Chapter 28
RIPPLING MUSCLES AND GLISTENING PECTORALS…AGAIN
Sleep took its time dragging me under that night. Everything I’d learned, the revelations, the resulting emotions, churned inside me like stew in a huge melting pot, and my feelings toward Iblees…toward this new Araz were the seasoning that gave it all the kick it needed.
In the end, C’ael hummed a gentle tune, a melody that was the perfect white noise to send me into the dreaming.
I woke refreshed, and by the time we sat down to breakfast, I’d made up my mind as to how I wanted to spend my day. Question was, would C’ael let me?
I set my chai cup down. “Do the warriors train? Are they training today?”
C’ael looked up from his chai, no hint of surprise on his face. “Yes, they do. And they’ll be doing so today in light of what’s to come.”
I fixed him with my most firm look. “Then I want to join them.”
He shrugged and sipped his tea. “It’s just as well I brought your axes back for you.”
I sat up straighter. “What? Where?”
He tipped his head toward the wardrobe, and sure enough, my blades and holster were leaning up against it.
“Craven said he would be happy to train with you,” C’ael said. “He was Ilyarien’s second in battle, you know. He’s ancient and descended from an ancestor bloodline.”
“Wait…does that mean he knew me…I mean the other version of me?”
“I’d expect so. There are several djinn from Ilyarien’s army that are still here. You’ll meet them today. The devouring force was formed by them, an effort to bring back the deva and free their god.” He tipped his head to the side. “Are you ready for tonight?”
My stomach trembled. The binding would happen tonight, after which there would be a feast to celebrate the upcoming freedom of the people. And then tomorrow we’d infiltrate Aakash Sansaar and stop Chandra from taking the crown and the throne’s power.
“It’s all right to be nervous, Leela,” C’ael said, his gaze softening. “But you won’t be alone. I’ll be by your side when you take what is rightfully yours.”
“I just wish we didn’t have to wait until tomorrow night to make a move.”
“I know, but it must be equinox, and the moon must be high.”
“And everyone will be there watching.” I pushed a pastry around on my plate. “It’ll be a spectacle.”
“Ah, you never did like being the center of attention.”
My gaze whipped up to his. “No. I never did, and I still don’t.” I didn’t bother asking him how he knew that. His connection to Iblees…to Araz was obviously strong.
“You’ll need to learn,” he said. “Your people will need a figurehead.”
“Once the deva come, they can take over.”
“Once the deva come, they will see that they already have a goddess of righteous nature in place.”
Gentle warmth bloomed beneath my sternum, and the moths that had formed in my belly dissipated. I downed the last of my chai. “Let’s go work some muscles.”
The training ground was outside the mountain, nestled in a ravine beneath a shimmering blue veil which C’ael explained was a manifestation of the ward that kept this camp hidden.
It turned out that the ancestors in the temple had left enough of their power for this ward to exist eternally.
The only way out was by consent of their descendants.
In this case Craven and the other generals.
But now that Iblees was back, he also had the power to allow movement in and out of the camp.
“Craven is an earth djinn,” C’ael said as he led me outside. “Shaba and Farid are water djinn, and then you have Walia, whose affinity is air.”
Golden light stained the walls up ahead, and the clang of metal on metal echoed around us.
I followed C’ael out into the mid-morning sun, squinting as my eyes adjusted to the brightness. A group of djinn and Asura stood with their backs to us, watching something. A sparring match, if the clanging swords and cheers were anything to go by.
I spotted Craven standing off to one side, his attention on whatever was going on behind the wall of warriors.
“Looks like someone is putting on a show,” C’ael said in a sing-song voice. “Shall we take a peek?”
“Hell yes.”
“Craven has a clear view. Come on.”
The general looked over as we approached. “Ah, just in time to watch your twin flame in action,” he said with a grin.
But my attention was already on the match.
On Iblees’s monolith, muscled frame, surrounded by several djinn with weapons.
They attacked, and he defended, his movements fast and powerful, yet somehow graceful too.
Tendrils of hair, escaped from the knot on his head, whipped at his cheek as he twisted, evaded, then struck to attack.
The warriors around him worked well together, pushing in as one, doing their best to try and overwhelm him.
Iblees was faster. Stronger. My pulse beat hard in my throat, heart swelling in awe as I watched him take them down, one by one, until they were on the sand and he was the only one standing.
Only then did his molten gaze meet mine across the dusty earth, zeroing on me as if he’d known I was standing there all along.
My heart slammed against my ribs, my mouth going dry as the warriors’ cheers muted beneath the thunder of blood in my head. He strode toward me, and my stomach flipped hard.
“Blink…” C’ael whispered in my ear before stepping back.
“A fantastic demonstration, Iblees,” Craven said.
