Page 28 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

Blood On The Deck

LEELA

G ruel for the fourth day running. But I was so hungry I gobbled it up. The mess hall was empty at this hour, barely dawn, but my growling stomach had woken me. Here, on the Vairanya, Araz and I had separate cabins, side by side. Real privacy for the first time since we’d been bonded.

I didn’t like it.

Had I considered sneaking into his quarters that first night? Yes, yes, I had. But I didn’t. Instead, I’d waited for him to come to me. But he hadn’t.

It was just as well. This journey would help us reset the boundaries between us.

Friends.

That’s all we could be.

The journey was going to take seven days if the weather held, and we’d all been given chores to do around the ship.

The Vairanya had no real crew; she steered herself, the route from the coast of Sharana, the large island above which Aakash Sansar was built, to Shantivan, hidden deep in her core.

We were the crew, the hands that would tend to her on her journey.

Today I was on rota to scrub the deck and the surrounding land…

or shell, whatever it was that we were sitting on.

A living, breathing creature.

I’d dressed appropriately in one of the outfits provided for us.

Trousers that stopped at the ankle, cinched at the waist but loose on the leg—enough to allow decent movement—and an undershirt and brown V-neck tunic with three-quarter sleeves.

The shoes were flat-soled with a decent grip and fit like a glove.

I’d made sure to pull my hair back in a braid to keep it out of the way.

I was ready for work.

Blue’s voice filled my head. You got this, chickadee. Show ’em what yer made of.

Gods, I missed him. Waking up wasn’t the same without his beady eyes staring at me followed by a witty quip or two and whiskery kisses. My heart ached. How was he coping without me?

The door creaked. I looked up, expecting to see Araz, but it was our green-haired captain Ramashi who entered.

At first glance, he’d reminded me of Pashim, but now that I’d spent some time around him, it was easy to see all the ways that he was different.

The similarities only existed because they’d been kin.

“Ah, an early riser.” He poured a bowl of gruel and joined me at the worn wooden table, taking the spot opposite me on the bench. “Gruel… Mmmm , my favorite.”

I bit back a smile. “It’s not so bad.”

He arched a brow. “And she lies so sweetly.” He ate a spoonful and made a face. “I cannot wait till we get back to Shantivan.”

“Have you been stationed there long?”

“It is my home. I was raised in Prashikshan, but my tribe lives on Shantivan. We are the keepers of the land, connected to the Kaalmukha, Vairanya, and her offspring the Shattiraksha.”

“And…Pashim?”

His eyes darkened. “He was chosen to remain on Prashikshan. We are both warriors, but I protect the seas, and Pashim?—”

“Protected me.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

Ramashi knew the story of his cousin’s demise. But he didn’t know what he’d meant to me or I to him.

“My cousin was a noble drohi, and yes, he would have laid down his life to save an innocent, but something tells me that you were more to him than just an innocent.”

The gruel stuck in my throat. “He loved me.”

“Yes…Of course he did.” He smiled sadly. “And you, bound to another? How did you feel about Pashim?”

My chest hurt, and tears sprang to my eyes.

“Ah…Leela. There is no need to explain. I see it plainly. You loved him in the spaces allowed by your bond to another.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now he said it, it made sense. I’d loved Pashim. Not with the burning intensity that I knew at my core I could love Araz with but with a steady, consistent hum. A frequency that wouldn’t have dimmed. Where Araz was the storm, Pashim was the eye.

The door opened again, and this time Araz entered, a frown pinching his eyebrows. “Leela, why didn’t you wake me?” He joined us at the table, his gaze going to the bowl of gruel. He pressed his lips in a thin line. “Your cook is incompetent,” he said to Ramashi.

Ramashi twisted in his seat, slinging one arm across the back of his chair to look up at Araz with an amused expression. “Minty is old, and he does the best he can with the supplies we have.”

Araz sighed. “Show me the supplies.”

Ramashi’s brows went up. “Are you offering to cook for us?”

Araz snorted. “No. I cook for Leela.”

My chest warmed, but I shook my head. “No need. I’m done. I have to get to work anyway.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Positive.”

“Then I’ll come help you.”

“Uh-uh,” Ramashi said. “You know the rules. Drohi cannot assist in the chores.”

Araz’s jaw flexed, his gaze wandering over my features.

I knew how I looked. Pale and pinched. The sea wasn’t good to me.

The first day had been spent puking and then the last two days had been spent washing the sails, which involved climbing, dangling, scrubbing, and carrying buckets of seawater.

Every inch of my body ached. But it was a pleasant ache, the kind that came with a job well done.

“And she won’t be alone,” Ramashi said. “She’ll have company.”

I perked up. “Oh, I didn’t see another name on my rota.”

