Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Zarya knocked on the door of the flat, attempting to tamp down her nervousness. Though she’d grown close to them over her months in Ishaan, she didn’t really know how these rebellion members would react to everything she was about to reveal.
Ajay opened the door, and his face broke into a smile at the sight of her and Yasen.
“Good morning,” he said. “What a nice surprise.”
Zarya hoped that was true. Ajay pulled her into a hug, and she returned it, hoping he wouldn’t look at her differently when today was over. She respected him and valued his friendship very much.
“Morning,” Zarya said as he led them into the kitchen, where Farida was making parathas at the stove.
“Sorry,” Zarya said. “We didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast.”
“No problem,” Farida said. “There’s plenty. Have a seat.”
“Is Rania here?” Zarya asked. “I have something to tell you all.”
“Sure,” Ajay said. “She’s just getting ready and should be out soon. Is everything okay?”
Zarya and Yasen each slid into an empty seat.
“Yes. No. Honestly, it’ll be better just to tell you when she gets here.”
“Okay,” Ajay said, taking the chair next to her, his expression brimming with curiosity and a touch of concern. “Masala tea?”
“Yes, please,” Yasen said, and Zarya nodded. Farida hummed at the stove as she flipped over a paratha and then slid it on a plate before placing it in front of Yasen.
“Eat up,” she said.
“Did you see the new posters?” Zarya asked Ajay as she sipped her tea.
“I did, but I don’t think they actually have any idea what you two look like based on those drawings. I suspect the Jadugara and royal family are just making it seem like they have more information than they do.”
“That’s what we figured, too,” Zarya said.
“They were preening their way down the street this morning,” Yasen said. “We passed them on the way here.”
Ajay shook his head. “A bunch of posturing cowards. They don’t know what to do with themselves now that someone is finally standing up to them.”
Zarya hoped they hadn’t overplayed their hand. Cornered, frightened men tended to act out in erratic ways that could mean more trouble than any of them bargained for.
“Have you heard from your friends?” Ajay asked. “How are they doing in the palace?”
Yasen nodded. “I received a message this morning. Suvanna and Apsara have been invited to stay with the royal family and are doing what they can to find out more about the rebuilding of the ink factory and the proposed raids of the vanshaj district. It may take them some time to get close to those conversations.”
“Let’s hope the royal family’s ego means they aren’t guarding their tongues too closely,” Ajay answered.
He spoke of the royal family with such disdain that Yasen’s gaze flicked to hers. While she completely agreed with Ajay’s opinion on the Madans and the criticism of their policies, it still twisted a deep hurt inside her chest. Her feelings for them were complicated. She knew that simply sharing the same blood didn’t obligate her in any way, but a family was something she’d craved for so long.
“Let’s hope,” Zarya said, again sipping her tea as Farida placed a fresh paratha from the pan in front of her. “Thank you.”
“Morning,” came a cheerful voice as Rania appeared. “Zarya. Yasen. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company this morning?”
“Zarya has something to tell us,” Ajay said.
“Oh?” Rania asked as she settled into a seat. “What is it?”
Zarya took a deep breath and willed herself to be brave.
“You know how I’ve been working with the ink?” she said, and Rania and Ajay both nodded. Zarya could see Farida had paused her cooking and was also listening.
“Yes,” Ajay said. “What about it?”
“I think it’ll be easiest to show you. Farida—I want you to watch this most of all because…well, you’ll see.”
Zarya held up her arm, showing them the remaining dots as she performed the series of maneuvers she’d been practicing for days. Using the thread of her darkness anchor, she pulled apart the ink and forced it to dissipate in the air. She kept her eyes on her arm, avoiding the inevitable looks on their faces when they realized what she was doing.
When the mark was gone, she revealed her blank skin and finally gathered her courage to meet their eyes.
Farida was staring at her with a mixture of hope and awe, while Rania and Ajay both looked like they’d seen a ghost emerge from the middle of the kitchen table.
“What was that?” Ajay said, his voice cracking. “Why is your magic made of shadows?”
