LEELA
“Oh, and then my brother totally tried to drown me. Funny story,” Hema said.
Until it was all taken from her.
Hema leaned in the chair, her arm casually hanging over the back. “Of course, but they’re brutal. And why would Nihikia turn away anyone who wants to become a Vessel?”
“Painful.” Hema tipped her head back and slammed the cup on the table. “Like yours, I can imagine.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t one of my most pleasurable experiences.”
Hema smirked. “What was, then?”
Leela paused the glass at her lips. “Sorry?”
Hema rolled her eyes. “Your most pleasurable experience.”
“I—I don’t know if I should share that.”
“Was it with Rajesh?”
Leela flicked a loose crumb off the table. “No.”
Hema smirked. “Liar. I know someone when they’re lovesick.”
“I am not.”
“Are you sure? You haven’t fucked him since being with us?”
Leela’s eyes widened. She respected and enjoyed Hema as company, but she had never been this open with talking about her dalliances with someone.
“I… I… um…”
Hema laughed, head tilting back. “Oh, you are too easy to tease.”
Leela grabbed her hair and shuffled it over her face. “Gee, thanks.”
“Don’t go all shy on me, Leela.” Hema leaned over the table between them. “I am only teasing. This is the first time I have had someone to be this open with. Navya is always in her own head, and well, the others are men.”
“It’s fine. I guess I haven’t ever had this open conversation with someone before, is all.”
“You should,” Hema said, raising her glass. “It’s freeing. So, what was it like?”
“Hema!” Leela shrieked.
Hema rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll go first. My first was a woman who dated me for a while before leaving. Ever since then, I’ve found woman after woman. Never really gone without my dues.”
Leela told herself to relax. Hema was merely trying to start an important conversation. Just because her mother would scold her didn’t mean she couldn’t break through the barriers with a trusted friend, and Hema was more than trustworthy.
“Mine was Rajesh,” Leela said, rubbing the rim of her cup. “A few women or men here or there, but…” it always led back to Rajesh.
Hema’s sparkle disappeared, and she cleared her throat. “I didn’t mean to bring up old wounds. If it’s too hard to discuss, don’t force yourself.”
Leela shook her head. “No. I want to talk about it. I should talk about it, so I don’t suppress it all.” She took a deep breath. “Rajesh and I are messy, and the Flames make it all the messier. I just can’t do it.”
Hema grew silent.
“It would never work, so why chase something if it’s doomed?” Leela asked.
“You would give in to your Flames? Let them dictate your lives?”
“What other choice do we have?”
“You could fight,” Hema said, as if it were simple.
Leela wished it were simple. But she couldn’t tell Hema the true reason. She didn’t want to cause any more lustishas or monsters to spill from the sandstorms. She couldn’t be the cause of other people’s pain, and she wasn’t prepared for the hurt in Hema’s gaze if she found out.
“Some fights are worth losing,” Leela mumbled.
Hema sighed, but thankfully, she started a new topic of conversation.
The two sat for what felt like hours, talking about past experiences, their lives, their family, until the liquor had numbed their senses and made their tongues loose.
Leela inched over the table. “That woman has been staring at you all night.”
Hema glanced over her shoulder, connecting eyes with a woman with long black hair and a beautiful blue dress. She waved at Hema. Hema snapped back to Leela, pink tinting her gentle brown cheeks.
“Oh…” Hema said.
Leela smirked. “Go and have some fun.”
“What about you?”
Leela shrugged. “I need to go back to bed. I’m tired.”
“You sure? You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
“I can handle myself.” Leela pointed to her head. “Viperess, remember?”
Hema nodded. She slapped Leela on the shoulder, gave her a curt nod, and then left to talk to the woman.
Leela chuckled, happy her friend could get some action tonight.
Before the situation got awkward, Leela walked out into the desert streets, which were quieter than the Nihikian city’s.
As she neared the outskirts where they had parked the ship, she turned to the sky.
The twin moons were almost full, like two staring eyes trapping Leela in their glow.
For a moment, she let herself think of everything that had occurred since she left.
Since she escaped the palace walls, refusing to be made a wife to a husband she could never love.
Since she escaped Nihikia with a Flame in her mind.
Since she kissed Rajesh.
Since she broke his heart.
Leela sank down to the sand, a tear sliding down her cheek.
She allowed herself to cry, feeling all the emotions she had been bottling since seeing him.
If things were different, Leela knew she’d be in his arms and never let go.
There was a reason they kept finding one another.
She knew the tales of the lovers whose threads brought them together, over galaxies and lifetimes.
She believed love conquered all, and if that made her a lovesick fool, then so be it.
Sometimes, she had to be a dreamer in a cruel world of realists.
I only have one question left unanswered. Why…?
You may need to elaborate, mortal.
Why me? Why me when you could have had any person? Why doom my life to stop me from having the one person I want in this world?
The Viperess was silent for a moment. I do not think you are ready for that tale, mortal.
