Page 124 of A Thousand Painted Hours

“Please,” she said. “We shall not stand on ceremony. You are the sister of my sister. Come inside. I wish to show you the studio I have prepared.”

She reached out her hand. It, too, was scarred, the flesh white and brown and pink. I took its smallness in my own. “I cannot wait to paint you,” I said, and meant it very much.

Tanveer had hung back, and now he said, “I shall leave you to it.”

“We shall have an intimate supper,” Channan said. “Gurdaya, come with us to see the suite.”

The rooms were in a tower. Channan rested every fourth step, and I protested. “I’m sure Gurdaya can show me the room!”

“I have been anticipating this moment.”

“As you wish.” But I slowed my steps more fully.

We made our way, and entered a suite of rooms through a pair of tall carved wooden doors. It was bright and airy, high up, with open archways in the tower portion. Through the arches, I could see in all four directions. Across the plains, the austere desert with dusty trees, all the way to a line of mountains in the distance. From another angle was a courtyard of the main palace, and from another, the open balcony of another tower. Last, the fourth direction looked on the ruined tower I had painted so often. “Do griffins still nest there?”

“They do,” Channan cried. “And you will see pigeons, too.”

The bedroom was richly appointed with a wide bed and curtains threaded with silver. An adjoining room was furnished with a wide table and an easel. “Will that do?”

“It’s beautiful, Channan. All of it.” I turned to her. “I feel like a princess myself.”

“An earl’s daughter is not such a low form of life,” Gurdaya said drily, picking things up and putting them down, rounding the room as if inspecting it.

“The earl died, and so did his heir, I’m afraid, so I am anointed no longer.”

“Nonsense. You were born as you were born.”

A sense of depletion suddenly flooded my limbs, and I sat down suddenly.

“You must rest,” Channan said. “And drink water. I’ll send a servant to bring you water for a bath before dinner.”

I nodded. I’d brought two gowns suitable for dinner at the palace, which would see me through for a bit. “Thank you.”

Channan paused at my side. “I will see you tomorrow in my chambers at nine.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll send my servant to lead the way.” Her hand rested on my shoulder. “I am very glad you’ve come, Elsie. Thank you.”

Gurdaya waited until she departed. “Do you need anything? Your luggage is very thin.”

I glanced at the small cases. “And most of it is paint,” I said with a rueful smile.

“As I thought. I shall see to it.”

“Thank you.”

“Elsie,” she said. “He hurt you, did he not?”

“I am all right now that I’m here.”

“I could have him killed, you know.”

The offer was so surprising, I burst out laughing. She raised her eyebrows.

“I know,” I said, still smiling. “Perhaps that won’t be necessary.”

She shrugged and left me.