Chapter 6 #2
I could believe it. I’d witnessed his patience firsthand. His kindness and empathy. “Can you please thank him from me…for the bell.”
“Of course I will. Now…” She bustled across the room to the cream door and pushed it open, revealing a walk-in closet filled with rails of clothes. “I took it upon myself to have clothes made in your size.”
I stepped closer, peering into the amber lit space at the rows of neatly hung outfits and shelves of carefully folded ones. “When did you do all this?”
She shrugged a delicate shoulder. “I began the last time you were here. I knew you’d be back.”
I stepped inside, running my fingers over silken fabrics and delicate beading. “It’s all so fancy.”
“Well, yes. You will be queen one day soon. You must dress the part. There are simpler styles here.” She indicated a rack of shirts, tunics, and pants. “And shoes.” She pulled out a hidden tray with a row of shoes in all shapes and styles.
“You thought of everything.” I walked farther into the room and stopped at the sight of a rail of men’s clothes.
“Oh…” Erabi rushed forward. “I’m so sorry. I asked for those to be removed.”
I approached the rack, blood pounding in my ears as I reached out to lightly touch the fabric of a midnight-blue tunic.
My throat pinched, and my eyes burned. He’d worn this the night we’d met the raees.
This very outfit…It was here. I leaned in and pressed my nose to the tunic.
It smelled flowery. Of course, they would have washed it. Of course, his scent was gone.
I turned away with a shuddering breath. “A while back, Chandra told me that once I became queen, Araz would be sent back to Prashikshan, so why did you have clothes made for him?”
“It would have been your choice,” Erabi said. “Chandra always knew that, and so he had me commission clothes for your drohi too.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. “You can have them removed.”
Araz was gone, and a rack of clothes would not bring him back.
I clipped out of the walk-in and back into the main room, then across to the door on the other side. “Is the bathroom through here?”
“Yes,” Erabi said.
“I’ll have a soak before dinner.” I pushed open the door and stared at the huge claw foot tub. A tub for two.
Dammit, Leela. I didn’t trust myself to look her way, didn’t trust the tears not to come, and I was so done letting people see me cry.
I kept my gaze averted and cut across the room to the balcony, stepping out beneath a blood-orange sky and looking down at the neatly clipped lawn.
It was a geometrical design, segmented into hexagons, each with its own feature.
A pagoda on one, a fountain on the other, benches, a blossom tree, and there, to one side, was a domed building.
It looked like the bottom of an egg and still had scaffolding clinging to it.
Yep, the nest did throw the vibe off a little, but I was glad that Blue and the other anchors would be close.
“Are you all right?” Erabi asked tentatively from the room behind me.
“No.” I forced a smile. “But I will be. Because I have to.”
She nodded. “Yes. But you won’t be alone. You have Blue, me, Chandra, and all your friends. We’re your kin now.”
“I know…” And I wouldn’t let them down.
The dining room wasn’t as large as the sitting room area, but it was still impressive with a table that could easily seat twenty and two chandeliers dangling above the solid oak structure.
Several plates and large bowls of various dishes had been laid out for us.
Roasted chicken, spiced lamb, fragrant rice, naan, and two vegetable medleys.
Dharma rubbed her hands together. “Everything looks so good!”
Keyton pulled out the seat at the head of the table. “For our queen-to-be.” He smiled, and it reached his eyes, lighting them up a little.
I returned his smile but shook my head. “I’m not a queen. Not here. Not with all of you. Here I’m just Leela, and we’re all equal.”
Keyton’s eyes lit up even more at that. He pushed the seat back in. “Equals,” he said softly.
“Okay, then.” Joe clapped his hands. “Let’s eat.”
Everyone chose seats, avoiding the two at the head of the table.
Keyton made me up a plate, then sat beside me as I piled food onto a plate for him. Across the table from me, Dharma did the same for Chaya, earning herself a sweet smile. Bina stood and grabbed a plate and began loading up for Thanil. Joe pressed a kiss to Mahira’s cheek and fixed her a plate.
