Chapter 8
A LITTLE EXPLORATION AND ANOTHER REVELATION
“Why did you agree?” Chandra asked once the carriage was in motion taking us back to the palace.
“You know why.”
He exhaled heavily. “They want you dead.”
“Yeah, and they can go fuck themselves. I’m not that easy to kill. I hit hard, remember?”
He sat back with a small smile. “Yes, you do hit hard, and I have faith in you. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you are protected.”
I believed him. “Thank you. But what about you?”
“What about me?”
“You can’t leave Aakaash Sansaar? Ever?”
His smile grew wistful. “It has been a long time since my feet touched the Earth.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Once you claim the throne, I will take my first trip to the ground.”
“Wait…once I take the throne…” Realization dawned. “I won’t be able to leave the sky domain again, will I?”
His ice blue eyes darkened. “No, Leela, you won’t. Once you take the throne and open a channel to its full power, you will be much too valuable. You will be protected and loved, and—”
“Caged.”
“Safety is not a cage.”
“Really? Says the Asura aching to set foot on the Earth.”
He opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it closed again with a sigh. Yeah, he had no counterargument for that.
“What about trapping the primordial evil? I can’t do that from here. I’ll have to go to land for that.”
“And you will have an entourage of powerful Asura protecting you in that instance,” Chandra said.
“And you? Do you honestly think you’ll be given freedom when I ascend?” I shook my head, answering for him. “If anything happens to me, you’re next in line for the throne and its power. The Authority won’t let you go that easily. At least not until the primordial evil is locked away for good.”
He leaned in, his icy gaze hardening with determination. “Then it’s up to you to change the dynamic before that happens.”
My pulse skipped several beats. Maybe Chandra was more of an ally than I’d anticipated.
Still, it didn’t change the fact that I’d be caged just like he was now. Tied to this domain. A channel for immense power. But that couldn’t stop me from being a catalyst for the liberation of others.
Freeing all the beings currently enslaved would be worth my own freedom; in fact, it would be downright liberating.
Chandra dropped me off at the palace and left me with Yudh and Dhoona, claiming he had business to attend to. Yudh walked me to the east wing, while his brother settled the moona in the royal stables.
“I assume it went well?” Yudh said, his silver eyes filled with questions.
“The throne part did.”
“So you will be queen.” His voice shook slightly.
I slowed my pace as we rounded the side of the palace to look at him properly. His face might be immovable and stony, but his eyes spoke volumes, and right now they were filled with hope.
“Yes, Yudh, I will be queen. I’m determined. I just have one more test to do before the equinox.”
“What test?”
I filled him in on the Authority’s request as we approached the east wing. “They say bringing back a gem will quell an uprising.”
“There have been rumblings…”
“Yeah, I figured. It’s why I agreed to do it.”
“Dhoona and I will accompany you on your journey. No harm will befall you on the way.”
I smiled across at him. “I know you’ll keep me safe, and I can fight, if need be, but I’ll be alone inside the cavern. I need to train more with my axes. I’m strong, and I can pack a punch, but I had to hold back in training, so I’m not sure of my full capabilities.”
He lifted his chin. “Then let us train you. You will not need to hold back with me and Dhoona. You will hit us as hard as you can.”
I raised a skeptical brow. “I don’t know…I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Trust me. We can take it.”
Araz had told me of the brothers’ skill on the battlefield. They’d been formidable. Twin powerhouses. Maybe they were exactly the trainers I needed. “All right. Yes. Thank you. We can start first thing tomorrow.”
We entered the warm confines of the east wing entranceway. I wanted to get out of my lehenga and into something more casual, take my hair down and run my fingers through it, and mentally go over everything that had happened before I filled my friends in.
I headed for the stairs, but laughter and the buzz of conversation coming from the sitting room drew me across the hallway. I guessed I could wait to change my clothes, and thinking over stuff was overrated anyway. “You coming, Yudh?”
He shook his head. “I will go tend the moona.”
“All right. I’ll see you tomorrow for training. What time?”
“We train before breakfast, on an empty stomach.”
“Really?” I wrinkled my nose.
He chuckled softly. “You cannot be sick if there is no food in your belly.”
“Now that sounds ominous.”
Another chuckle. “I will knock for you at dawn.” He retreated, leaving me to join my friends in the sitting room.
I entered to the cozy scene of the drohi gathered by the hearth and my demigod friends lounging on the cluster of sofas. I zeroed in on Lola curled up on Joe’s lap. Ida was stretched out on the floor by Dharma’s feet, and Garu lay along the back of the sofa where Bina was sitting.
