Chapter 1
IS THIS THE FINAL FLIGHT?
There was murder in my heart as we fled Aakash Sansaar.
A mixture of wrath and grief churned in my chest that not even starlight, cool and impassive, could soothe.
Pakshiraj’s wings beat at the air, each sweep an admonishment, the golden feathers at the tips creating an aura of gold with each upward shift.
The whump, whump echoed the pulse of blood in my veins.
The royal domain lay far in the distance, but I didn’t look back. It was time to look forward. To plan my return. I needed allies. I needed an army.
The primordial evil had cut me off at the knees by murdering the devouring force troops.
He’d known that once those troops discovered his true identity, that once they realized that he was a monster, they’d fight for me.
Was it because he wouldn’t be able to control them like the Asura and demigods in the royal domain?
Or was it simply to cull potential opposition, leaving him with less minds to manage?
If it was the former reason, then why? Why could he control the inhabitants of the royal domain and not the devouring force troops? I was about to ask Pakshiraj if he knew when his low, rumbling voice filled my mind.
Leela, we are about to be attacked.
A quick glance over my shoulder had my already knotted stomach contorting itself into an abstract tangle.
Six thunderbirds were headed our way and gaining fast.
You’re sure they’re going to attack? Please say no, please say no.
Yes.
I glanced back again, lungs swelling at how they’d eaten the distance between us.
The whump, whump of wings surrounded us, pressing closer as the six spread out.
Two flanked us, rising above, and one dropped altitude.
Any moment now they’d have us surrounded.
Shit, I’d seen this formation before. The thunderbirds had used it on Araz’s mount, Ilara, at the Vaayu Raaja domain when she’d attacked me.
They were trying to trap us in a Grasp. The powerful shield could only be cast by the unified will of a group of thunderbirds. Four had been sent to capture Ilara, but the primordial evil had sent six after us.
The attacking birds drew parallel.
Pakshiraj—
I know. Brace. Now!
Fuck! I clenched my thighs, dropping forward, torso pressed to his neck, fingers tightening around the golden leash feathers just as gravity asserted dominance.
My stomach attempted to slam out of my body as we dove, sharp and sudden.
The air crackled and fizzed above us, and bright blue light flashed in my eyes.
I squeezed them closed, pressing my cheek to Pakshiraj’s back as he banked right.
Hold tight, he ordered.
Yeah, got it. Not letting go.
He veered left and then up at a sharp angle that had my ass wanting to slide back. I gripped harder with my thighs, nestling into the dip behind his neck as if my life depended on it. Which it kinda did.
We leveled off, and I lifted my head a little to look back. A gust of icy air hit me in the face, the whump of wings suddenly too loud. A dark shadow passed overhead.
Get down! Pakshiraj roared.
I dropped in time to avoid the pinch of talons as a thunderbird whizzed past above us. A beat passed, my heart in my mouth, before I dared look up. Shit. We were almost surrounded again.
Do you trust me to keep you safe, child?
Of course.
Then you must act on my command without question. Will you do so?
My stomach trembled, foreboding spreading like stain on my senses. Yes.
Then you should know two things. The first is that the camp is in the Ustara Mountains, and the second, that the stone-faced warriors and the Danava princess are below us.
I couldn’t see beneath us to check, but I believed him. My heart lifted. They can help us.
They can. They are in position to catch you.
Wait, what? Catch me?
The air around us thinned, and it was suddenly harder to breathe.
Do not fear. There is water below should they miss. You are stronger than you know, child. Remember that.
Pakshiraj, what—
Let go! He spun midair, sudden and unexpected. Now!
The command in his tone reverberated through me, and my body reacted on instinct, grip slackening, thighs relaxing.
I fell in what felt like slow motion, the world going quiet even as the rush of wind beat against my ears. My fingers brushed the tip of his wing as he finished his aerial turn and leveled out above me.
A sharp crack cut the air. Blue light blinded me for a beat before gravity wrapped a fist around me and pulled.
I dropped sharply, needles of ice raking at my skin and tearing tears from my eyes, a scream vibrating in my throat, torn between slamming back into my lungs or rending the air.
A hand latched on to my wrist, halting my death fall.
I gulped, looking up into Kalani’s stunned face through a sheen of crystalizing tears, my body bumping against her chayasavar’s inky flank.
“I have you, Leela.” She gritted her teeth and hauled me up as if I weighed nothing. I forced my limbs to work, scrambling into the spot behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist.
Only then did I look back for Pakshiraj, a chilly tingle spreading across my chest as I readied myself to face the truth of what he’d done to save me.
He was far behind now, trapped in a sheen of blue. The Grasp. Now that they had him, they were no longer in pursuit. In fact, they were retreating fast toward Aakash Sansaar.
Pakshiraj had known this would happen, that the thunderbirds wouldn’t be able to come after me once they’d activated the Grasp.
He’d allowed himself to be captured so that I could be free.
I turned away, choking on a swell of emotion that had no name.
The world was quieter now, just the gentle beat of wings: Yudh on his moona to the left of us and Dhoona to the right.
I didn’t know how they’d escaped the royal domain or how they’d found me, but I was grateful for their presence. Words and explanations would have to wait.
Whoosh.
The night sky lit up crimson for a beat, and I looked back once more to see the Aakash Sansaar wreathed in a shimmering sheen of scarlet hues.
“What’s happening?” I squeezed Kalani’s waist. “There’s a red hue around the sky world.”
“It’s a lock,” she said. “No one in and no one out.”
The primordial evil had done this. Sealed off the sky world. But why? What was he planning? And how the fuck would I get my friends back now?
Pakshiraj’s last words filled my mind.
You are stronger than you know, child. Remember that.
I took a deep breath, letting the anxiety go. I’d been lucky enough to be surrounded by people that believed in me, enough for me to learn to believe in myself. I wouldn’t forget that now.
The primordial evil might be big bad and ancient, but so was I, and it was time to remember the woman I used to be.
It was time to become her again.