" I ran my fingers across the pillar before snatching my hand back. A crack had split the pillar. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. A hideous roar growled from within the pillar and I jumped back.
“It’s only an illusion,” came a voice near the door.
I spun around to see Amar slouched against the doorway. He looked gaunt; shadows creased the skin under his eyes and his hair was mused. Still, he smiled to see me and I couldn’t help but smile back. Until now, I didn’t realize that the listlessness I had felt was because of him. I had missed his presence, his speech. Next to him, I felt more alive.
“What is this?” I asked, gesturing to the growling pillar.
Amar sank into an onyx chair that he had conjured from thin air. He tilted his head back and took a deep breath.
“Are you well?”
“Soon enough.” His smile didn’t meet his eyes. “That,” he said, “is a reminder that none can escape death. I am fond of the legend.”
The moment he said that I knew exactly who was in the pillar, and with a strange ache I remembered the harem of Bharata.
“Narasimha,” I breathed. “I have always liked that tale.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “You are familiar with it?”
I nodded. It was the one tale I never told Gauri. Too gory. But for some reason, strangely comforting to me. The pillar quivered behind us, as if it was waiting for me to tell the tale myself. Amar leaned forward, his broad shoulders hunched around him like a predator in wait.
“Tell it to me.”
“Why? We both know the tale.”
“Even so. I want to hear it from your lips. Tell the tale. The room will keep rhythm. "

― Roshani Chokshi , The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)