Keeping things the same didn’t mean we couldn’t add some new rituals.
For a few minutes, there was nothing but the clink of cutlery. When the noise died a little, I sat back and lifted my glass of water in a toast. “To taking care of each other.”
Everyone picked up their glasses and echoed my words.
“To taking care of each other.”
I caught movement across the room and looked over to see Chandra standing in the doorway, hands loose at his side. For a moment, I thought he looked wistful, but then a smile tugged at his lips and the pensive expression melted away, leaving me wondering if I’d read it right.
He crossed to the table. “Mind if I join you?” he asked me.
“Not at all. Grab a seat.”
He walked toward the head of the table, toward the seat we’d all avoided, and my heart sank. But he stopped before he reached it and took the seat opposite me instead.
He arched a brow my way, his smile blooming wider, and I couldn’t help but match it.
Yeah, Chandra got it, and that…that gave me hope.
The conversation flowed easily, even with Chandra present. And it wasn’t until the meal was winding down, plates empty, bellies full, that Chandra fixed his piercing gaze on me and said, “I have some news.”
My stomach dipped at his somber tone. “What is it?”
Conversation ground to a halt as everyone tuned in.
Chandra laced his fingers above his empty plate. “I met with the Authority earlier today, and it’s been decided that you’ll face the throne tomorrow.”
I exhaled. “Is that it? I thought it was something bad. I’m ready.”
He studied me for several beats, his expression probing as if looking for cracks in my armor, but I wasn’t wearing armor. This was me. Unadorned. Unfiltered. Unafraid.
He sat back with a smile. “In that case, I strongly recommend we get some dessert brought in.”
Sleep didn’t come easily, but not because I was due to face the Authority again tomorrow. I wasn’t bothered about that. Sleep hadn’t come easily since I’d lost Araz. I’d become accustomed to simply lying in bed and staring at the ceiling until my eyelids got too heavy to stay open.
Tonight, when sleep finally crept over me, my dreams were a jumble of disconnected images and fragmented thoughts that deposited me onto a moonlit balcony.
Even though I faced the sea and the stars, I was aware of the gauzy curtains billowing behind me and sensed him standing between them…
the man who had my heart. The one that I’d been waiting for.
It was finally time for us to be together.
After everything. The bloodshed. The war.
Tonight was a night of union. I took a deep breath and turned to face him.
Araz walked toward me, eyes like flame, warming me to my toes. The slight smile teasing his lips evoked a flutter in my belly. “You came,” he said. “I knew you would.”
It was his voice. But it wasn’t him…
Him…
Araz? No, who had I been waiting for?
“It’s all right, Leela. Relax. Don’t fight this. Listen to me.”
Lucidity stole over me. This was a dream. But more than a dream.
This wasn’t Araz.
I backed up, pressing myself to the balcony. “You’re not Araz.”
“Aren’t I?” He canted his head a little.
My pulse throbbed hard in my throat, and when I spoke, my voice was a whisper. “You’re the primordial evil.”
“Is that what they call me?” He smiled thinly. “Of course it is. But you should know better, Leela. You should feel it.” He approached, and I wanted to shrink away from him, to skirt him and run, but instead, my body arched toward him, forcing me to step forward to meet him.
Dammit, this was my dream.
My body.
I wanted to run.
“No, you don’t. Not truly.” He reached up to run his knuckles down the side of my face. “You belong to me, and I’m coming to collect.”
I wanted to flinch and move my head away, but instead I leaned into his touch, warmth blooming behind my sternum.
“Yes…” His eyes blazed brighter. “There you are.”
He nudged my chin up, and my mouth parted on a sigh even as my mind screamed for me to run. To get away.
“Mine…” He leaned in, his lips closing in on mine.
Not Araz. Oh gods, this wasn’t Araz.
