He accepted the blows while rocking me from side to side, humming softly, the sound a primitive lullaby that weakened my limbs. A sob ballooned in my chest.
“Come back to yourself, Leela. Please. You saw what happened. You heard the entity speak using Araz’s voice. You saw it wearing his body. You know the truth, and now you must accept it. We need you. The Asura need a queen. Now more than ever, we need the full power of the throne. If you break now, then the primordial evil wins. If you break now, then Araz’s sacrifice will have been for nought.”
Araz’s voice echoed in my mind, his words piercing my heart like barbs of truth.
I love you. I love you with every aspect of my being…I would have come back for you. I would have loved you for eternity…
But he would never come back for me now.
He was gone…
Oh gods, he was gone…
A vise clamped down on my heart and squeezed until I bled, a strangled sound climbing up my throat and spilling from my lips. My chest quaked, and the sob broke free, followed by another until I was shaking. Fracturing.
Chandra held me tighter, his voice background noise to my grief. “It’s all right, Leela. It’s all right. Sleep now.”
My limbs relaxed, the sob dying on my lips as darkness stole me from the arms of grief.
A numbness had takenhold of me. Blessed. Welcome. Even the dawn, as beautiful as it was, failed to stir me. I sat on the window seat of my loaned chamber, watching the palace grounds come alive beneath golden rays.
The click of the door opening registered, followed by the delicious aroma of coffee and toasted bread. I sighed and turned to face the room, to face Chandra and his breakfast tray.
His hair was tousled this morning. The sleeves of his tunic rolled up, feet bare. This was his home, after all. But soon…Soon it would be mine.
I didn’t want it.
I didn’t want anything.
He set the tray on the table by the hearth and sat in one of the armchairs. “Come eat.” He smiled to soften the words from a command to a request.
This couldn’t be easy for him. He was liege. He was practically a king, and yet over the past few days, he’d dealt with my rollercoaster of emotions—rage, grief, suspicion, apathy, a spectrum that I’d been forced to ride. He’d stayed with me. Never once berating. Only soothing. Only taking the edge off when the fire burned too hot for my soul to handle.
I owed him my compliance now. Owed him some level of peace for the chaos he’d endured from me.
I swung my feet to the floor and padded over to join him.
“You look better today,” he said, his expression optimistic.
I responded with a soft snort. “You mean less like I want to kill you or myself?”
He let out a soft breath that was almost a laugh. “Yes. Much less.”
He poured coffee from a carafe into two glass mugs, adding sugar and milk, his face a mask of concentration. I took the offered glass, cradling it in my hands, unaffected by the heat of it. My body was changing.Iwas changing in ways I didn’t fully understand. Ways that Chandra might be able to explain, if I cared. I exhaled and sharpened my focus.
I had to care.
There was an evil walking about wearing Araz’s body like a pretty suit. I was going to get that body back and give it the burial it fucking deserved.
I took a breath and fixed my gaze on Chandra. “Have you found any evidence yet?”
Chandra shook his head. “No. And I doubt I will. The Authority covered their tracks well.”
“They set a fucking snake on me in the labyrinth, and you’re saying there isnothingto lead that breach back to them?”
His jaw tightened. “Believe me, Leela, I have searched.” He ran his hand through his hair, and I noted the dark smudges beneath his eyes for the first time. He looked weary, the whites of his eyes threaded with crimson. “I’ll keep looking.”
“No. Don’t bother. They failed to kill me, and now they’ll pay for what they did. When can I ascend and take the throne?”