Zarya wrinkled her nose. “So, I haven’t been entirely…forthright about who I am.”
“I should say so,” Rania said, her gaze narrowing in suspicion. “Who are you?”
She looked to Yasen for a bit of courage, and he gave her a smile and nodded. “It’ll be okay,” he said.
“You know?” Ajay said, and Yasen frowned.
“Zarya’s my second-best friend. Of course I know.”
“What? Second best?” Farida asked, and Zarya rolled her eyes.
“Never mind him. It’s just a joke.”
“What’s going on?” Ajay asked.
“There’s no easy way to say this…but I have a sixth anchor.”
At that, the blood drained from all of their faces. Rania’s eyes rolled, darting about the room as though seeking an escape. She grabbed Farida’s hand, clutching it to her chest as if to shield her from Zarya’s very presence.
“What? That’s impossible,” Rania said, her voice raw.
“Apparently, it’s not,” Zarya said. “And there’s more.”
“What could possibly be more than that?” Ajay asked.
“You might want to sit down for this,” Yasen said as every eye turned to him.
“We’re already sitting,” Rania said, clearly not amused by his attempt at levity.
“Right. But like, really…sit.” Yasen pressed his hands down as though he were pushing air while everyone stared like he’d lost his mind.
“Okay,” he said. “Not the time and place. Got it.”
Zarya sighed and turned back to the others.
“You’ve heard of the prophecy bestowed on Rani Aishayadiva?” she asked. Though she’d become so familiar with the words, voicing this out loud felt ludicrous.
“Of course,” Rania said.
Zarya took in a deep breath and plowed ahead. “She was my mother.” She stopped, letting that sink in as their expressions slackened with shock. “And I have nightfire and the prophecy is about me.”
They all sat in silence for several long seconds, absorbing that information.
“That is impossible,” Rania said.
“You keep using that word,” Yasen said. “But you seem unclear on its meaning.”
Rania shot him a death glare, and he clamped his lips and mimed locking them shut.
“I know it sounds impossible,” Zarya said, “but it’s true. I used it to help battle the blight and I have six anchors. The darkness exists, and I have it.”
A thick silence hung around the table, and Zarya gave them all another moment to process her words.
“So there’s more,” she added after another few seconds.
Rania threw up her hands. “What else?”
“I think Farida might have it, too.”
She winced as Farida’s eyes went wide.
“Or you might not. I don’t think all vanshaj have it, but some of you definitely do.”
“I…what?” Ajay asked. “The vanshaj have the sixth anchor?”
“Think about it,” Zarya said. “The Ashvins had it. The vanshaj are their very distant ancestors, but that power didn’t just go away.”
“But it did,” Rania said. “It was locked away. No one can access it.”
“Or that’s what they want you to think.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ajay asked.
“The ink has the darkness, too. It’s how it’s made.” She held up her arm, showing them another dot, and then performed the same trick, forcing it to dissolve.
“But that would mean…”
“The Jadugara have it, as well.”
Ajay made a sort of part sigh, part wheeze as his frame bowed inward like his entire worldview had collapsed along with the skeleton keeping him upright.
“You’re sure about this?” he asked.
She lifted her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Pretty sure.”
“Thosescheming, lying bastards.” Ajay stood up from the table, pacing back and forth as he ran his hands through his hair. “They’ve been duping us? Lying to us? Deceiving us for a thousand years?”
His voice was rising with each word, every syllable like a cannon blast through plaster.
“How?!” he said. “How have they gotten away with this?”
“Ajay,” Farida said, her voice calmer. “This isn’t helping.”
His shoulders sagged, and his teeth clenched as he pushed out a long puff of air through his nose, attempting to calm himself.
“This is… impossible.”
The room collapsed into silence, everyone retreating into the turbulence of their thoughts. Zarya waited for them to digest the news, each with something to lose and something to gain with this knowledge. She knew it would shape their entire futures.
She’d been around enough Aazheri the last three months to know that not only did they believe the darkness banished and untouchable, they hung their hats on this truth. It was their immutable proof that their magic was pure, good, and untainted.