Rage flickered like an unfiltered flame. What, do I have to break someone else’s heart too?
The Viperess sighed. You were on your path to revenge. Our ideas aligned. You had connections to Rajesh. There was a reason you came to me that night, mortal.
Leela froze. The flame flickered, anger pulsating into confusion. What the fuck did that mean?
Everything was planned from the start. The note you got from the palace, the one Aarna conveniently got for you. My men were waiting for you to arrive and gave you over to me.
Every muscle in Leela froze. I don’t… I don’t understand…?
I waited centuries for you. The Viperess hissed, tongue as slippery as butter against her skull. Everything led you to me. You were the one soul I waited centuries to find.
Leela’s eyes widened far enough they were bulging out of her skull. The sand around her blurred, her vision hazy. She didn’t understand. There was no way it had all been planned…
Leela clenched her fists. Another lie.
Not a lie. It was just never stated.
Leela screamed, digging her hands into the sand. You lied!? You filthy, fucking liar!
I never lied.
Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you just explain it?
Because I needed you, Leela. It was always you. Your journey led you to me and only me so that I could harness your body and one day really destroy the Scorpion. Heartache creates the best revenge, no? And love creates the biggest monsters.
Leela frowned. Wait… what? The Viperess wanted something more than simple revenge? Had she wanted Rajesh to love her to form a bigger monster?
Leela jumped to her feet. Her gut roiled with the realization of what the Viperess said. Her breath was too shallow, and Leela felt the need to vomit all over the sand.
It had all led to this moment.
To the moment Leela broke Rajesh’s heart.
To the moment Leela and Rajesh fell in love.
Because what was a better revenge than that of a broken heart?
Leela kept spiraling, thinking of everything that had transpired between her and Rajesh.
Oh shit. The Viperess was always close, not close enough to kill Rajesh, but close enough to be there in case she could kill him.
All the rumors had always stated she wanted to kill him.
The Viper had even stated it so, but it was never the true thing she wanted.
She let Leela fall for Rajesh, over and over.
All of it was woven so intricately and polished like a fine blade.
What do you plan to do…?
Leela was almost too scared to ask. If the Viperess had played everything else to the beat of her own drum, then what else did she have planned? What else had she staged? Did she stage the confession to the Scorpion too?
All Leela wanted to do was flee, but how could she flee from her mind? The Viperess had become a part of her. The voice in the back of her mind. Incessant and frustrating.
Leela went through all the little things and words she spoke to Rajesh.
If only she had managed her thoughts or even stayed away from him.
If only she had realized sooner that the Viperess wasn’t who she said she was.
Did Leela suddenly feel sorry for her because she confessed why she was sent into the Netherworld?
Or did she suddenly think the Viperess was a part of her?
Either way, Leela had no idea how to process any of it. How was she meant to proceed now? If she went back to the ship, she would endanger Rajesh. She would endanger the crew, and while some of them had grown tense with her, she didn’t wish anything ill on them.
No. Leela had to do something. Anything to stop the Viperess from conquering her next part of the plan.
You cannot stop me, mortal.
I will. Leela walked away from the ship. I won’t give you the satisfaction.
Leela stopped—like she was stuck in quicksand. She tried to control her movements, but her arms had grown slack. Horror tore through her, and Leela gasped.
No!
Oh. Yes. I have waited centuries to bring the Scorpion down. Now is not the time to play victim, child. Now, it is time to rise. To kill the man I came to kill.
Leela’s soul ripped itself, as if it were being sucked in through her toes, up her spine, into her skull, and encasing her behind the glass wall where all she could do was watch.
She had no control over her body. Nothing.
The Viperess uncurled from her pose and stood on the other side of the glass in all her glory.
It was the first time Leela examined the Viperess. There was a golden glow wavering around all her curves and edges. Long hair flickered out like a thousand coiled snakes. Her eyes were as golden as the surrounding glow.
She was beautiful.
Like sunshine dripping in stardust.
Like the moons had crashed and men had fallen at her feet.
No wonder the Scorpion fell for her.
Leela banged against the glass. Please… Please, don’t do this. Don’t kill him!
There was almost a somber dip in the Vipers’ voice. I am sorry, mortal. But your love for Rajesh is the reason this all has to come to an end. Do you not want the sandstorms to stop? To bring the chaos across the world to a stop?
Leela fell to her knees. I…
Would it be selfish if she said no? The fate of humanity for one man? The man who used to braid her hair—the man who used to run by her side, laughing and cackling and not giving a shit what others thought?
She thought of all the times she was with Rajesh in the fields, harvesting the wheat and bringing it back to the villagers. All the times she made the sugary dough balls or stirred the pots for dinner. All the times she kissed him. The first time she laughed. The first time she said she loved him.
And now, by her hand, she was going to kill the one man she loved.
And she couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Please… Leela begged. Please. I will do anything!
The Viperess straightened her spine and took rein over Leela’s body. Too late, mortal. Now, it’s time for my revenge.