How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Two weeks into our imprisonment, perhaps a little more, Aurangzeb revisited our cell. He was upset, his mouth twitching with apprehension as he opened a sack and let a dead cobra fall to the floor. Shuddering, he kicked it toward me. Between his shouts, he hissed that it had been placed alive in his bed. The serpent's fangs had been removed and it couldn't bite him, but when Ladli's screams awoke him, he bellowed for his men to kill it. Though shocked by this revelation, I pretended to be pleased, as if the scare had been my doing. I quickly deduced that Ladli, quite incredibly, had set the serpent within her bed so that Aurangzeb would believe my warning and leave me in peace. (18.4)
Once again, a standing ovation for Ladli, please?
Quote #8
"Remember, whore, your last words to me?" I nodded as his hand fell to my breasts. He pinched my nipples until I couldn't help but cry out. I wept now. "You told me of your lover, whom I'll surely kill, and you mocked my manhood. Do you mock me now?" he asked, exposing himself. I shook my head, but it mattered little. His rage was insatiable. "You should never have returned, but how glad I am that you did! Because tonight I'll have my revenge." His breath, fouled with liquor, cascaded over me. "Now stand like a b**** in heat, for that's what you surely are." (22.66)
Aaaaaaand here comes Khondamir's revenge for Jahanara's outburst earlier. We all knew he was going to have to do something. And this is as foul and awful as we suspected it might be.
Quote #9
"You're no woman, sinner, but a thing that crawls into men's hearts and eats away at our flesh. Such a thing doesn't deserve death, but life!" He knocked me from my knees and I fell backward. The guards then dragged Khondamir's remains away, and Aurangzeb stormed out of the cell with Ladli behind him.
Revenge was unlike what I had imagined. It didn't satisfy, nor did it please.
I felt only emptiness. (23.106-108)
So, right, Jahanara got her revenge on Khondamir—you could even call it justice—but we're doing the confused puppy head tilt at Aurangzeb leaving her alive. We understand the rationale behind it (he's making her live with the knowledge that her confession killed her "love"), but Aurangzeb's never been one for subtlety. What do you think? Was this out of character for him?