The Moghul

now."
    "Why should I? I'm not betting on Prince Jadar. I agree with you. I don't think he has a chance. I'm betting on a firman from Arangbar, and soon."
    "You'll never get a firman from the Moghul. And Arangbar will be gone in half a year. The queen has already started appearing at morning darshan and directing his decisions at afternoon durbar . As soon as she has Allaudin under her control, Arangbar will be finished. Mark it. He'll die from too much opium, or from some mysterious poison or accident. He will cease to exist, to matter."
    "I don't believe it. He seems pretty well in control."
    "If that's what you think, then you are very deceived. He can't live much longer. Everyone knows it. Perhaps even he knows it in his heart. Soon he will give up even the appearance of rule. Then the queen will take full command of the Imperial army, and Prince Jadar will be hunted down like a wild boar."
    He studied her, not sure he could reasonable contradict her, and felt his stomach knot. "What will happen to you, if the queen takes over?"
    "I don't know. But I do know I love you. I truly do. How sad it makes me that I can't tell you everything." Her eyes darkened and she took his hand. "Please understand I did not know the prince would use you the way he has. But it is for good. Try to believe that."
    "What do you mean?"
    She hesitated and looked away. "Let me ask you this. What do you think the prince will do after the wedding?"
    "I don't know, but I think he'd be very wise to keep clear of Agra. Nobody at court will even talk about him now, at least not openly. Still, I think he might be able to stay alive if he's careful. If he survives the campaign in the Deccan, maybe he can bargain something out of the queen. But I agree with you about one thing. She can finish him any time she wants. I understand she already has de facto control of the Imperial army, in Arangbar's name of course. What can Jadar do? He's outnumbered beyond any reasonable odds. Maybe she'll make him a governor in the south if he doesn't challenge her."
    "Do you really believe he'd accept that? Can't you see that's impossible? You've met Prince Jadar. Do you think he'll just give up? That's the one thing he'll never do. He has a son now. The people will support him." She pulled herself next to him. "I feel so isolated and hopeless just thinking about it all. I'm so glad Nadir Sharif brought you here."
    He slipped his arm around her. "So am I. Will you tell me now how you managed to make him do it?"
    "I still have friends left in Agra." She smiled. "And Nadir Sharif still has a few indiscretions he'd like kept buried. Sometimes he can be persuaded . . ."
    "Did he know Samad was here?"
    "If he didn't before, he does now. But he won't say anything. Anyway, it hardly matters any more. The queen probably already knows Samad's here." She sighed. "The worst is still waiting. For him. And for both of us."
    He caught a handful of water and splashed it against her thigh. "Then let's not talk about it. Until tomorrow."
    The worry in her eyes seemed to dissolve and she laughed. "Do you realize how much you've changed since I first met you? You were as stiff as a Portuguese Jesuit then, before Kali and Kamala got their painted fingernails into you. Kali, the lover of the flesh, and Kamala, the lover of the spirit." She glared momentarily. "Now I must take care, lest you start comparing me with them. Never forget. I'm different. I believe love should be both."
    He pulled her away and looked at her face. "I'm amazed by how different you are. I still have no idea what you're really like. What you really think."
    "About what?"
    "Anything. Everything." He shrugged. "About this even."
    "You mean being here with you? Making love with you?"
    "That's a perfect place to start."
    She smiled and eased back in the water, silently toying for a moment with the rose petals drifting around her. "I think making love with someone is how we share our deepest feelings. Things we can't express any other way. It's how I tell you my love for you." She paused. "The way music or poetry reveal the soul of the one who creates them."
    "Are you saying you think lovemaking is like creating music?" He examined her, puzzling.
    "They both express what we feel inside."
    He lifted up a handful of water and watched it trickle back into the pool. "I've never thought of it quite like that before."
    "Why not? It's true. Before you can create music, you have to teach both your body and your heart. It's the