Chapter 36 #2
For a moment I thought Araz would argue further, but his shoulders sagged. “We stop him before he escapes over the threshold,” he said before striding off, barking orders to get the ship moving.
“Leela!”
Dharma, Bina, and Joe jogged toward me, their drohi and anchors close behind.
My pulse quickened as I stumbled forward to meet them, heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears. “Gods…you guys…”
I was enveloped in hugs, soft laughter, and tears.
“Gah,” Blue squeaked against my neck. “You’re squishing me.”
“Shit, sorry,” Joe said.
We broke apart, and Blue scampered down my arm and onto my hand. “I told ya I brought backup.” He pushed his chest out.
I grinned down at him. “You did. Yes, you did.” I scanned the beloved faces around me, and my heart sank because one was missing. “Keyton?”
“He’s still in the bastard’s control,” Dharma said. “But we will get him back. We’ll find a way.”
The only way to get him back was to end the primordial evil. And that’s what we would do.
The ship lurched into motion, moving faster than ever before.
The whoomp, whoomp of wings filled the air.
I ran to the side of the ship, my heart lifting at the sight of Pakshiraj. His wings beat the air, creating gusts to propel us forward.
The other thunderbirds did the same in a coordinated maneuver that created enough wind to shift us fast.
Pakshiraj’s gaze zeroed in on me, eyes gleaming with love and recognition. A shadow fell over us, and he looked up, a horrific screech blasting from his beak.
Araz grabbed me, crushing me to him as a thunderbird bore down, talons aimed at us. My heart shot into my mouth, a scream locking in my throat. The air bloomed golden as Araz cast a ward protecting us and my friends.
Cries of alarm rang out.
The bird was almost on us when its form shrank and morphed, and a woman landed before us. Tall and powerfully built with golden hair, her sharp features held beauty that was almost painful to look at. She fell to a knee in front of us and bowed her head.
I stared at her, lost for words for a moment. “What the fuck?”
“Oh, yeah,” Blue said. “They can do that now.”
Araz’s grip on me slackened. “Ilara?”
She glanced up, wide eyes fixing on him with such open longing that it made my chest burn. She masked it quickly, her gaze flicking to me.
“Forgive me, blood of Vijayroodra,” she said. “For my rage and my awful actions.”
“Rage?” Araz frowned, looking to me.
I was momentarily torn as to whether I should tell him what had happened. Because revealing that might reveal Ilara’s feelings for him, and it wasn’t up to me to tell him about those. They were Ilara’s emotions to share or not.
“She tried to kill Leela,” Joe said bluntly.
“Yeah, but Leela petitioned the tree to let her live,” Blue said. “She got banished instead.”
Okay, so my friends had other ideas.
Araz’s gaze sharpened, his jaw tensing, and when he spoke, his voice was as cold as ice. “Why would you hurt the woman I love?”
She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears, and something in my chest cracked and softened.
Love was a strange beast indeed. I felt for her, but I wasn’t an idiot either.
I knew when to look harder, to see the sharp edges, and the slight hardening in her gaze when it flicked from Araz to me.
The torch she carried for Araz wouldn’t dim if it wasn’t exposed and put out.
Araz needed to know the full story. If she was to understand and accept that there was no romantic hope for them, she had to hear it from him. But I needed to give her the chance to come clean herself.
“Will you tell him the truth, Ilara, or would you like me to do it?”
She sucked in a breath, rising slowly so she was eye to eye with Araz. “I am not ashamed of what I feel. I love you,” she said. “I have loved you all my life, and I am here because this is where I belong. With you.”
Araz blinked sharply, his eyes flinching. “You love me, so you attempted to take from me that which I love?”
Her hands fisted, words exploding from her lips. “She took you from me!”
I flinched at the vitriol in her tone, and Araz bristled.
“I was never yours to be taken,” he said, tone calm and cold. “You tried to erase the person I love the most, and yet you have the gall to stand here today and petition me to allow you into my inner circle?”
Her gaze flicked to me, unsure and panicked now. “I…I am yours.”
Araz lifted his chin. “No, you are not. There is no place for you by my side. I release you from the bond.”
Ilara stilled then let out a soft keening sound, her hand going to her chest, her eyes filled with tears, and then she crumpled, hitting the deck on her hands and knees.
“No…Please. Take me back. Please.”
My gut twisted, and empathy warred with the sense of justice. I could have said something. Could have begged Araz to change his mind, but I’d learned that compassion had its place, and when it came to a woman in love, one who wanted what you had, compassion needed to take a back seat.
“Leave,” Araz said, his tone cold and detached.
Ilara stood slowly, tears tracking down her cheeks. She stepped back, turned, and ran for the edge of the ship, leaping into the air and bursting back into her thunderbird form. We watched her vanish into the clouds above.
