Page 31 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin (The Nightfire Quartet #4)

THIRTY

“What!” Zarya shouted. “No!” She fought uselessly against her bonds. “They’re not inside me. You’re insane!”

Abishek’s smile turned remorseful. “Why do you think you keep experiencing their life? Dhawan wasn’t wrong when he said the blight started with you. The seal has been slowly leaking for centuries, but it needs a little push .”

A shiver climbed over her scalp, spreading over her skin. No one was inside her. She suddenly couldn’t breathe. She thrashed against her restraints, desperate to hide. To curl into a ball and pretend none of this was real.

“And then what,” Rabin asked, his voice a low, menacing growl. “What happens when you free them?”

Abishek clasped his hands. “Once Zarya breaks the seal, two things will happen. It will unleash the nairatta trapped with the twins, and they’ve all been left starving for so very long.”

“And the second?” Rabin asked. Zarya listened, relieved he was staying calm because she couldn’t seem to form a single coherent thought.

“The Ashvins will eventually regain their full strength but will still require a vessel to exist on this plane.”

“Let me guess,” Rabin said as Abishek smiled.

“Their power will become mine. I will take control of the nairatta, and finally, the Aazheri will rule over the continent as it was always meant to be.”

“No!” Zarya screamed. “No, I won’t help you. I will never help you. I’m not breaking anything! You’ll have to kill me first!”

Abishek tutted. “Yes, I assumed that’s what you’d say. I only let you remain in my home as guests for as long as I did because I had hoped you’d cooperate. We could have done this together—we’d be so much stronger—but I see that was never meant to be.”

“Together?” she snarled. “ Never .”

“You’re sure? I’ll give you one more chance to change your mind. Break the seal, give up the Ashvins willingly, and I’ll allow you to live. I might still claim you as my heir, though I expect you to marry an Aazheri—Amir, of course.” Abishek flicked his fingers at Rabin. “Which means we must deal with him after I get what I want.”

“No!” Zarya screamed, fighting and bucking against her bonds. “If you touch him, I will destroy you!” She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe . She screamed in frustration.

When she was done, she lay panting on the table, sweat pooling in her collarbones.

“Look at you,” Abishek said. “So utterly useless.”

“ Everything was a lie,” Rabin said, his voice deadly calm, storm clouds swirling in his eyes.

“It was,” Abishek answered rather matter-of-factly. “Don’t feel bad. I planned it very well, and I am rather good at this. Anyone would have fallen for it.”

Rabin snarled while Abishek turned away and gestured for Kishore.

“Our first step is fixing your Bandhan,” Abishek said.

“That part was true?” Zarya asked.

“It was, but not in the way you think. We can’t break the existing one, so we’ll apply a new one so I may use it to use you .”

“So there was no issue with our bond?” Zarya demanded. “Where has Kishore really been?”

“Exactly where I said,” the king replied. “But I couldn’t let you leave until he’d gathered the necessary supplies and prepared the new ink. A bit of magic to block you from the mind plane and a bit of poison in Rabin’s food to make him think he was dying—and you were both convinced it was true.”

“You monster!” Zarya screamed, choking on a sob.

Abishek continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I admit, I never thought you’d do such a thing without my input, Rabindranath. You surprised me.”

Rabin glared, a muscle in his jaw feathering.

The king’s gaze swung to Zarya. “You still insist on remaining tethered to him?”

She narrowed her gaze. “Absolutely.”

Abishek shrugged and sighed. “We could have ruled Rahajhan, but a rakshasa will sit as king consort to Andhera over my dead body.”

“Fuck you,” Zarya said, and Abishek raised a brow.

Then he gestured to Kishore, who appeared over Zarya. Her lip curled as he gave her a bland smile. She wanted to spit in his face. Twist his balls so hard his ancestors would feel it.

He laid a cold hand on her shoulder, making her skin crawl. She attempted to shake it off, but he only pressed down harder.

“Get your hands off my wife ,” Rabin snarled.

Zarya watched Abishek’s eyes darken at the reminder of what they were to one another.

Kishore ignored him entirely, and another tear slipped from Zarya’s eye. They were trapped. Their magic was blocked, and they were at the king’s mercy.

The mystic walked away, and Zarya could only move her head enough to see him approach a table a few paces away, where he began doing something with his back to them.

She looked at Rabin. Zarya wanted to sob. Her heart squeezed, and her ribs compressed. How could they have been so stupid?

Kishore then turned around and held up a needle, the sharp tip glinting in the light. In his other hand, he held a small stone vessel.

“Ekaja, if you’d be so kind,” he said, gesturing to a nearby torch suspended in a set of brackets. She paused momentarily, her jaw clenching before she stalked over and pulled out a tendril of fire, using it to light the torch.

It flared to life, the flames burning orange and red before slowly transforming into inky black. Zarya stared at it, noting the brushes of purple and blue reflecting in its depths. Holding it with only his bare hands, the mystic walked over and held the bowl up to the fire as it began to glow hot.

When he appeared satisfied, he removed it from the fire and then stalked towards Zarya.

“A dragon,” he mused, staring at the spot where the wings Thriti had drawn curved over her shoulder. “It’s like you knew all along.”

“What does that mean?” she demanded at his smug look.