Zarya didn’t understand how none of them had seen it. How had they kept lying to themselves for so long? How had this well-crafted deception prevented them from realizing what was right in front of their faces all this time?
Did they really not understand the vanshaj were Aazheri, too?
She folded her hands on the table. “When we were in Dharati, I saw a demon army that no one else could see. It stood in the blight—they looked almost like ghosts.” Zarya shared a look with Yasen, remembering the night they’d been assigned to watch-tower duty.
“What are you saying?” Ajay asked.
“I didn’t know what it was at the time, but I think I saw the nairrata.”
At that, Ajay’s frown grew deep enough to fill an ocean. “As in the Ashvin’s army ?”
She licked her lips, nervousness piling up in her chest. “It preceded a demon attack, almost like it was a warning. Only, I don’t think they were trying to warn us so much as they were leading the demons in. We had one of our worst battles that night against the ajakava.”
No one said anything as Zarya continued. “I found out shortly after that someone else had seen the army. It wasn’t only me.”
“Who?” Farida asked.
“Her name is Meera, and she’s a soldier in the queen’s army.” Zarya paused, knowing she was about to tip the scales yet again. “She is vanshaj.”
As expected, those words landed between them all with a heavy thump.
“Vanshaj,” Farida said as she wrapped a hand around her throat, her fingers brushing her collar of stars.
“Yes,” Zarya said. “She said that sometimes she felt it.” She gestured towards the tattoo. “That sometimes it seemed to be calling to her.”
Rania reached over and took Farida’s hand as if seeking confirmation. Farida shook her head.
“I haven’t felt anything like that.”
Rania’s expression crumbled with disappointment and worry.
“I don’t know if that matters,” Zarya said as she searched their faces. “Do you all really not see it?”
“See what?” Ajay asked, and Zarya blew out a breath.
“You, who stand here as some of the vanshaj’s most passionate allies, have all been brainwashed into missing the entire point.”
“Zarya…” Yasen said with a warning. She knew she was treading a dangerous line, but how could they all be so blind?
“The vanshaj are Aazheri, just like you and me.”
“The vanshaj have no magic,” Rania said immediately.
“No,” Zarya interrupted. “You’ve all been told that for so long that you’ve somehow internalized it as the truth, but they do . What they have are those tattoos that stop them from using it. I’m not sure how you all forgot that along the way.”
Once again, everyone went silent.
“They were the descendants of two of the most powerful Aazheri ever to live. Tell me, what happened to their magic?”
“They bred with humans, and it eventually died out,” Ajay said. “The markings have become only a precaution.”
“But not all of them,” Zarya said. “Not all of them lost it.”
“So, what are you saying?” Farida said. “If I don’t feel it, can you help me?”
“I think I can. It’s the ink’s magic I’m working with.”
Farida rolled her lips inward, exchanging a glance with Rania.
“I’m telling you this because I haven’t practiced on a person before. I haven’t practiced on someone with the tattoo—someone who’s had it for years and years. I’ve worked with paper, wood, animal skin, and, as you saw, my own arm. So I don’t know what will happen if I try with you.”
Zarya leaned forward. “And I’m telling you all of this because to even attempt it, I will have to use my sixth anchor—magic that has been forbidden for a thousand years. Magic that many claim is tainted and evil.”
“Is it?” Farida asked softly.
Zarya rolled her neck. “I don’t know.” She paused. “I don’t believe so. It didn’t change me. It didn’t make me someone else. All it did was offer me a different sort of power. It seems to work as both an amplifier to my other forms of magic, like my nightfire, as well as being valuable on its own.”
At that, Zarya lifted a hand and sent shadows from her fingertips, directing them to surround her. They wouldn’t be able to see her anymore, but she could see them watching her with a mixture of horror and tepid fascination. She pulled the shadows away, allowing them to retreat before she sat at the table looking at them, praying they weren’t about to turn on her.
They all traded cautious glances around the room before once again focusing on her.
“Gods,” Ajay whispered after another long moment. “This changes everything.”