“You did the right thing,” Joe said.
“I know.” Araz smiled down at me. “No one will ever come between us again. I vow it.”
I believed him, but there would be no relief until Mizikiel was truly gone.
Pakshiraj let out a soft screech, and I felt it like an invitation.
“Go,” Araz said. “Ride with him. Reconnect.”
I nodded, a lump in my throat.
Blue hopped onto Araz’s shoulder. “Good to have you back, big guy.”
I ran for the edge of the ship and leapt onto Pakshiraj’s wing on an upsweep, ran fast on the down drift, caught hold of the red and gold feathers at his neck, and swung up onto his gargantuan back.
His voice filled my head like the first kiss of summer.
It’s good to have you back, child.
I thought I lost you. What happened to you?
Sit tight, and I will tell you all, and then we will stop Mizikiel together, once and for all.
Aakash Sansaar came into view less than half an hour later. The red wards were gone, and the air swarmed with chaysavar and their Danava riders.
I caught sight of two white flying steeds, and my pulse kicked up. The riders raised a hand in greeting at the sight of me and my entourage.
It seems that Dhoona and Yudh survived the unraveling, Pakshiraj said.
They did. They fucking did. Thank goodness that we spoke mind to mind, because I was too choked up to vocalize.
Pakshiraj banked toward them, and they flew up over his wings, close enough for me to see the flash of their silver eyes and feel their relief and joy, emotions that their stone faces didn’t allow them to express.
I had questions, and no doubt so did they, but words would have to wait until later.
A large chaysavar rose by Pakshiraj’s head. I sat forward, my pulse kicking in recognition of the woman astride it.
Arpita, dressed for battle, face speckled with blood, gave me a curt nod, raised a hand, and then swerved toward Shahee Kshetra, where the sky was dotted with battling Danava and Asura.
We followed, the thunderbirds falling away from the ship to flank us.
“Leela!” Araz called from my left, now mounted on a thunderbird. “I’m with you.”
Blue, perched on his shoulder, raised his tiny sword.
My demigod friends and their drohi flew on birdback behind us.
We were ready.
I lightly touched the axe hilts at my waist, my heart hammering in preparation for the fight to come as I scanned the skies for any sigh of Mizikiel. Of Chandra’s epic form and glowing wings.
I spotted him a moment later, flying down toward the foundation level of the royal domain, several Asura surrounding him in escort.
Arpita and her kin flanked us as we dove toward the mass of Asura fighting to protect Mizikiel. Familiar faces. Authority faces. My stomach clenched. He had them all on his side. Puppets to protect him. To stall us as he made his way to the throne.
That was the doorway to his realm. His way home.
Pakshiraj dipped toward the foundation, toward the mountain that housed the doorway. Mizikiel landed, and I lost him in a mass of Asura wings and glowing astra. The Danava landed, and the gods clashed with blades and spears. Astra against astra.
Drohi fought alongside the Asura, beating back the Danava.
Where was Mizikiel?
I have to land. I need to get inside.
Pakshiraj banked to the right, having to circle and come back, and I craned my neck, desperate to keep an eye on the fray, to keep an eye on the true threat. There was no sign of him, but I caught sight of a familiar face.
Keyton.
On Mizikiel’s team.
Fighting toe to toe with what had to be a Danava.
Another Danava approached from the side. Keyton hadn’t seen the second threat. Too focused on the first.
My heart shot into my throat. There was no way to save him. No way to stop this.
The air around him shimmered, and before the second threat could land a blow, Keyton vanished.
What the fuck?
Boom!
The air shook with a sonic impact that rippled Pakshiraj’s feathers and made my head ring. For a moment, everything went still. Everything slowed down. Sounds and movement, and my heartbeat.
And then with a click, it all came back online with a whoosh that hit me in the chest and knocked the breath from me.
Energy rolled over the domain, razing buildings and any structures in its wake.
Whoosh.
A second wave disintegrated bodies—chaysavar, Asura, and Danava who had their feet on the ground vanished.
Pakshiraj climbed higher, out of the blast range. My head whipped side to side. Where was Araz? Where were my friends? The vise around my chest eased when I spotted them in the distance.
Whoosh.
A third wave hit, and the ground blazed in a wave of flame. The fire died quickly, leaving red earth scattered with bone. Ash fell for long moments, covering the world in a gray sheen.
Silence settled, the only sound the beating of wings.
A lightning crack sounded, and the Asura hurtled toward the earth, surrounding the mountain in dense defense.
He made it through, Pakshiraj said. He went through the doorway.
The world groaned as if it knew it was doomed.
I gritted my teeth. It was time for plan B. Time to go through the doorway after him. “Attack!”