He ignored her as he lifted the needle and brought it down over her heart. She jerked.

“What are you doing?”

Kishore sighed. “One of your errors was placing this in the wrong spot. Now we’re fixing it.”

Again, he lowered the needle. She writhed under him until she felt invisible bands cinch around her arms, legs, and throat, pinning her in place so tightly she could barely breathe. Abishek appeared over her.

“Hold still, and I’ll let up on your windpipe, or you can stay like this while he works.”

She met his gaze, tears pressing the back of her eyes. Her father. She’d spent her entire life wishing for a family, but they’d been a disappointment in every direction she turned. He gave her a hard look as her head swam. He would follow through on this. He couldn’t kill her yet, but he could leave her in enough discomfort to make her suffer for hours.

She blinked, attempting to acknowledge his threat. He must have read it because the pressure on her throat eased a moment later. She sucked in a deep breath but still couldn’t move a single muscle other than to blink and swallow.

“Proceed,” Abishek said.

Kishore once again placed the needle over her heart, and she whimpered at the first prick. She wished she could at least see Rabin. What was he thinking on the other side of Kishore? They’d blocked her view of him on purpose.

Tears slipped down her face as Kishore worked methodically, covering her in a new marking that would do…what? Bind her to Rabin but in a different way? What did this have to do with freeing the Ashvins?

She shivered again, thinking about his words and his threat. The Ashvins were inside her? Suddenly, it felt like they were crawling under her skin, and she itched like a thousand bugs were slithering over her. She cried harder, wishing she was strong enough to keep her fear and emotions contained. How had she come from that quiet life by the sea to this ?

But that had all been an illusion. Abishek had known where she’d been the entire time. Row had never been protecting her from anything despite what he’d believed. And her mother had been locked up here since she’d been born, unable to warn them while Abishek had left her to waste away. If Zarya got out of this alive, she would make this man suffer.

She allowed her mind to drift inwards as she attempted to block out the pain of Kishore’s needle, wishing she were anywhere else.

With Rabin on a quiet beach, the water crashing on the shore. With Yasen in a seedy tavern, daring each other to take another shot while he drank her under the table. With Row sitting comfortably by the fire as he read one of his boring books while she read one of her smutty novels.

Gods, what she wouldn’t give to go back.

She’d spent so long craving more but look where that had gotten her.

As pain wracked through her body, she clung to the ephemeral possibility of this other existence. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on it.

The room was quiet while Kishore worked, the wind muffled by the dark curtains, with only the crackle of the fires filling the silence. Ekaja hovered on the edges, her hand on her sword, where Zarya could just make her out with the corner of her eye.

After what felt like hours, Kishore stood back, admiring his handiwork. Abishek appeared above her, a satisfied smile curling on his lips.

“It is complete?” he asked.

“Enough to serve your purpose,” Kishore answered. “Thankfully, his is already prepared.”

Abishek had encouraged Rabin to get the dragon inked onto his skin. He really had been planning this all along.

“Now what?” Abishek asked.

“Now we complete the Bandhan.”

He placed the needle and bowl on the table, and the binding air around Zarya released. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Looking down, she gasped at the sight of the silver dragon now tattooed over her heart. She had a thousand questions she knew would go unanswered.

Finally, she willed herself to meet Rabin’s gaze. He was already looking at her, fire and rage burning in the depths of his dark eyes. She had so many things to say, but they all went unspoken, searing the tip of her tongue.

“Zarya,” he whispered, and she shook her head.

“I love you,” she whispered back.

A moment later, her view was blocked again as Kishore moved between them. He then circled a cold hand around her wrist and squeezed.

She watched as bands of silvery light filtered out around them. After a few seconds, the silver began to twine with red and black, like blood and darkness, all three meeting to create something that felt distantly ominous.

Then came the pain. It burned in her chest, searing her from the inside out like she’d been dipped in liquid iron. She screamed as she attempted to bow off the table, but she was trapped. She was desperate to move her legs and arms. Desperate to clutch at herself. This was nothing like it had been last time when she’d clung to Rabin. When she’d felt herself grow stronger in that moment. More complete. This felt like a piece of her was being stolen, stripped away, and ground to dust.

“Rab—” she tried to gasp. She reached for him, her fingers stretching uselessly against her restraints.

“Zarya!” he called, and a sob cracked out of her chest. How could any of this be happening?

Another twist of pain had her screaming, tears spilling from her eyes, sweat breaking out on her forehead, and her breath seizing in her lungs. Her chest burned. Her skin burned. Her bones ached.

Finally, after several long, agonizing minutes, the pain eased. She lay panting on the table, her limbs shaking as sweat cooled on her body. She listened to the crackle of the fire and the shuffle of Kishore walking away.

A moment later, Abishek appeared over her again. He gave her a soft look, and something exchanged between them that she couldn’t interpret.

“This could have been different,” he said. “We could have been something great.”

She sensed a strange sorrow in his words and felt strangely sad.

Like she’d given up something she’d never even wanted.

“Now what?” she gasped. “Is it over?”

He tipped his head, his mouth pressing at the corners.

“That was only the beginning.”

He laid a hand on her forehead and closed his eyes before he opened them again.

“Now…the real work begins.”