Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
The gate squeaked as they entered the property from the back the following day. Yasen led the line, with Zarya behind him and Rabin, Row, and Koura bringing up the rear. After they’d all slept the day away, they’d met for a solemn dinner before returning to their beds and waking with the sun this morning.
The air was still and quiet, birds chirping in the distance and the last of the evening dew clinging to the flowers and leaves.
Yasen rapped on the back door in a series of sharp knocks.
They waited a moment before it popped open to reveal Rania blinking up at them. Zarya was surprised to see her outside of their flat and away from Farida’s bedside. Her eyebrows drew together.
“What’s this?” she asked sharply.
“We brought some friends,” Yasen said.
She was about to protest when Yasen lifted a hand. “I assure you they can be trusted. And Koura may be able to help Farida.”
Rania’s gaze swept over Koura, who pressed a hand to his chest and bowed. “I’ve been informed of her condition and would like to assist in whatever way I can.”
Rania nodded as she opened the door wider. They entered the hallway to find Ajay waiting inside.
“Zarya, where have you been?” The worry in his voice was obvious, causing her another twist of guilt for running off without notice.
“I’ll explain everything,” she said. “I’d like to introduce you to some people.”
“This is Row, and this is Koura.”
She’d often mentioned both men to Ajay during her tales of stopping the blight.
Immediately, Ajay pressed his hands in front of his heart and bent at the waist. “It’s an honor to meet you,” Ajay said, his smile warm as he straightened and held out a hand. “Zarya has told me so much about you that I feel like I know you.”
“All terrible things, I’m sure,” Row said, and Ajay shook his head.
“Not at all. She admires you very much.”
Zarya caught the tight look in Row’s expression. They were still new to trusting each other, but she’d meant every word she’d said.
She might have had her differences with Row, but he’d also done all he could to protect her. It wasn’t his fault he’d been saddled with her care, and if what Rabin claimed about Abishek was true, then her mother had deceived Row, too.
“And who’s this?” Ajay asked, his attention turning to Rabin. She watched the two of them size one another up as Rabin glared and Ajay’s gaze narrowed. Ajay had always known there was someone else in the picture, though she’d never revealed any details about him.
“This is Rabin,” she said, waving a hand. “He’s…” She stopped, having no idea how to define their relationship. They weren’t friends. Or lovers. Though maybe neither of those things were strictly true. Especially the second one. “He also helped with the blight,” she finished lamely.
She felt the heat of Rabin’s glare at her less-than-authentic description but chose to ignore it.
“I see,” Ajay said, lingering on Rabin for another moment before addressing the others. “And what brings you all to Ishaan?”
“That’s what I want to explain,” Zarya said. “Is Vikas here?”
As if saying his name summoned his entrance, Vikas came bounding down the stairs and broke into a smile.
“You’re back!” he said. “We’ve missed you!”
“How have you been doing?” she asked. “I hear there’s been no luck with the collars?”
“None at all,” he said. “My friends and I haven’t been able to convince a single person.”
Zarya’s heart sank again. Even if she could figure out how to use her nightfire to remove them faster, there would be no point unless someone came forward.
She puffed out a lock of hair from her eyes. “Well, then, we’d better tell you everything we’ve been up to.”
They all filed into the living room, perching on chairs and divans around the space as they recalled their adventures in Dharati. When they were done, Zarya explained their beliefs regarding her nightfire and her concerns about turning it on anyone.
“So, where does that all leave us?” Ajay asked.
“I’m not sure. I’ll need to do some experimenting and see if I can learn how to control it. There must be some aspect I’m missing.”
Ajay rubbed his chin as he shared a look with Rania, a silent message passing between them.
“What exactly is your plan with all this?” Rabin asked, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived. “What are you hoping to accomplish?”
Ajay’s eyes narrowed. “We’re trying to free prisoners from their chains. I think that’s obvious.”
“Yes,” Rabin answered in a dry voice that clearly did nothing to endear him to Ajay. “To what end? You need something definitive. Something the Madans can’t undo to bring about a permanent change. They’ll uncover what you’re doing soon enough, and they will take every single one of them back. They have more money and resources than you can comprehend, and it will be nothing for them to simply collar these people again.”
“So, what do you propose?” Ajay asked, his eyebrow arching and his voice dripping with derision. Zarya wondered if she’d have to throw herself between these two before the day was done. She could practically feel the sparks of hatred generating between them.
“Make a statement,” Rabin answered simply. “You need to come at them with a powerful enough force that they’ll have to listen.”
Zarya watched as Ajay chewed the inside of his lip, his gaze again falling to Rania.
Rabin wasn’t wrong. They could free a few vanshaj from their collars, but the moment they were discovered, the Madans would send every soldier in their army to hunt down every last one. They would never allow it to stand.
Still, Zarya could understand hearing someone who’d literally walked in the door moments ago, point that out might not be welcome. But then Rabin was never one to hold back on his thoughts.
The door to the back of the house banged open a moment later, and a young boy of no more than ten with a ring of tattooed stars around his neck came careening around the corner.
He clutched his thin chest, and it was obvious he’d been crying, thanks to the tracks running through the dust on his cheeks.
“Nitin!” Vikas asked, standing up. “What is it?”
Zarya recognized him as Vikas’s younger brother. The boy bent over, bracing his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
“They took them,” he finally managed to gasp out.
“Took who?” Vikas asked.
“Mother and Father,” he said, more fat tears spilling down his cheeks. “They claimed they had evidence you were part of the factory bombing and arrested them.”
“Shit,” Yasen breathed, echoing what they were all thinking.
“And not just them,” Nitin continued. “They took others. Our neighbors. Our friends.”
“How many?” Vikas asked, striding over to him and dropping to a knee as he clutched the boy’s arms.
“I don’t know. About a dozen.”
Nitin sobbed and then wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “They said they’re to be executed.”
Staggering silence echoed through the room as those words sank in.
This was a message. A warning.
“Gods, what have I done,” Vikas said, visibly trembling as he drew his sobbing brother into his arms.
“This isn’t your fault,” Zarya said. “They can’t do this.”
“Of course, they can,” Ajay said. “And they’re hoping this will draw out more of the Rising Phoenix.”
“Well, it’s working!” she said. “We can’t let them die because of something we did.”
“That’s it,” Rabin said. “Find out when they’re to be executed. You need as many vanshaj freed from their collars as possible by then. I’m talking thousands. Tens of thousands. Then we storm the palace. We mount a revolution.”
His very words made the air shiver with the promise of ruin and terrifying possibility.
“But we won’t have enough time,” Zarya said. “Even if they’d come, we’d need years to do that.”
“Then you’d better find a way to use your nightfire to break them,” he said, a challenge in his voice. There was no menace in it. No derision. Just the cold fact, and somehow, she knew that he believed she could. “And figure out how to convince the vanshaj you’re working in their best interests.”
She nodded as tension caught in her throat and tears pressed the backs of her eyes.
“We’ll get a message to Apsara and Suvanna,” Yasen said. “Maybe they can delay the execution and give us more time.”
Zarya paced back and forth as a thousand bleak thoughts crawled through her head.
This was her family . These awful people who would do this. This was the blood that ran in her veins. She’d always known family was more than something you acquired at birth. Family wasn’t always the people who bore you. And it certainly wasn’t the ones who acted like vicious tyrants killing innocent souls in a bid to cling to their power.
She stopped pacing and stared about the room.
Nitin clung to Vikas, sobbing into his shoulder.
“Zarya,” Vikas whispered.
“We won’t let them die,” she vowed. “I swear to you. I’ll kill every Madan myself if I have to.”