Page 32 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin (The Nightfire Quartet #4)

THIRTY-ONE

“What’s happening to him?” Yasen demanded as he paced along the foot of Vikram’s bed. “Why is he like that?”

After Vikram had passed out during dinner, Row returned immediately to Ishaan to retrieve Koura. Now the healer sat at Vikram’s bedside, examining the black veins running over his chest, arms, and shoulders. They’d faded somewhat, but he still hadn’t woken up.

“I’m not sure,” Row answered. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Gopal also stood in the room, his arms folded and his brow creased, observing the scene. Yasen wanted to wrap his hands around his neck and squeeze .

“This happened before?” Yasen demanded, no longer caring what Gopal Ravana might do to him. “How are you helping him?”

Gopal sneered. “How should I help him? He’s infected.” The nawab shook his head and glared at his younger son like he’d brought this on himself. The rage in Yasen’s chest swelled to dangerous proportions. He teetered on the very edge of pulling out a sword and lopping off this bastard’s head.

Row snatched him around the arm and pulled him back. “He’s not worth it,” Row said in a low voice. “Don’t let him get to you.”

Yasen inhaled deeply, trying to calm his temper. Row was right, and Gopal Ravana deserved nothing from him. One day, he’d make him pay for allowing Vikram to waste away. And for so many other things.

“Let’s focus on Vikram,” Row said softly. “He needs you right now.”

Yasen nodded and turned to watch Koura run gentle fingers over Vikram’s arms, chest, and throat, tracing the ominous black lines. Koura closed his eyes as soft yellow light filtered out from his palms and hummed softly as he swayed over Vikram’s lifeless body.

Row and Yasen exchanged worried looks while waiting for answers to this mystery.

A minute later, Koura opened his eyes. “I agree that he appears to be infected with a virus or a plague of some kind.”

“Infected with what?” Yasen asked.

Koura shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure, but it isn’t something of this plane.”

When his eyes met Yasen’s, he read the wariness in their golden depths and the things he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“What do you mean, not of this plane?” Yasen croaked.

Koura shook his head and ran a hand over his tense jaw. “I’ve lived many centuries on this continent and have always believed the darkness was banished. Then the blight proved me wrong.” He stopped and inhaled a deep breath. “In Ishaan, I was proven wrong, yet again when Zarya and the Taara Aazheri revealed their nature. The darkness was never truly banished, and it’s clear now that after a thousand years, it is returning. Or rather, it has already returned.”

Yasen felt his stomach drop to his feet.

“Vikram is infected with the darkness,” Yasen said, his voice hollow.

“As is Amrita,” he added. “Whatever plagues her, affects her steward as well.”

“Did this happen to Tarin?” Yasen asked. “Can we talk to him?”

“It didn’t,” Row said. “He researched ways to stop the blight many times. He would have said something.”

“We should still talk to him,” Yasen said.

“I think we need to speak with Amrita,” Koura said. “I suspect only she can tell us more about what is happening to both of them.”

“Or Vikram when he wakes up, right?” Yasen said.

“Possibly,” Koura said. “Based on what I’ve learned from his caregivers, he is no longer of sound mind. It’s possible that whatever he tells us is the truth, but it may also be a fabrication.”

Yasen blew out a breath. “Can we find Tarin?”

“I know where he is,” Row said. “I will send a message.”

Yasen nodded, his jaw firm. He started pacing again and ran a hand through his hair. He stopped and stared at Row and Koura. “What are we going to tell everyone? What are we going to do?”

When neither one could answer, he began pacing again. Yasen was no stranger to feeling helpless. He understood the emotions that came with utter despair and the sense that nothing would be the same ever again.

But as he stared at his friend and the fine dark lines creeping over his skin, Yasen had never felt more helpless in his life.

Koura hadn’t been wrong about Vikram. When he awoke, he couldn’t remember anything. He was disoriented and babbling about things that had never happened.

When Yasen pressed him about speaking with Amrita, he recited a string of banal sentiments about taxation bills, land claims, and pointless things that meant nothing. The darkness was eating him alive.

When Row asked him to speak with Amrita about her rotting roots, Vikram gave him a bemused look and told him there was nothing to worry about.

As they waited for Tarin, Vikram went about his days. Yasen couldn’t stop staring at those black veins reaching above his collar. On more than one occasion, he would stop and give Yasen a quizzical look and ask, “What?”

Yasen would shake his head and mumble, “Nothing.”

Vikram didn’t seem to understand anything was happening, and maybe that was the most terrifying thing of all.

A few days later, Tarin arrived. He moved as slowly as ever, shuffling into the throne room, where Yasen waited with Row, Koura, and an increasingly confused Vikram. Gopal Ravana had also arrived, claiming he had a right to know about the state of his son.

“Since when do you care what happens to him?” Yasen asked, and the heat in Gopal’s gaze could have melted iron from the center of a mine. He turned his back to the nawab and vowed to forget his existence.

Yasen had to resist bombarding Tarin with a thousand questions. He could have kissed the old tree. Thankfully, Row walked over, holding out his hand.

“Tarin,” Row said with a breath of relief. “Thank goodness you’ve come.”

Tarin dipped his head, leaning on his cane as he slowly approached Amrita. “Tell me what’s been happening,” he said, his low voice rolling like tumbling stones across the chamber.

They quickly filled him in while he listened with a curious expression.

“You’ve freed the vanshaj,” he said with a touch of awe in his voice. “I never thought I’d live to see it.”

“Zarya figured it out,” Row said.

Tarin dipped his chin, a small smile stretching over his gnarled lips. “I remember the day she arrived in Dharati, a ball of energy ready to burst. I smelled destiny on her, and I’m pleased to hear I was right.”

