Page 49 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin (The Nightfire Quartet #4)

FORTY-EIGHT

Zarya watched the nairatta march over the landscape with her heart wedged in her throat. She had no doubt about where they were headed. They carpeted the mountains in a blanket of darkness, feeding off everything in their wake.

Trails of lifeless trees and grass followed their path as everything died underfoot. Andhera would be the first kingdom to feel their wrath.

Rabin must have sensed it, too, because he dipped south and towards the city. Despite everything that had happened, this had been his home. These people were innocent of Abishek’s deception. Zarya thought of everyone she’d met during her short visit. Urvi, who had helped her, and Dav and Suria, who’d been so hopeful about the future.

She thought of her mother. Was she still trapped in the tower? Abishek claimed he might keep her alive longer if she proved useful. If she was still there, Zarya couldn’t let the nairatta consume the city.

A phalanx of demons was already nearing the walls. Zarya screamed into the wind, but the effort felt futile. She glanced over her shoulder to notice Ekaja staring down with a blank expression. This was her home, and it was about to be devoured.

Rabin streaked across the sky, coasting over a row of demons who barely registered his presence. He dipped his head and blasted out a stream of wild blue fire, torching through their line.

The nairatta screamed, the sound otherworldly, as he fried them all to dust. But more replaced them as they careened over the landscape. Rabin blasted out ribbons of fire while Zarya, Ekaja, and Row used their magic to attack from the sky.

Rabin swooped, pulling ahead of the horde and nearing the city walls.

“Let us off!” Zarya yelled. Rabin briefly touched the ground, and they all scrambled off before he looped into the air and continued mowing through great swaths of demons. He then glided over the city, bellowing out a battle cry in warning.

Zarya heard the shouts from the city’s soldiers registering the threat.

Then Zarya stood with Yasen, Row, and Ekaja as they turned to face the approaching line. She drew on her nightfire, cautious about what it might do. Would it hurt the demons? How was her magic related to theirs?

She shook out her arms and then her shoulders. Only one way to find out.

Placing one hand on top of the other, she stretched them out and called on all six of her anchors, drawing them in before they collided in the center of her heart. Pure sparkling nightfire burst from her palms, sweeping out in a wall of dark magic flecked with light.

It crashed into the line of nairatta like a hammer. They screamed and wailed as her magic tore through them, shredding them apart like shattering glass. She watched in fascinated horror as they exploded, black blood spraying across pristine white snow to the sound of their dying screams.

She blinked, staring at what she had done.

“Zarya!” Row called. “Again! That worked!”

His voice dragged her out of shock, and she nodded.

Ekaja used blasts of fire, wind, and earth to crush the demons while Row drew on dark veins of shadow. The darkness had been freed, and he could finally access it. Yasen cut them down with his sword while Rabin continued circling the sky, taking out pockets of demons with his deadly blue fire.

She had only a moment to wonder why Andhera’s army hadn’t joined them before she focused on the horde and began stalking towards them. Pressing her hands together, she channeled another wall of nightfire, blowing the nairatta apart to the unholy sounds of bodies exploding and blood spattering across the air.

She felt possessed. For the first time in this long and bloody battle, she felt like she had a voice. She screamed as she aimed at another line, tearing through them like a knife through paper.

Through the red haze of her anger, she dimly registered the presence of Andhera’s soldiers filing out of the city. About a dozen Aazheri made up their first defense. They each set to work destroying the monsters—Zarya noticed one filtering out black ribbons of smoke, and her chest tightened at the sight.

But where were the rest?

Hours passed as the sun drifted over the sky, and the demons attacked over and over. This was only a small group compared to their army; the others were already receding into the distance, heading for the other realms.

They had to warn everyone.

Finally, the line of advancing nairatta dissipated as Zarya and the others dealt the final blows of death.

When they were gone, an eerie silence fell over the landscape as she stared into the distance. The wind tugged at her hair as tears slipped down her cheeks.

This wasn’t a victory. There was nothing to celebrate.

This was not an ending. It was only the beginning.