“No!” I sat bolt upright in bed, blood thundering in my ears, heart hammering at my rib cage. “No…” The dream dispersed like mist, but the ache of longing, of unfulfilled promise, and the warm pull behind my sternum remained.
Just a dream or more? But…the tugging in my chest…Could it be…Could it be the bond between Araz and me?
Oh gods…What if…What if Araz was alive? What if he was trapped inside his own body?
I clambered off the bed and rushed to the bells. I needed to speak to Chandra. I needed to speak to him right now.
I yanked on the bell and had barely had time to grab a gown when the air beside my bed shifted and Chandra materialized, bare-chested, dark hair disheveled, body tense as he scanned the room. Probably looking for a threat. His brows pinched slightly, shoulders relaxing when he found none.
“Leela? What is it? What happened?”
I tore my gaze from his impressive torso and fixed it on his face.
“I had a dream of Araz. I mean it wasn’t Araz, it was the primordial evil, and he…
he tried to…kiss me…” Oh gods that sounded…
like a dream. Like a stupid, regular dream.
But I’d felt the warmth. I still felt it.
Didn’t I? I touched my chest. “There was a tugging sensation. A connection when I was in the dream. I wanted to get away but couldn’t.
I…I was drawn to him.” I shook my head. “Okay, now that I’ve been awake a few minutes, it all sounds crazy. Like a bad dream.”
Chandra sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was afraid this would happen.”
“What?” My attention flicked down to his bare chest, and my cheeks warmed.
He tracked my gaze and winced. “Give me a moment.”
He winked out, and I sagged on my feet. I’d made him uncomfortable. He probably thought I was ogling him. Gah. I covered my face.
He reappeared a moment later, wearing a tunic over his pants. “Come, sit.” He led me to the sofa set and waited for me to pick a seat before taking the spot opposite me.
I clasped my hands in my lap, resisting the urge to jiggle my knee. What was he about to reveal? Was I right? Was Araz still alive? Oh, gods. I wanted that to be true so badly it was a physical ache. Why wasn’t he saying anything? I needed to know.
“Chandra? Is he…could he be alive?”
He shook his head. “The bond that the shakti wove between you and Araz was a soul bond, but it can also affect your bodies. The primordial evil would have had to burn Araz’s soul to claim his body as a vessel, and that would have cut the soul tether between you.
But the body…the vessel…Well, it seems that Araz’s flesh may still be bound to you.
Your dream may not have been just a dream. ”
“You’re saying that I’m now bound to the primordial evil!”
His eyes widened. “No. No, Leela, your bond is to Araz’s body, and it will fade in time.”
“So why is he reaching out to me? Why did he try to kiss me and call me his?”
“Do not humanize it, Leela. That thing is not a he. I don’t know why it entered your dream or said the things it said.
Maybe it’s playing with you. Tasting your emotions because it has none of its own.
It’s dangerous, Leela. Everything about it is a lie.
It has the power to twist truth and turn it to ash.
And you…you carry the blood of the very beings that locked it away in the first place. ”
“So it basically wants to mess with my head.”
“I believe so.”
I lightly touched my chest, the spot where the warmth had bloomed.
“I’m sorry, Leela. I’m sorry that it made you feel that connection again.”
I nodded, swallowing past the knot in my throat. “I’ll be fine.” I smiled across at him. “Thank you. Thank you for coming so quickly.”
He smiled sheepishly. “Yes, maybe a little too quickly.”
I laughed softly. “Hey, I could have been in danger. Putting on a shirt may have meant the difference between life and death.”
“True,” he conceded. “Get some rest now. Tomorrow is a big day.”
“Ah, yes. The throne test.”
His gaze sharpened a fraction. “Do you have doubts?”
I shook my head. “None. I’m ready.”
“Good.” He stood and looked down at me. “Then until dawn.”
He vanished, leaving behind the scent of roses.
I breathed it in, allowing it to calm the last of my nerves, then climbed back into bed.
If the primordial evil attempted to invade my dream again, I’d have some choice words ready for it.