Page 30 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

“Do they?” I tipped my head to the side and narrowed my eyes. “How? How do they know that? Are there any eyewitnesses? Anyone who saw him push Gia off the boat?”

Silence reigned for several beats before Bina broke it. “The demigods that came back said he was responsible. That he must have pushed her into the water so he could survive. The boat he was on was damaged. Water rushing in, two bodies would have made it capsize sooner.”

Vick sucked in a shuddering breath. “I tried to drag her in. I begged her to get into the boat.”

And it was all suddenly clear to me. “Gia let herself drown, didn’t she? She wanted you to live, and so she sacrificed herself.”

“She said she’d swim. Said she was strong enough. Said not to look back, made me vow.” Tears streamed down his face, and he covered his mouth to stifle a sob.

“Because she loved you.” I looked across at Preeya, Elata’s drohi. “Wouldn’t you do the same for Elata?”

Preeya’s eyes glistened, and she nodded. “In a heartbeat.”

A solemn silence settled over everyone. Priti handed Vick a tissue and put her arm around him.

“I think Vick has suffered enough, don’t you?”

“I think we need to start fresh,” Bina said. “You’re right, we have been…shortsighted. Vick, I’m sorry for your loss.”

He looked across at her with a mixture of disbelief and relief. “Thank you.”

Ramashi cleared his throat. “We need a toast.” He raised his clay cup. “May this meal seal friendships and bring about a new beginning.”

We all raised our cups and echoed his words.

“Now eat up. Tomorrow you all get a day off. Enjoy the final day aboard the Vairanya.”

And then we’d see Shantivan. My stomach trembled, but I pushed away the creeping dread and focused on my food, on Araz, pressed close, and his cranberry scent.

I wouldn’t let the odd feeling ruin this moment.

I was better, so I could have moved back to my cabin, but Araz hadn’t suggested it, and I didn’t offer. I did go back to my cabin to use the washroom, though, and returned to his, dressed for bed, to find that he’d pushed our beds together to form one.

I paused, staring at this construction.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I…um…There’s more room this way.” He pointed at the other side of his cabin, empty save for the small chest of drawers that contained the supplies Ramashi had provided each of us with on arrival.

His reasoning was weak, but I’d take it. If he was willing to blur the line between us, then I wasn’t going to sharpen it. “Yeah, it was getting cramped in here. Much better this way.”

My reasoning was also weak because the best way to make more room was for me to go back to my own cabin.

We stood, staring at each other, and then he cracked a smile, a soft laugh escaping his lips. “What are we doing?”

I matched his smile and lifted one shoulder. “I think we both want to snuggle.”

“Yes…I guess we do.” He sounded unsure now, and my pulse quickened, worried he’d backtrack.

“Friends can snuggle,” I added quickly.

He looked up, his eyes lighting up at the lifeline. “Yes. Friends can snuggle. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s a mandatory requirement, especially on chilly nights like this.”

It wasn’t that cold, but whatever. “I am cold.” I hugged myself.

“Then let’s get into bed.”

We climbed in and settled against each other like it was the most natural thing in the world.

He tucked me against his side, his chin resting on the top of my head, and all my doubts, fears, and worries melted away.

About the trials, about the story that the stars were writing for us.

For this moment, there was only him. The steady beat of his heart, the hum beneath his skin that called to mine, and his hand making circles on my back—warm and slow like he was sketching calm into my skin.

“Sleep now,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled. “I’ve got you too.”

Land came into view midday on the seventh day, and at midafternoon we gathered on deck to watch Shantivan unfold—a vast landmass housing a mountain, atop which sat a gleaming white building, visible even from a distance, its towers reaching for the clear blue sky.

“What is that building?” Priti asked Ramashi.

“That’s our temple, a place where my djinn tribe honors our roots and pays homage to Iblees, the first djinn. A god in his own right.”

It hit me that I had no idea what Araz’s roots were.

He was Agni djinn, and his people had been massacred by the Asura.

Heat licked at my chest at the memory of the pain he’d shared.

I had to stop and breathe, remind myself that not all Asura were bad.

Not all would have made the same decision that was made by a few all those years ago.

I looked up at his profile, set in hard lines, his gaze on the approaching island. He was a drohi, but he was also djinn. It was part of his heritage.

“You’ll have to come see it,” Ramashi said to Araz.

Araz snorted softly. “I have no use for false gods.”

Ramashi balked. “False gods? Iblees is no false god.”

“Then where is he?” Araz arched a brow. “Isn’t he meant to be reborn? To be among us? To stand with us in times of need?”

Ramashi sighed. “Maybe. Or maybe those are simply stories.”

“And maybe Iblees was merely a djinn and not a djinn god.”

The caw of birds rose over the whooshing of waves and the lament of the wind as we rushed to meet the island. The deck groaned beneath us, and a soft vibration climbed up my legs to settle beneath my ribs.

Vairanya turned away from the coast, moving slower now, rising out of the sea as we moved into the shallows.

Water rushed off her back, and I ran portside, grabbing the ship’s mast in time to see the ancient Kaalmukha raise her weathered head from the water.

She was a monolith of shimmering leathery skin pebbled with iridescent patches that glowed pink—the Vainari, now a part of her once more.

A groan filled the air, the sound like the opening of an ancient door to a place called home.

She turned her head, and her eyes opened, inky black surrounded by a white iridescent ring that looked as if it had swallowed all the colors of the rainbow.

I saw myself reflected there. She blinked, and the image shifted.

Still me but…not me. Taller, hair bound on top of my head, even though it was loose right now.

Moths erupted in my stomach as I peered closer, trying to understand what I was seeing. She blinked again, turning away and taking the mirage with her.

The ship swayed on Vairanya’s back as she swam around the island toward an inlet bordered by tall, thick-trunked trees with spiky dark green foliage.

The inlet was a rockface curving smoothly to cup the sea. As we approached, Vairanya turned to face the ocean before backing up until she was settled into the inlet like a puzzle piece. She groaned again, lowering herself into the water once more to become a part of the island itself.

Ramashi threw his hands up. “Welcome to Shantivan.”