings. It was light in my hands, as if hollow. Slowly, I bit into it. The pearl fruit tasted like warm chestnut, ripe pears and rich honey. I sighed, devouring it core and stem before eyeing the other trees.
    Just as I was reaching back into the pearl tree, a ruff of feathers brushed against my fingertips followed by an indignant hoot! I barely had time to jump back when Amar’s shadow fell over me and his hand encircled the small of my back.
    “They’re just chakara birds,” he said in a low voice, close to my neck, close enough to drink in the scent of him—mint and smoke, cardamom and wood.
    He stepped toward the tree, lifting the branches to reveal four pairs of narrowed orange eyes.
    “Rather grumpy birds. They think the moon belongs to them,” said Amar. “But, irritable or not, they’re harmless. Not like some of the other things here.”
    I turned to look into his face, but he quickly stepped away, revealing the awning dark behind him. No silvery branches arced in those shadows. The tangle of brambles and fallen stones had the unmistakable gloom of something avoided. And for good reason. The dark was more than impenetrable, it was sticky , as if it would devour whatever fell into its path. Something swayed in the distance, catching in the darkness. And though I wanted to convince myself otherwise, whatever hung beneath the disquieting trees looked an awful lot like … bodies.
    “Not everything wants the boundaries of the Otherworld and human realm maintained.”
    “Why not?”
    He was silent and I wondered whether the pull of the