Chapter 21
AN ANCHOR WITHOUT A SHIP
BLUE
There’s a crushing weight on me chest and a throbbing pulse in me head. The glowing glyphs pulsing around me warn me that I’ve woken too early.
I roll off my bed and land on all fours.
The others continue to sleep, but I’m flooded wiv the need for action. Somethin’ is wrong with my Leela.
I need to get out of this fecking nest.
Now.
I bang on the door, hammering with me fists. “Open up! Fecking hell, open up now!” They don’t usually open till sunrise, but I ‘ave to try. How long till sunrise?
Feck, I’m awake early cos something’s wrong with Leela.
I can’t breathe.
I back away from the door, hand on me chest. I need air. I need to know what’s happened.
The glyphs glow brighter then wink out. Around me, the others begin to stir, and then the door cracks open and moonlight floods in. The door yawns wide, and Chandra is silhouetted in the frame.
I rush forward. “What’s ‘appened to her?”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Blue. Leela was taken by the primordial evil.”
Blood thunders in my head, and the world goes dark.
Low voices pull me out of sleep. I’m on some kind of cushion. It smells like jasmine. The room is unfamiliar and shrouded in shadows, but it looks like a study…Wait, I know this room. Part of the main palace near Chandra’s quarters.
Chandra…Leela!
She’s been taken.
I scramble off the chaise, claws snagging on soft, velvety material that also reeks of jasmine, and scamper across the carpet toward the door which I remember leads to a sitting room.
The voices get louder, and instinct warns me to slow down. Tune in and listen.
“This is your fault,” Chandra says. “I counseled you against this, and you ignored me. You convinced the Authority to move forward with your ridiculous demand and now…”
“It was a risk that was necessary,” a male voice replies. “The people needed reassurance and—”
“Bullshit, Rajni. This was never about the people, and you know it.”
“Oh, come now, Chandra. Are you saying that you don’t feel some relief that you will no longer have to pander to a young woman who has no idea how our world operates?
A woman with ideals that could destabilize everything that we’ve worked so hard to build.
” A derisive chuckle follows. “You can stop pretending to care about her welfare now. We both know how much you desire that throne, and now, with her gone, you can have it.”
Come on, Chandra, say summit. Tell the Rajni bastard to shove it.
Long seconds tick by before Chandra speaks. “What if the signal hasn’t been blocked?”
“If he has her, then it will be blocked. We’ve tried to find the camp for eons and failed.
You will be clear to claim the throne at the equinox.
And we both know that he won’t hurt her.
He needs her alive so he can use her to make demands of us.
We’ll make sure to consider them long enough for you to take the throne. ”
My heart pounds my ribs as I wait for Chandra to respond.
“Indeed,” he says finally. Fire flares in my chest. That low-down, dirty, fecking—
“And what if he uses…other methods to bypass the wards around the royal domain?”
“We have considered this possibility,” Rajni says. “But the creation of such a union would require consent. Consent that cannot be obtained by coercion. Consent that is pure and soul deep.”
What are they talking about?
“Did you know?” Chandra asks Rajni.
“Did I know what?”
“That the devouring force was in that location? My inquiries said the area was clear, but…”
“Does it matter, Chandra? We have what we wanted. A clear path. The reins in our grasp once more as it should be. You will make a good king with the Authority at your back to steer you. All will be well.”
“We’ll have to be seen to be making an effort, though.”
“Of course. Search parties in the area and the like.” Rajni sounds almost bored now.
The voices grow fainter as they move away.
“You’ll arrange everything?” Rajni asks.
“I will.”
I peer around the doorframe and across the sitting room to where Chandra is walking the other man out the door. They both leave.
What do I do?
Do I confront him? No…If he knows that I know of his duplicity, then he might lock me away. Best to play the part of ignorant anchor. They ain’t gonna look for her, so I’m gonna have to find a way to do it meself.
Information is key. I need to find out what this primordial evil thing is. Aserathiin’s words come back to me now.
Little one, you have much to learn. But you will. In the royal domain. In the Vidya tower. The knowledge you need will be found deep beneath. All you need do is ask and they shall speak.
She’d known. Somehow Madame Spider had known. And now I know what I need to do.
I hurry back to the chaise and lie down on my cushion to wait for Chandra’s return. If I’m gonna save Leela, I’ll ’ave to play the role of me life.
A shadow falls over me, and I groan and open my eyes, looking up into Chandra’s deceitful, bastard face.
“Ah, there you are,” he says with a soft smile. “You fainted when you heard the news about Leela. I had a meeting, so I brought you with me. I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
I bolt up into a sitting position. “What happened to her? Where is she?”
“Her party was attacked by the devouring force not far from the mountain where they were headed. She gave herself up to save everyone else.”
Course she fecking did. “So we go get her back, right?”
He nods slowly. “We’re working on it.”
“How? What are you doin’?”
He looks away for a beat, his brows meeting in a frown. “We have search parties out, but Blue…The devouring force camp is hidden. We’ve never been able to locate it, and I doubt we’ll be able to locate it now.”
I didn’t expect him to say that…I peer up at him. “What are you sayin’, Chandra? That we won’t find her?”
His throat bobs, and he looks me right in the eye.
“Not without a power to rival the primordial evil’s.
Not without the power of the throne.” He exhales.
“The devouring force is in a place where signal is cut off. Frequencies, energy, power, nothing passes through, which means that as far as the throne is concerned, Leela no longer exists.”
“It fecking felt her across worlds, so why not through whatever wards this camp has up?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. No one does. It’s always been this way. The equinox is in four days, and I will take the throne. And once I have it, I swear to you I will do everything in my power to bring Leela home.”
“But why? Why’d it take her?”
“Power. Leela is a Vijayroodra. Destined for the throne. By taking her, it stops us obtaining the throne’s power.
It keeps us weak. You see, the primordial evil doesn’t know that there is another royal blood who could take the throne.
It has only recently risen, and I doubt it has discovered my connection to the throne, but it will have felt Leela’s claim when it met her in the labyrinth. ”
I stare up at his earnest face. Either he’s playing Rajni or he’s playin’ me. I can’t be sure. But telling me this amount of truth would have definitely kept me on board, if I hadn’t overheard the bullshit between him and Rajni.
I dunno what to think, but I know this: The people I can trust ain’t in this room.
“I want to see Dharma, Joe, and Bina. Please.” I inject a tremble into me voice.
His expression softens. “Of course.” He holds out his hand. “Let me take you to them.”
I climb onto his palm, resisting the urge to bite him.
That attack can be saved for when I’m sure he’s a total bastard.
For now, I need to be among the trusted circle.
Chandra believes there’s no way to locate the camp without him having the throne’s power, but what if he’s missing something?
What if the answer lies below the Vidya library in this domain like Madame Spider said?
The knowledge you need…Yeah, that knowledge is exactly what I need right now, and I’m going to find it.