Page 34

Chapter 33

I THINK I HATE FORESTS

T he kitchen buzzed with activity as the drohi cooked up a storm, filling the air with complementary aromas that made my mouth water. Pashim had taken point, apron tied around his waist as he called out orders to his comrades like a culinary conductor in his element.

“He truly cares about you,” Chaya said from across the table.

Now that the grading was over, she was back in her flowy skirt and loose shirt, her hair held back with a scarf and a set of pretty beads around her neck.

I tore my gaze from Pashim and fixed it on my rapidly cooling chai. “I know he does. He’s been my rock throughout all of this.”

“Ahem,” Blue said, a small hunk of bread clutched in his paw. “What am I? Swiss cheese?” His nose twitched. “Actually, cheese would hit the spot right about now.”

I bopped him on the nose. “You are amazing, but you already know that, and you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah, silver boy is kinda great. But he ain’t no Araz.”

My neck grew warm. “Blue!”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m saying, he’s not our drohi, so we shouldn’t get attached.” He fixed me with a beady look before polishing off the bread and dusting off his fur. “Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Blue said, raising a hand toward Drake, Eve’s ferret, who was standing by the door. “Sorry, got a thing to go to.” He hopped off the table and onto the bench beside me.

“Wait a second, what thing?”

“Me and the other anchors are having our own celebration.”

“Yes, Ida told me.” Dharma smiled. “Have fun.”

He blew me a kiss and scampered off.

“Wait, what thing ?”

But he was gone, and it was Chaya that replied. “It’s close to the battle moon and the surya eclipse. A time of high energy for spiritual anchors. They’ll be outside, recharging. You’ll feel the effects of it in the coming days.”

“What are you going to do about Pashim and Araz?” Dharma asked, bringing us back to the question I was hoping I’d avoided.

What was I going to do? “Araz has made his position clear. He wants nothing more to do with me, and Pashim…I know it’s a risk getting close to him. He might end up bound to another demigod, but…I don’t want to lose him. I care about him. A lot.”

“Then keep him for as long as you can,” Chaya said. “A divine lifespan is too long to have regrets. Take your pleasures and your happiness where it is gifted to you.”

“In other words, feel free to bang him if you want to,” Dharma said with a wicked smile.

“Dharma!” Chaya admonished with a smile.

I had feelings for Pashim. Warm, deep feelings, and I found him attractive, but…“I can’t. I…don’t know if I want that.”

Chaya and Dharma exchanged glances, and it was Chaya who spoke. “The bond between you and Araz is strong right now, regardless of whether he nurtures it, but in time, it will weaken. Give it time.”

Pashim placed a plate of steaming curried meat and vegetables in front of me. “Mild, just the way you prefer it.” He gave me the half smile that I’d come to adore.

“Will you join me?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

The drohi stayed with us for the meal but retreated as the sun set, leaving us with sweet wine and cheeses to continue our celebration. I was beginning to flag, but I’d missed so much already while being unconscious that I didn’t want to miss out on any more.

We played Bullshit, and Joe sang some tracks from our world that evoked an ache for home in all of us, and when everyone started reminiscing, the room felt suddenly too close and claustrophobic.

“I’m going to get some air.” I stood slowly.

“I’ll come with you,” Remi offered.

“No. I…I think I need some alone time.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

I left them to their memories and hobbled down to the ground floor and out into the crisp night, where several lungfuls of icy air loosened the fist that had formed in my chest.

I should be happy. I’d passed. Despite everything, I’d passed. I was one step closer to the labyrinth, to becoming a god and having the power to free Nani, so why did I feel so adrift? Why did I feel so…empty?

My emotions were like a seesaw. Up and down, up and down.

I set off around the building, a short walk to shake off the cobwebs and get the blood pumping.

Araz was the problem. Him and this fucked-up bond that made it impossible for me to?—

Crack.

I froze. “Who’s there? ”

Boots crunched behind me, and before I could turn to see who it was, something was shoved over my nose and mouth.

Sweet and bitter at the same time.

Had I just been chloroformed?

I bounced against someone’s back, my body limp and not in my control.

I’d been drugged.

Hell no. No, no, no.

“Hurry up. Move,” a raspy male voice said.

“I am moving, you bastard,” the guy carrying me snarled. “Why didn’t you carry her?”

“Do you want me to carry her or slit her throat? You can’t have me do both.”

Ice coalesced in my belly.

I had to move. I had to fucking move. Heat flooded my limbs, and needles pricked my arms and legs. Yes! Come on.

“Here will do. Put her down.”

“Are you sure they’ll believe it was the demigods?”

“Why wouldn’t they? They believed it last time.”

If these guys weren’t demigods, then what…Rakshasa?

I kept my eyes closed as whoever was carrying me set me down on the cold ground. Grass pricked my cheek, and the scent of wet earth filled my nose. The pins and needles in my limbs subsided, telling me that my body was back online. Once this fucker backed up, I’d make a break for it.

His hands lingered on me.

Any minute now he’d step back.

