9. Leela
LEELA
Rajesh stayed silent, his head now drooping.
He grabbed onto the rocky bench before him, fingers gripping it tightly.
Leela didn’t know what to say either. She felt like everyone, including the Viperess, knew what was happening.
The incessant small splits of heat rode up and down Leela’s spine, and the sun wasn’t helping.
But the sweat and the smell were the last thing on Leela’s mind.
Rajesh harnessed the Scorpion.
Leela housed the Viperess.
“When?” Rajesh asked, too softly for Leela to hear at first.
“When what?”
Rajesh snapped his eyes to her.
She jolted backward from the infernal rage crossing his expression. He had never once looked at her like that. Sure, perhaps whenever they had problems with their friendship and then their relationship. But he’d never given her a look that felt like a dagger twisting her heart in two.
He stood tall and wiped a hand through his curls. “Since when did you harness the Viperess?”
There was no point hiding it now. Her shadows were always going to give her away. Perhaps, now that someone knew, they would help her get it out.
Not likely!
“Only a few days ago,” Leela said. “I ran away from a rebel group when they forced her on me.”
Rajesh’s brow flattened. “Oh… Oh. This was forced onto you?”
Leela shuffled. “Yes.”
He bit his lip, the fury softening then returning. Anger swam within the dark depths of his eyes, clinging to every clench of his jaw. “Why did they do that? What has she said to you?”
“Not a lot really.” Leela approached the table, lowering her voice for fear of others overhearing. She didn’t know this place, and she only knew Rajesh. But even he had changed, so who knew if she was really in good hands. “She’s quite moody, that’s all I know.”
Something thudded against her skull, like someone was banging a door. Leela gripped her head and staggered forward, feeling a pull within.
Rajesh stepped back. “She’s trying to get out, isn’t she?”
“I… I think so. Do you know why she’s here?” she asked.
Rajesh held her gaze, jaw ticking. “She hasn’t told you?”
“No. She refuses to.”
Another thud. Leela tried to hold her position, but it was as if invisible strings were tugging her forward. Something beat against her skull like a drum. The Viperess. She wanted out.
“Fucking Flames,” Rajesh hissed. He shook his head and shut his eyes. “Well, I guess I should probably tell you. But not without people here. I don’t trust her.”
Leela frowned. “Sure.”
“I’ll be back. Do you have any weapons on you?”
Leela thought of her katar left back in the village. “No.”
“Has she controlled you yet?”
Leela flinched. “Yes.”
“Stay put,” he said. He tiptoed around her, keeping her in his sight as he headed for the exit.
The thudding in Leela’s brain escalated with a shot of warmth up her spine. She cried out, bending over as her limbs propelled her forward on their own accord. Her arms flung out, reaching for Rajesh’s neck. A snarl gripped her lungs.
Rajesh’s eyes widened and he unsheathed his weapon before Leela could attack.
Leela felt like a puppet, her arms and legs moving without permission. Each movement was awkward and stilted, as if the strings were loose. That gave Leela enough strength to hold herself against the ground. The heat coiled at her nape before sliding away.
“See? I don’t trust her,” Rajesh said, pale. He left without another word.
Leela’s mind was blank, panic setting its icy breath inside her.
The Viperess was going to break free, and she was going to attack Rajesh.
It took everything inside Leela not to burst into tears at the thought of losing herself—losing her body—to a monster.
She already lost her mind once a month… and now…
What the fuck is going on? You’d better speak before I—
What, mortal? Try to kill me? I think I have already suffered enough. Death is not quite as bad as it seems. The Viperess seethed.
Tell me what is going on? Are you putting me in danger?
Probably.
Leela clenched her hands. Can’t you just be amicable with me? Maybe I’d even help you? Like you said, we’re in this together now, whether I like it or not. I’m not dying because you decided to control me.
Fine. But when he is back, I want to hear his side of the story.
Leela was surprised the Flame had given in. But she had to. They were stuck together now. Perhaps Leela could help her? Although, judging from the look on Rajesh’s face and the Viperess trying to take control, having the Flame inside her was not a good thing.
Not that she ever thought it was.
While Leela waited for Rajesh to return, she studied the room, trying to find something to distract herself with. She smoothed her fingers along the edge of the table that was carved from the rich red stone. A crimson powder dusted her fingertips, and she wiped it on her pants.