“You won’t, and they won’t see your name on their rotas.”

“Who am I with?”

“Bina and Vick,” Ramashi said. “You’ll work as a team.”

Araz tensed but didn’t say anything. I sighed. “You know that Bina hates Vick, right?”

“I am aware.”

“So why put them to work together?”

He grinned, the smile so much like Pashim’s that I had to look away. “They’ll have you as a buffer. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Is this some kind of test?”

He gave me a wide-eyed look. “Test? I have no idea what you mean.” He pushed back his chair, stood, and stretched. “I’ll see you both for midday repast. Happy scrubbing.” He left the room, and Araz took his seat.

“Everything is a test, Leela,” Araz said. “At least we need to assume as much.”

“So what? I need to keep the peace between them?”

“I don’t know.” He pursed his lips, then sat back with a sigh. “My advice, follow your intuition.”

The door opened, and the others began to file in. I caught Bina’s eye, and she lifted her chin in greeting. Yeah, things between us had settled a little the past few days, but I had a feeling that playing buffer between her and Vick was about to rock that boat.

The sun climbed, and it got warmer on deck. It was a strange ship, wood giving way to the dark gray of Vairanya’s shell. I was on all fours, scrubbing green algae off one of those areas when I caught movement several yards to my left.

I sat back on my heels, lifting my arm to shield my eyes from the sun. My stomach dropped at the sight of Bina striding toward an unaware Vick. I should have known putting them at opposite ends of the deck wouldn’t stop a collision.

“Move out of my way!” Bina snapped at Vick, shoving her mop toward his legs to force him to step aside.

Vick stumbled but caught himself before he could fall. “You could have gone around me. Why are you even over here, anyway? You’re meant to be cleaning the other side of the ship.”

“Unlike you, I work fast to get a job done. Or maybe that’s your play?” Her eyes narrowed as she sauntered toward him, dragging her mop across the deck and leaving a trail of soapy suds in their wake. “Make us do all the hard work while you slack?”

I set down my brush. “Hey, back off, Bina!”

“Why are you such a bitch?” Vick said to Bina. “I’ve never done anything to you.”

Bina laughed, a rough, abrasive sound. “You let your drohi drown. You cowardly little shit.”

I pushed to my feet. “Leave him alone!”

Vick’s eyes flashed. “I didn’t! I tried to hold on to her. I tried to drag her onto the boat. I fucking tried!”

“You should have tried harder.”

I felt it the instant Vick snapped, saw it in the tension that rippled through his limbs. He lunged at her, and I rushed forward.

“Stop!” The ground was wet, slippery with suds. I slipped and fell forward, all my weight going onto my knee .

Crack.

A fiery vise clamped around it, pain a starburst of heat radiating up and down my leg.

I screamed, short and sharp before agony stole my breath.

“Leela!” Vick rushed toward me, but Araz appeared as if from thin air, shoving him aside to kneel before me.

“Let me see,” he said. “You’re bleeding.”

I looked up at him through tears. “Fucking hurts.”

He reached out to help me up. Fire shot up my thigh, and a shrill sound pierced the air.

Was that me?

Shit. Oh fuck.

The edges of my vision darkened.

“I think you’ve fractured it. I’m going to pick you up, and it will hurt. Are you ready?”

I nodded, breathing through my nose. “Do it.”

He lifted me carefully into his arms, and I bit back a scream as the fire circling my knee flared.

“Will she be all right?” Bina asked as Araz strode past her.

“Leela, I’m sorry,” Vick called out.

I leaned my head against Araz’s chest and squeezed my eyes closed to block out the pain.

How many injuries was this now?

Fuck, I couldn’t think straight.

Araz took me to his cabin, carefully sat me on the bed, then proceeded to cut my trouser leg to get to my knee. The material was stuck to me with blood. He peeled it back to reveal a deep cut that was still bleeding. My joint was swollen, the skin all shades of blue.

“Yes, a fracture,” Araz said. “Let’s stop the bleeding.”

I leaned back on my palms and let him work. Every contact brought a fresh lance of pain. I gritted my teeth and endured while he cleaned and wrapped my knee.

“It will heal,” he said. “But probably not until we get to Shantivan. You know…” He looked up at me, his expression serious. “There are less painful ways to get out of deck duty.”

Wait…did he just make a joke?

The corner of his mouth twitched, and then I got the full bloom smile. “Rest. I’ll see what I can find for the pain.”

He helped me get my legs onto the bed. His bed. Then left.

I turned my head so that my nose brushed his pillow and inhaled his mouthwatering cranberry scent.

Urgh. “We’re friends. Just friends.” Maybe if I said it enough, I’d begin to believe it.