She inhaled a deep breath and pressed her hand to her chest as her gaze met Row’s and then Yasen’s, reading the truth in their faces.

Again, they turned to watch the nairatta snaking over the landscape, crawling over Rahajhan like a plague.

Soon, everyone would feel their wrath.

Rabin dropped into the trees and shifted into his rakshasa form.

He jogged through the trampled snow, leaping over bodies. Zarya turned at his approach as she inhaled a shaky breath. Black smoke swirled around her, and black lightning flashed across the sky.

His attention fell on Andhera’s army—or what was left of it. Why were there so few?

“Where are your soldiers?” he asked Ekaja.

She shook her head. “The king… needed them.”

“For what?” he asked as he stalked towards her.

“He asked me to gather my best generals and prepare them to march for Gi’ana.”

“Gi’ana?” Zarya asked. “Why?”

Ekaja pressed her mouth together as she glanced at her soldiers.

“To help quell the resistance.”

Rabin blinked. This was Dishani’s mercenary army? He couldn’t believe she would do this.

“Is there no level to which you won’t sink?” he asked, and her face turned pale.

“I tried to stop him,” she said softly.

He scoffed and turned to Zarya.

“We have to warn the others about the nairatta,” she whispered. “They’ll hit Gi’ana next.”

He studied her face, trying to detect her reaction to yet another of Abishek’s betrayals, but she gave nothing away.

“Just give me a moment to catch my breath,” Rabin said, his chest heaving in and out. “We can get ahead of them.”

“You’re exhausted,” Ekaja said. “Stay for tonight and leave in the morning. You need food and rest, all of you.”

The corner of Rabin’s mouth curled up. “ Now you’re concerned about us?”

She flinched like he’d slapped her.

“I’m sorry,” Ekaja said. “He promised that no real harm would come to you…” She chewed her lip. “And I believed him. I wanted to believe him.”

“Did you know?” Rabin asked. “Who I was all along? Who Zarya was? Did you know he was manipulating me from the moment I arrived?”

She shook her head as her expression crumpled. “I swear to you that I didn’t. Kishore was the only one he took into his confidence. Had I known…”

“What?” Rabin asked. “Had you known, would you have warned me?”

Ekaja blinked. “I’m…not sure.”

Rabin exhaled a derisive sound that burned the back of his throat. “I’m the fool,” he answered. “I was a fool ever to trust any of you.”

“Rabin—”

“I don’t want to hear it right now,” he said with a wave of his hand.

“He gave me my life when no one else would!” she shouted. “You know what that’s like. You know how he is. He would have tossed me out!”

He heard the plea in her voice. He heard that little girl who had been half-starving in the streets when Abishek found her and then molded her into his personal soldier.

“I do know,” Rabin said softly. “But I would have chosen you. You’re the only real friend I’ve ever had, and I would have chosen you .”

Her expression twisted into shame and guilt, but he refused to feel sorry for her.

Forcing himself to turn away, he addressed Zarya and the others.

“We must leave. Gather some food for the journey, and we’ll be on our way.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ekaja shouted at his back. “Let me help you.”

He peered over his shoulder. “You have no army. The king left the city vulnerable when he knew what was coming. You are all Andhera has left. Stay here and protect the city. There’s no reason these people should suffer for your mistakes.”

Ekaja nodded, her mouth pressing together, her eyes shining with the threat of tears. He’d never seen her cry before. She gestured to one of her guards and whispered a few words before he ran to do her bidding.

“I shall see that you have proper clothing and food for the rest of your journey.”

Rabin said nothing. He glared at Ekaja as they all took a moment to rest in the snow. When he didn’t answer, she turned and began shouting further orders to the few soldiers she had left, arranging them around the walls to ensure the city’s protection.

Zarya walked over and sank onto the snow next to Rabin as Row joined them, followed by Yasen.

“I have to tell you something,” Zarya said to Row, swallowing thickly. “Asha is alive. Or at least she was before we left for Taaranas.”

Row exhaled a shaky breath. “Urvi told us you were looking for her.”