Oh gods, I’d been so focused on the throne stuff that the fact the anchors were arriving today had totally slipped my mind.
My heart leapt as I searched the room. “Where is he? Where’s—”
“Gotcha!” Blue leapt onto my arm then clambered up to my shoulder. “Did ya miss me?”
I turned my head as he nuzzled my cheek, his whiskers tickling me. “Always.” I gently plucked him off my shoulder and held him on my palm so I could look at him properly. “How was the trip here? When did you arrive?”
“Woke up here about an hour ago,” Blue said. “No idea how we got here.”
“What?”
“Lola said the same,” Joe said. “They woke up in the nest in the palace grounds, and Jahira brought them in.”
Strange, but all that mattered was that they were here. That Blue was here.
I lifted him and hugged him to my cheek again.
He held on to me with his tiny paws for a beat before pulling away to fix his dark gaze on me. “What happened with the throne?”
“Ah yes, the throne…” I carried him over to the sofas and sat down with him on my lap. “So looks like I have one more test to pass…”
I filled them all in on the encounter with the throne, describing the vision of the strange world I’d been pulled into.
I’d forgotten to ask Chandra about what I’d seen but made a mental note to ask him later, continuing with my story, and how the Authority had asked me to complete another test. They all agreed the Authority’s request was bullshit.
“We’re coming with you,” Dharma said.
I shook my head. “You can’t come into the cavern. Vasuki will kill you.”
“It can fucking try,” Bina said, her eyes flashing.
“Vasuki can kill with a look,” Thanil said. “You will not go into that cavern, Bina.”
She glared at him. “Excuse me?”
“No one is coming inside with me.” I sighed. “I have to do this alone. I’ll be fine. Yudh and Dhoona are going to train me.”
“Nah,” Blue said. “You ain’t going in alone. I’m coming with ya. I’m your anchor. I’m a part of ya. That snake can’t touch me.”
I looked down at him, warmth blooming in my chest. “You’re right. You are a part of me. But you’re also my anchor for a reason, remember…”
His dark eyes flashed. “Feck this!”
He would have to stay behind in case something happened to me so they could bring me back, not that it would matter if my mortal shell was completely destroyed, which was probably what they were hoping for when they set the huge snake on me in the labyrinth.
And now, once again, they were sending me to face a serpent, one which they claimed wouldn’t harm me.
Either they were lying, or the dangers in the cavern were lethal enough to destroy my body.
The thought of navigating the inside of the mountain made my stomach hurt.
Blue scampered up my torso, balancing on my collarbones to grip my cheeks. “Don’t ya even think it.” His dark eyes bored into mine. “I might not be comin’ with ya in the flesh, but I’ll be with ya in spirit. I promise ya.”
My eyes misted, and I blinked to quell the tears. “I know.”
“And we’re coming on the journey with you,” Bina said. “Even if we can’t come into the mountain.” She speared Thanil with another glare, but to give him credit, he didn’t flinch.
Dharma and Joe echoed her sentiment, and their drohi agreed.
It looked like I had an entourage.
“Now this is what I call a room,” Blue said, bouncing up and down on my bed.
“I know, right? And the view is amazing.” I headed for the balcony, pushing open the glass doors and stepping out. Blue joined me, scrambling up onto the railing and balancing easily to look out over the gardens.
“And there’s the nest,” he said. “Dunno why I can’t jus’ sleep ’ere with you.”
I looked down at him. “I don’t know either. They never really explained why. Something about anchors needing to recharge.”
Blue frowned. “I recharge here with you…” he said softly. “I feel it here…” He lightly touched his chest, then shook his head. “Déjà vu.”
“What’s it like inside the nest?”
“It’s…warm, and there are these symbols that glow and…we sleep. We just sleep.”
“I’ll ask Chandra about it. Find out if there’s some way you can sleep here with me.”
“You will?” He stood straighter.
“Of course. I want you close if possible. Now we have a few hours till sunset. What do you want to do?”
“Explore!” Blue said. “We’re in a fucking palace, chickadee! Let’s scope it out!”
His enthusiasm was infectious. “Okay, let’s go.” He scampered across the bed and leapt onto me, clambering up to sit on my shoulder. “Let’s check out our new home.”
Our new home…Yes, the palace would be just that to us, and it was time we familiarized ourselves with it.