He stroked my cheek and down my neck, and my stomach turned in horror.

“What are you doing, Bash?” his companion demanded.

“She feels soft. Smells good too. I can see why he wants her.”

“Boss’s orders were clear.”

“He didn’t say we couldn’t have her, did he?” Bash said.

I waited for his companion to shoot him down.

“No, he didn’t say that…”

Fuck!

“I’ll go first,” Bash said.

I felt his shadow over me, but I could sense he was kneeling on my left side. There was no time to waste. I snapped my eyes open, and the shock of seeing me awake froze him long enough for me to roll away and run.

We were in the woods. Of course we were. Fucked-up, horror movie shit. I ran, weaving through the trees, with no idea where exactly in the domain I was, only that I needed to get away. But I was still weak from the poison, and my lungs began to ache within a couple of minutes.

The small head start that the element of surprise had given me didn’t last long. I heard them closing in.

Why were they after me? It made no sense.

And how large was this fucking forest anyway?

A growl made the hairs on my nape quiver, and a body slammed into my back, taking me down.

“Get off me!” I bucked and twisted.

I was hauled up by the back of my shirt and slammed back into the ground hard enough to knock the breath from my body and make me see stars.

“Give me the blade. Now!” the guy ordered his companion.

Primal fear loaned me strength, and with a growl of my own, I bucked the bastard off, coming up to deliver a kick to his face.

“Back off!” I stood, chest heaving, vision swimming with black dots. “Walk away.”

The rakshasa that I’d just kicked in the head looked up at me with a murderous expression, apt considering that was his intent. “Why don’t you run?”

The fucker knew I didn’t have it in me. The flash of adrenaline was gone, leaving me depleted. It was taking everything I had to stay upright, and wait a second… “You’re Ravi’s friend.” I looked across at the other guy who was holding a knife. “Both of you are. ”

“Yes, and we do this for him.” The guy I’d kicked stood slowly, and my racing pulse dithered at his size. He was a big guy. They both were.

I wouldn’t be able to outrun them in my condition, but maybe I could talk them down. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because you’re a distraction the prince doesn’t need,” he said.

“Prince?”

“Of course, he didn’t tell her,” the knife guy said. “Typical Ravi, always so humble, isn’t he, Bash?”

“That he is.” Bash took a step toward me, and I matched it with a step back.

“Look, I didn’t know, and I’m not sure why you have to kill me over it.”

“It’s nothing personal,” Bash said. “But the prince’s heart must be protected until his fated mate shows herself. Our royal bloodline depends on it, not that it matters to your kind. You take us, toy with us, and spit us out.”

“Like you were planning to do with me?” My lip curled in. “Violate me while I was unconscious?”

His companion had the grace to look ashamed, but Bash merely lifted his chin in defiance. “Your kind have done much worse to us, and we will do whatever it takes to protect ourselves. Kill as many times as we must.”

My scalp prickled. The demigod that Ravi cared about had been murdered. Her throat slit. “You killed Devi.”

“Yes,” knife guy said. “And now it’s your…” He paused to sniff the air, and all color drained from his face. “No…”

Bracken crunched to my right, and Prem stepped into the clearing. His emerald eyes, so like his brother’s, burned brightly in the gloom, fixed on the two males standing before me.

“You killed Devi?”

Bash and his buddy exchanged glances, and I could practically see the cogs in their minds whirring. Knew where this might go.

“There is no need for a spare,” Bash said. “Not really…”

Fuck. “Prem, run. Run and get Ravi!”

Prem’s eyes flew wide as he realized the mortal danger that he was in. He spun on his heel, preparing to run, but too late. Bash leapt across the clearing, landing on him and bringing him to the ground.

“No!” I tackled him, trying to get my arm around his thick neck. “Let him go!”

The other rakshasa tore me off Bash. I thrashed, attempting to get free, but he was stronger and managed to pin me to his body. A blade glinted, aimed at my throat.

I screamed, but a monstrous roar eclipsed the sound, and the next moment, I was free. I hit the ground with my knees as the crack of bones breaking snapped at the air.

Bash released Prem, turning to look my way, his face bathed in the glow of phantom flames.

Flames.

I followed his gaze, the sight of the monolithic fire man standing behind me acting like a punch to the gut.

His shoulders heaved as he stalked toward Bash.

Prem, now free, rolled to his feet and ran.

“NO!” Bash held up his hands. “Mercy!” A jet of fire hit him in the chest, and flames jumped free, climbing all over him, devouring him until he was nothing but ash.

The fiery male turned to me, and I stared up into eyes like lava, at a face I’d studied surreptitiously way too many times. At lips that I’d longed to kiss again. “Araz?”

The fire creature blinked slowly, then exhaled. The flames went out, leaving my drohi standing before me in all his naked glory.

His jaw flexed, eyes flinching as he took in my dishevelled state. He held his hand out to me, and when I took it, he hauled me up and into his arms.

I curled against his hot skin. “You came for me.”

“For my sins,” he growled. “For my fucking sins.”