"What I do is my affair." Hawksworth set down his cup harder than necessary. "I insist on seeing His Majesty. I want you to arrange it."
"But a formal meeting is really quite impossible, Ambassador. Haven't I made that clear?" Nadir Sharif paused to collect his poise. "But perhaps if you appeared when his entourage is departing Agra, you might be able to speak with him. I have to insist, however, that a meeting now would be pointless and possibly even dangerous, considering His Majesty's disposition at the moment."
"I'll see him before he leaves, somehow. I'll find a way."
"Then I wish you Godspeed, Ambassador." Nadir Sharif put down his sharbat glass. "Incidentally, there's a large caravan leaving for Surat day after tomorrow. Should I make arrangements for you to join it?"
"I'm not going anywhere until I see the Moghul."
"You're a headstrong man, Ambassador. Please believe I wish you well. Notwithstanding His Majesty's current views, I've always regarded you highly." He signaled for a tray of betel leaves and rose, flashing one of his official smiles. "Who knows? Perhaps your luck is due for a change."
Queen Janahara read the dispatch twice, the lines of her mouth growing tighter each time, before passing it back to Arangbar. He studied it again, holding it with a trembling hand, seeming not to fully comprehend its meaning, then extended it to Nadir Sharif. The courtyard off Arangbar's private library was deadly silent, all servants and eunuchs banished. The tapestries shading the inner compartment had been drawn back, permitting the hard light of morning to illuminate the flowered murals on the library's red sandstone walls. Arangbar sipped wine from a gilded cup and studied Nadir Sharifs face while the prime minister read, as though hoping somehow to decipher the document's significance from his expression.
"He has plainly refused. Majesty." Nadir Sharifs voice was strangely calm. "When did this arrive?"
"This morning. It's his reply to the pigeon I sent to Burhanpur the day after the wedding, ordering him to return the command in the south to Ghulam Adl and march to the northwest, to relieve the fortress at Qandahar." Arangbar's eyes were bloodshot and grim. "At least we know now where he is."
"We know nothing." Janahara reached for the document and scrutinized it. "This dispatch was sent four days ago. He could be as far north as Mandu by now, or well on his way to Agra."