PAVATI'S POV
The guards shoved us back to our rooms like we were cattle being herded to slaughter. I kept my head down and my mouth shut, but inside I was screaming. Zara's blood was still under my fingernails. I could still hear the wet sound her throat had made when that blade went through it.
They pushed me through the door to my room and slammed it shut behind me. The lock clicked into place. I stood there for a moment, staring at Ayasha's empty bed, her things still scattered on the nightstand like she was coming back.
She wasn't coming back. They'd execute her at dawn for trying to kill the King. For doing what all of us wanted to do but were too scared to attempt.
I walked to the washbasin and scrubbed my hands until the skin was raw. The water turned pink, then clear again. But I could still smell the blood. Could still see Zara crumpling to the marble floor like a broken doll.
The knock on my door came twenty minutes later.
"Who is it?" I called out, my voice hoarse.
