She smiled, not surprised by his forthrightness. “There was someone here once that I cared for before Thanil and I were bonded. He died in a training accident. He was a mountain dweller too. I think that’s what drew us together.”
“Wait, are you one of the ice mountain dwellers?” Dharma asked.
Bina smiled thinly. “Yes. I was. My mother was one of the tribe leader’s daughters. They say that my Asura sire visited once, and she was smitten with him. That they had a liaison, and I was the result. But Mother always changed the subject when I asked her about it. She’d tell me to go chop wood or darn socks. Sometimes she’d lash out and strike me. I soon learned to stop asking.
“When I came of age, my sire came to collect me. But Mother took to bed, sick and unfit to greet him. I didn’t get to say goodbye to her, and now I wonder…” She looked out the window, her brows pinching.
“What?” Joe asked.
“I wonder if the liaison was consensual.”
My heart sank. “Oh, Bina…”
“I wonder if the Asura have been taking what doesn’t belong to them, not only from the djinn, but from the native humans too…” Her lip curled. “I’m wondering how much of what we’ve been told is true at all.”
Yeah, I was wondering the same, and I sure as hell was going to find out.
Chapter 5
GET YOUR HAIRY LEGS AWAY FROM ME
BLUE
Bhoomika pours a thimble of tea and sets it on the table in front of me.
“I’m going to miss you,” she says. She cuts a nice chunk of cake and pops it on a napkin for me.
“Course you are.” I beam up at her. “I’m amazin’.”
She chuckles softly. “Yes, Blue, you are. Leela is lucky to have you.”
I chew the mouthful of cake I’ve just taken. “Nah, I’m the lucky one.”
She reaches out and strokes the top of my head. “You’ve made archive duty feel…fun.”
I take a sip of tea to wash down the cake. It’s vanilla and something else that’s almost spicy. Delicious. Truth be told, I’m gonna miss her too. The library’s become a second home to me. The dusty scrolls and the books. Me apron and me teeny duster and the comfort that comes wiv tidying up a shelf. And our tea breaks…Yeah, I’m gonna miss this too.
“The Shahee Kshetra is beautiful,” Bhoomika says, a dreamy expression on her face.
“You been there, then, ’ave ya?”
Her eyes light up. “Oh yes. Many times. I worked at the Vidya tower there once.” She makes an arch with her hands. “It’s a majestic structure. Several floors filled with knowledge.”
“Then why’d ya come here?”
“I was assigned here by the head sage. We go where we are sent. It’s the way with the knowledge keepers.”
I been working with her for weeks, and I neva thought to ask what she is. “Yer not Asura, then?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “No, Blue. My people are descended from powerful sage bloodlines and are tasked with keeping the histories of this world safe. History is sacred.”
“Uh-huh…” I sip my tea. “So you know everythin’ about this world, then?”
“Not personally, but I have access to most of the information.”
“Most of it?”
“There are some texts and scrolls that are out of bounds, even to the sages.”