“Araz,” Iblees corrected, his gaze fixed on me. “My name is Araz.” It was suddenly harder to breathe. “Leela…” He looked down at me, eyes like fire raking over my face. “Do you want to spar with me?”
Silence fell around us, leaving me acutely aware that all eyes were on us now.
We’d sparred before many a time. But this…this was different. There was an underlying meaning to this moment that my mind struggled to decipher, but my body flooded with the heat of anticipation, a thrill shooting up my spine so that I stood taller, my chin coming up to meet his gaze fully.
“Are you going to go easy on me?” My voice was deeper—mine and yet not mine.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Is that what you want?”
No. I wanted to work for it. To sweat. To bleed. To beat him. I matched his smile. “Hell no.”
He inclined his head and stepped back, sweeping an arm toward the fighting arena. “After you.”
I arched a brow. “I know better than to leave my back exposed.”
He let out a bark of laughter. “Very well. Together then.”
He matched my stride into the center of the fighting space, and we faced each other, he with his impressive sword and me with my twin axes.
Part of me demanded to know what the hell I was doing going up against a djinn god. He’d just taken down three warriors singlehandedly, but there was another voice in my head, calm, assured, and confident, that whispered to trust my instincts. My body. My strength.
“First blood?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
We circled one another, and a serenity settled over me, the conviction that I’d done this before. And I had. I’d fought him as Araz, but there was a deeper knowing, one that I had no time to analyze before he attacked.
I reacted on instinct, evading and spinning back to face him.
He grinned and canted his head to one side, pacing back and forth like a graceful predator before attacking once more.
Once again, I evaded. He was testing me. Teasing me. Did he think I couldn’t take him? Is that what he believed?
Heat climbed up my chest to hug my neck. “Stop playing and attack properly. You want first blood. Come take it.”
His eyes narrowed. “There she is.”
And then he whirled away from me, momentarily confusing me before spinning back, his sword sweeping toward me, parallel to the ground.
I reacted fast, blocking the stroke with my blades and dodging.
But he didn’t stop. He pushed into me over and over.
Strike after strike, and I met each one with my blades.
Block. Deflect. Spin away. Drop and evade.
My body had a mind of its own, knowing how to move.
Knowing when to push back into him. A ball of heat swelled in my chest, a cocktail of euphoric emotions writhing and expanding to fill my torso.
Images flickered in my mind. An arena like this one. Dust clouds in the air. A blindfolded figure attacking me with twin short swords, his golden body a vision to behold as he spun and sliced at the air, meeting my blows easily, even with the disadvantage.
I blinked to focus on the now. On this fight. On this scene. But my mind dragged me back to the dusty arena. To a crowd, cheering a name over and over.
“Vayelle! Vayelle! Vayelle.”
Fire sliced across my bicep, and the vision dropped away, leaving me back in the present. I glanced down at the blood on my arm.
“Dammit!”
A cacophony of sound erupted around us, but I had eyes only for Iblees as he approached me, his brows pinched in a frown.
“What happened? You weren’t all there just now.”
I shook my head. “You won. That’s all that matters.” No way was I going to make excuses about it.
He pinched my chin and forced my head up. “What happened, Leela?”
A shadow fell over us. “Stop fussing, old man,” Craven said. “She fought well. The wound will heal soon enough.”
A woman with silver and blue hair trailed behind him, along with two male djinn with closely cropped chestnut hair.
Iblees released me and turned to Craven. “I have no doubt that my twin flame can hold her own in battle.” He reached down and wiped the blood from my arm, revealing unmarred skin beneath.
I stared at the spot where he’d cut me. “Did you just heal me?”
He shrugged and offered me a lopsided smile that was so Araz it made my chest ache with longing.
“Well, are you going to introduce our queen-to-be to your generals?” the woman asked.
Iblees tipped his head her way. “You can introduce yourself, Walia. In the meantime, I have business to attend to. A ceremony to prepare for.” His gaze flicked back to me, lingering on my mouth as he spoke, his voice lower now, almost intimate. “Until tonight, Leela.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak past the pulse in my throat.
He smiled knowingly as he backed away and vanished, leaving me with a fresh ache of longing. Yes…something was waking between us, our connections reforging as my body and soul let down their guard.
“Would you like to spar some more?” Walia asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Hardly any point,” one of the men behind her said. “Nothing will beat sparring with a djinn god.” He smiled at me. “I am Farid, and this is my brother Sabha. It is an honor to meet you.”
“The honor is mine.”
“You ready to leave?” C’ael asked, joining us.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
I turned toward the sound to find two Asura shooting arrows at dummy targets. “Actually…I’d like to do some target practice, if that’s okay?”
Craven’s face broke into a grin. “I think that can be arranged.”
I met his gaze. “I was good with a bow…wasn’t I? Back then…when you knew me before.”
He nodded. “The very best, and I cannot wait to see you shoot again.”