I felt paralyzed under a thin silk cover, but I was still conscious of my surroundings. Amarisa's tearful whispers of my name and pleading words rang softly in my ears. Through my half-closed eyes, I saw her as if through the water, the way a fish would see the sun.

Her face was as luminescent as a pale silver moon. Her tears fell in a steady flow, but I could not wipe them. Everything seemed to move around me. I could see a blurry series of palace women standing in lines. Each held lit candles and glowing lanterns along a stone causeway.

They took me on a canopied litter, going...