Revolutionary Hearts by Pema Donyo Read Free Book Online

but she had no idea where they were sprinting toward.
    Before she could ask, she heard another roar behind her. Even while her strides remained in tandem with Warren’s, she chanced a glance over her shoulder. Her throat became dry as she took in the sight.
    The balcony was no longer empty. The entire crowd from the ballroom had gathered on the second floor to watch the drama unfold before their eyes. Below them, a legion of the British Raj’s best generals and colonels streamed down the stairwell, headed straight in her direction. She could see other officers jumping onto horses in the background, while others who’d had an earlier start led the pack with their steeds.
    “Know any good hiding spots?”
    Parineeta guided him away from the dirt road and off the end of the paved path. She ran as fast as her feet would carry her as she led Warren further and further away from the road. He’d stopped trying to remain in step with her, instead choosing to follow her path, always a few steps behind. Her lungs began to constrict as she felt herself becoming winded, but every time she considered slowing down, she heard the stampede of footsteps behind them … or were they the harried gallops of hooves? Never had she been chased before, and the thought of capture was terrifying.
    She winced as her ankle scraped against an upturned root. Pain flashed through her calf as she continued to place weight on the injured foot. Branches snapped beneath their weight as the cleared dirt started to give way to forest ground.
    It wasn’t until they were deep into the foliage that Parineeta finally stopped. She’d been here before as a child, playing with other village children. Yet the sight of so many Ashoka trees overhead had never seemed more ominous than when she noticed them by night. She cupped a hand around her ear and craned her neck to listen for any sounds behind them. No footsteps, no horse hooves. They were safe.
    For now
.
    A clicking brought her attention back to the man before her. He was panting, his beige pants splotched with dark spots of dirt and his shirt untucked from his wide belt. He had pulled out two guns, holding them to his sides at the ready as he scanned the jungle around them. There was a crazed look in his eyes. He raised both his revolvers to the sky, as if in a stance to shoot whoever—or whatever—approached him.
    All right, maybe she wasn’t so safe.
    “Put those down,” she begged. “You have no use for them here.”
    He refused to make eye contact with her, his own gaze fixed on the dark foliage before him. His unsteady steps formed a small circle in the dirt. “Wild animals. They could attack.”
    Parineeta laughed. The fearsome man in disguise was afraid of nature. “I thought you were a trained spy.”
    “Spying in a cosmopolitan city and spying in the middle of nowhere are much different, I assure you.”
    “And this is no city. I think you were the one who needed my help to escape, not the other way around. What do you know of the jungle?”
    Warren put the guns away, to her relief. He gave one last distrusting gaze to the trees surrounding him on all sides. “You’re right. I don’t know very much about it.”
    At least we agree on one matter.
She bent down, resting her hands on the insides of her thighs and sucking pockets of air into her lungs like a man dying of thirst. “You have finally admitted my usefulness after all.”
    “Exactly. That’s why you’re going to guide me out of here and help me reach Lucknow.”
    Parineeta brought herself back up to her full height and folded her arms across her chest. He couldn’t just order her around as he pleased. “I am not your servant anymore.”
    “Of course you are not my servant. But you must still help me.” He started walking ahead of her, weaving his way in and out of the thicket of the bushes in a zigzag motion. She half expected him to start using the butt of his pistol as a scythe against the leaves.
    Take him to Lucknow?