“Regan was beautiful. Not the soft, maternal beauty of Queen Padmini in Devgarh, but something sharper — a face like cut glass, high cheekbones, dark eyes that reflected light without absorbing it. Her hair was black and oiled and pulled back in an elaborate knot studded with gold pins. She wore a deep red silk sari with a gold border so fine it looked like it had been woven by spiders, and at her throat, a necklace of rubies caught the lamplight like drops of blood.”