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“Whyever would you feel the need to ask that?” Constance returned innocently.

“It’s hardly our fault people were shooting at us,” Ellie grumbled.

“I never want to do anything remotely like that again in my life,” Neil blurted forcefully.

“I give it maybe fifty-fifty,” Adam offered.

Neil blanched. Mr. Mahjoud gave an eloquently aggrieved sigh. “Off to bed now, if you please. Before you bring the roof down or unleash a plague of locusts.”

Ellie kept her expression carefully blank. Adam coughed.

“It’s not like we can do thatanymore,” Constance shot back crossly.

Mr. Mahjoud looked up to the heavens, muttered a dua, and shut the door.

“Well!” Constance said brightly, turning to the rest of them. “I should say that worked out quite splendidly. We are going to India! I have always wanted to see it for myself. Of course we will have to visit the temples and pay our respects to Lord Jagannath. I have heard there are the most splendid waterfalls, and still tigers to be found in the more remote areas of the forest… I am going to need to work on my Odia! It is absolutely wretched. Never mind all the shopping we will need to do. You and Adam barely have enough to fill a suitcase, and as for Stuffy…” She cast Neil a look, then patted him sympathetically on the arm. “I’m sure you’ll manage.”

Ellie gave herself a breath to absorb the whirlwind of conversation that had just changed her life.

Constance’s maharaja cousin’s realm lay in the region of Odisha, part of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. That area of India was rich with history from the splendor of the Mughal Empire back to the days of the great conqueror Ashoka. The notion of seeing it for herself was desperately exciting—and deeply intimidating. If rumors were circulating of the re-emergence of the Brahmastra, Padma would not be the only one to have heard them. Ellie would very possibly find herself going up against Jacobs or other agents of the Order of Albion once again.

Till next time…

Jacobs’ parting words echoed through her mind once more. Ellie swallowed her unease and turned her attention to her brother—who had never asked for any of this. “How are you feeling about all of it, Neil?”

“Well—I mean, I have lost my job,” Neil returned a bit helplessly. “Then went on a madcap expedition to find the lost tomb of a woman I’ve studied for most of my life… which I can never actually tell anybody about. Jumped off a boat. Was nearly buried alive in an Old Kingdom quarry. Saw an entire desert move because Sayyid told it to.” He drew in a careful breath. “And now it appears that I am going to India.”

“I suppose that is rather a lot,” Ellie admitted.

“Is this what it’s going to be like from now on?” Neil demanded with a note of panic.

Constance shrugged.

Adam gave Neil’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. “Sorry, buddy.”

Neil pushed up his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Right. Well then.” He dropped his hand, looking from Adam to Ellie. “The two of you. You’re…”

His voice trailed off.

Ellie met Adam’s gaze. A flash of guilt crossed his features—but only for a moment before it was replaced by a look of determination. He slid a hand around the small of Ellie’s back and locked his eyes on Neil.

“We are,” he replied simply.

Constance hung back, watching the exchange with careful focus.

Neil ran a helpless hand through his hair, hopelessly disheveling it. “I can’t pretend I don’t find the notion absolutely terrifying,” he blurted out—then pulled up his shoulders, straightening. “But you’re my sister.” He looked up at Adam. “And you are one of the best men I have ever known. Whatever the two of you end up deciding this all means—you will have my support.” He wavered a bit. “Even if… even if I haven’t always been so good at giving it in the past.”

A pang of old hurt and disappointment twinged inside of Ellie. “It’s fine, Neil,” she assured him quietly.

Neil let out a slightly desperate laugh. “It isn’t, really. But I… I’m going to do better at it. At a lot of things. I’m… I’m quite determined about that.”

His words sparked a warm burst of affection, one that was only deepened by how obviously intimidated he was by the prospect.

Changing oneself was incredibly difficult. Oneoughtto be intimidated by it.

“Thank you.” Pride and love warmed Ellie’s words. “That means a very great deal to me.”

Neil’s face broke into a tired smile. It flinched into a grimace as Constance punched him in the shoulder.