She shook her head. “He was keeping her there because she was a nali, and the same god who found me also spoke to her. He was torturing her for information about me, all in service to this plan.”

Rabin studied Row’s face, his skin pale and his lower lip trembling.

His gaze met Zarya’s as the depths of haunting loss reflected in his dark eyes. “We went to look for her,” Row said. “Urvi helped us.”

Zarya inhaled a sharp breath, her gaze expectant.

“She wasn’t there.”

Her shoulders curved inwards as she reached out to clutch Rabin’s arm.

Row’s head dropped, his hair falling around his face.

They all sat quietly for a moment before Zarya spoke. “Then, I don’t know if she’s still alive. I almost didn’t want to tell you about her because I didn’t want to…”

“Get my hopes up?” Row asked, and she nodded.

“I’m sorry. This is all my fault. If the gods hadn’t chosen me. If I hadn’t been born, you would have been together.” Tears coated her cheeks, and she wiped them away.

“No,” Row said. “You are not blaming yourself for any of this. You weren’t given a choice.”

She nodded as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her against him. He kissed the top of her head, and then their gazes drifted to the castle as if they might see her through the stone walls.

“Go and look for her,” Zarya said.

He shook his head. “I spent twenty years hoping she was alive, and I’m not sure I’m ready to end this chapter yet. For now, I can believe just a little longer.”

Looking back at Zarya, he touched her cheek. “Besides, you need me,” he answered. “We can’t finish this without the Chiranjivi. Everyone will die.”

Rabin saw the truth in his eyes. He was scared. Terrified to learn that after all these years of searching, he’d come so close only to lose her again. Zarya didn’t argue. She just nodded.

“Maybe we should take Ekaja up on her offer?” Yasen asked. “Get a few hours of sleep at least.”

Rabin glared up at the city walls. “I never want to set foot in there again.”

Yasen nodded. “Understood. Then we’ll freeze our asses off in the snow.”

Rabin laughed. It was a boisterous sound that echoed through the forest. He must be losing his mind. Everyone turned to him with a shocked look.

“Did you just laugh?” Yasen asked, and Rabin shook his head.

“Of course not.”

That brought a brief smile to their faces.

A few minutes later, several palace servants appeared with clothing and food. Rabin noticed Zarya touching her throat. Their tattoos were gone. It had worked. This hadn’t all been for nothing.

Urvi appeared before them, and Zarya jumped to her feet.

“Urvi,” she whispered. “It’s gone.”

Urvi nodded. “I…they’re all gone.”

“I know you said you didn’t want this, but?—”

Urvi shook her head. “I did want it. Of course I did. I was afraid, but…they’re all gone. What will the king say?”

“The king is dead,” she said. “Soon, everyone will know it. Whatever happens, he is no longer your concern.”

“Dead?” she said. “So, you…are our queen, then.”

Zarya’s mouth opened and then closed. “No. I…”

“Zee!” Yasen called. “We need to go!”

“Take care of yourself,” Zarya said as she hugged the other woman and accepted the clothes.

Once they were ready, Rabin searched for a clearing where he could shift.

“Rabin!” Ekaja called before he got far. “I’m sorry. I want to make this up to you.”

He glared at her, his teeth grinding. “I’m not sure how you ever could.”

She grabbed his arm. “Will I see you again?”

“I don’t know.”

Then he pulled away and stalked into an open space before turning to see Zarya and Row walking up to Ekaja.

“Find my mother,” she said. “If she’s still alive…”

Ekaja nodded. “Of course. I’ll take care of her until you return. Anything you need.”

“Be careful,” Zarya said.

“You, too.”

Then Zarya, Row, and Yasen climbed onto Rabin’s back. He flapped his wings and took a few steps before launching into the sky. He watched the demons marching in every direction, thankful for the long, arduous journey ahead of them.

With any luck, it would slow them down.

Rabin looped around Andhera, lifting his head and roaring before he turned east and towards Gi’ana.

With any luck, they’d arrive in time.