Then he turned to Vikram and assessed him up and down.

Vikram watched warily as Tarin approached. “How’s Amrita?” he asked.

“She’s… well?” Vikram said.

Tarin cocked his head and studied him with calm scrutiny. “With your permission, I should like to speak with her.”

“Can you do that?” Yasen asked.

Tarin raised a hand. “With the steward’s blessing, yes.”

Tarin returned his attention to Vikram and waited.

“Vik,” Yasen urged, and again, Tarin silenced him with a wave.

“Do not rush him. The relationship between a steward and his queen is extremely personal. It is difficult to consider, and it would be natural to refuse my request. I never once allowed it in my many years at Rani Vasvi’s side.”

Yasen pressed his mouth together but stepped back, giving Vikram space to decide. He shared a look with Row and Koura, who wore their worry in their expressions.

After a moment, Vikram dipped his chin. “I suppose that would be fine.”

“You’re sure?” Tarin asked, and when Vikram hesitated, Yasen wanted to scream.

“I’m… sure.”

“Excellent.”

Tarin turned to face Amrita, slowly shuffling towards her. He briefly regarded the baby stirring in her mother’s womb before looking up. Then he went still, and Yasen could only presume he was speaking with the queen.

Yasen started pacing. Again.

He stopped and rolled his neck, wishing they could speed this process along. He wanted to return to Ishaan and Miraan but couldn’t leave Vikram. When had he suddenly become responsible for so many lives? He’d always tried to avoid this shit as much as possible.

He huffed and started pacing again as they all stewed in silence.

Finally, after what felt like three days, Tarin turned around to face them. The expression on his face didn’t invite the warm fuzzies.

“What is it?” Row asked as Tarin shook his head.

“It is as we feared, and the darkness is returning as the seal grows weaker than ever. It started here twenty years ago when the Ashvins returned to this plane. The Chiranjivi managed to subdue it for a time, but as you can see, those efforts were only temporary.”

He swept a hand over the room, highlighting the rot creeping through the throne room and the queen.

“What do you mean, the Ashvins returned ?” Row asked. “They’re still trapped in their prison.”

Tarin’s gaze shifted as though he was wary to reveal the rest.

“What is it?” Row demanded.

“While their corporeal forms remain locked away, their spirits escaped. They found a vessel to carry them, and as a result, the tether keeping them bound is weakening.”

“The Ashvins,” Row echoed hollowly. “The Ashvins caused the blight.”

Tarin nodded. “In a manner of speaking.”

“I don’t understand,” Yasen said. “What does that mean?”

“Zarya,” Tarin breathed. “It started with her.”

“Zarya? What do you mean?”

Tarin lifted a hand. “I do not fully understand it, but Amrita is now certain the blight that started on the shore began because of the twins and somehow ties to Zarya.”

That news dropped between them with a solid thump.

“I don’t get it,” Row said.

“Nor do I,” Tarin admitted.

“Is she okay?” Yasen demanded.

Tarin shook his head. “I cannot answer that.”

“What do we do?” Yasen asked.

“What else did you learn?” Row asked Tarin. “Is the seal in danger of failing completely?”

Right. Good question.

“Amrita has confirmed something feels different. She only realized it recently, but whatever she protects is…escaping, leaking, and poisoning her roots, her steward, and soon, her child.”

“So, what do we do?” Yasen asked. “How do we stop this?”

“Zarya is the key, but I don’t know what that means, nor does Amrita.”

“How do we close the seal?” Row asked. “Can Amrita do it?”

Tarin shook his head. “I do not believe so. The Jai Tree was planted to seal in the darkness, but it also keeps so much more contained.”

“As in the Ashvins?”

“Yes.”

“So we search in her roots or something?” Yasen asked, and Tarin shook his head.

“No, what you need is lower. Deeper.”

“I’m not following,” Row said.

Tarin exhaled a long breath. “The Ashvins once ruled over the ancient city of Taaranas. When the kings and queens of Rahajhan banished the twins, they were trapped inside their home—the one they destroyed in their hubris. That is where you must go. That is where you will find a way to close up the seal.”

Yasen’s mouth opened and then closed. “We have to find Taaranas? The mythical city?”

“It was never mythical,” Tarin answered. “It was real.”

“How?” Koura asked when Yasen couldn’t reply.

Tarin clamped his hands at the top of his cane. “That is all she could tell me. But I do think you will need help.”

“You think ?” Row asked.

“You must gather the Chiranjivi,” he said. “If the seal is broken, you can only close it by harnessing the same power the kings and queens of Rahajhan used all those centuries ago. Perhaps you will need more.”

“More?” Koura asked. “How?”

Tarin shrugged his broad shoulders. “I wish I could tell you that.”

Yasen turned to look at Row and Koura, who both wore equally puzzled expressions.

“We’ll return to Ishaan,” Row said. “Find Apsara and Suvanna. Zarya must have returned by now, and we’ll send word to Kindle. Tarin, can you find out how we might enter Taaranas?”

He nodded. “I shall access the library.”

“Good,” Row said, and Yasen blew out a breath of…something. Not of relief, but at least someone was taking charge.

“What about Vikram?” Yasen asked, watching his friend quietly observing their entire exchange.

“I will keep an eye on him,” Tarin said. “But I do fear that if you cannot keep the Ashvins contained, then both the steward and the queen may be in danger.”

“I should remain here with the baby,” Koura said.

“You are needed with the others,” Tarin said. “Can you send for someone to watch over her in your stead? Someone you trust?”

Koura nodded. “I will write home immediately.”

“Good,” Tarin said. “You must not delay. I sense time is of the utmost essence, or we are all doomed to lose ourselves to the darkness forever.”