Leela basked in the sun. She tilted her chin, relishing in the way it calmed her.
The Viperess hummed a gentle, harmonious lullaby, instantly soothing every nerve in Leela.
It was a strange form of calmness. Something Leela had never felt before, but something she needed as her mind continued to spiral.
What was going on with Rajesh?
Why did he harness the Scorpion?
When did he harness it?
The Flames were fickle things. When the Flames from the Netherworld sought to find the elixir of immortality, they broke through the earthen realm and into the Awakening to steal it.
In their fight, a giant war broke out between the Flames from the Awakening and the Netherworld.
The Awakening Flames were pulled onto the earth, where the mortals reigned.
The stories told of how the Flames in the Awakening, the ones more prosperous and nurturing to the mortals, were banished from their realm by the Flames in the Netherworld, the ones said to be of devious actions but could still harness a sense of kindness.
Leela never quite understood all the tales her grandfather used to tell her, only that the Flames lived below and above the mortal realm, and each had a unique tale.
Tales twisted into stories of love, betrayal, kindness, and epic battles. Each one as brilliant as the last.
Leela remembered those tales because it was clear. Written in history and the bones scattered across the world. Living in the desert, she’d never explored the rest of the world. She hoped to one day, so she could glimpse the bones of the Flames from above.
You are a complicated being.
Oh?
You wish to travel, but darling, you have no escape. Not from me.
I know. But I’m a dreamer, and I believe there is something I can do to get you out of my head.
The Viperess hissed.
Leela opened her mouth but snapped it shut when footsteps drew her attention to the entrance.
She locked eyes with a familiar pair whose owner she believed to also be dead.
Leela’s entire body tensed as she soaked in the black vine curls against the narrow cheeks.
When Leela last saw Nalini, Rajesh’s mother, she was running and screaming across the dunes to get to Iravan, Rajesh’s younger brother.
Now, here she stood, still the same beautiful, elegantly tall woman Leela had come to love like a second mother.
The only difference was she had a scar with a deep cut on her upper arm, more muscle around her legs, and an older look in her eyes.
A look not of love, but of terror, turning to confusion, then into rage.
“Leela,” Nalini said, voice tight.
Leela’s breath hitched. She’d thought about running over and wrapping her arms around the other woman, pulling her in, and hugging someone she thought was dead. But not after that welcome. “Nalini.”
Nalini bit her lip, the rage melting into tears. “Oh… Leela…”
“By the Flames! She has risen from the ashes.”
Leela flicked her gaze to Iravan. He limped forward, his cane thumping against the cave floor as he approached the table and sat in the chair.
Leela gently observed him, watching as he held onto his right leg and squeezed at the knee.
Iravan survived the attack on the village, but it was clear that it had left permanent scars.
“Long time no see. Where have you been?” Iravan asked with a broad smile, arms wide and eyes twinkling.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Leela replied, politely smiling back. She was glad someone was happy to see her.
“She harnesses the Viperess,” Rajesh said, cutting off the pleasantries.
“I can see,” Nalini said.
Leela glanced between the family. They were all here.
All alive. Not well, but… alive. A small spit of hope sliced through her.
What if her family were alive? What if she’d been saved from the wreckage too early?
She couldn’t quite remember everything that happened during the attack, only the snippets that impacted her the most: the wall crumbling to the ground; the giant lustisha hungrily peering over them, with its eyes as big as Leela’s hut and two heads sticking out the side of its neck; her family running, screaming; the village in chaos; the drakion climbing through the wreckage and tearing into flesh.
Leela swayed and shut her eyes. Then realized shutting them meant being pulled into the vivid visions further. She snapped her eyes open and bit her lip, trying to feel something—anything—other than useless hope drowning her.
“Let us first discuss other things than the obvious, shall we, Rajesh?” Nalini said.
“Yeah, calm down,” Iravan said. “Leela is alive, aren’t you—”
“No,” Rajesh snapped.
Leela flinched, the word cutting into tender wounds.
The word meant more than just ‘no.’ She knew what Iravan was going to say.
His witty and loose tongue had gotten him into trouble multiple times.
The ‘no’ meant Rajesh didn’t want to acknowledge her.
He barely even looked at her as the rage took over, and he stared Iravan down.
Iravan only rolled his eyes. A sly smile peaked in the right corner of his lips as he turned his charismatic gaze to Leela.
She looked at the ground.