The Danava domainwas less than an hour away, located somewhere below the Shahee Kshetra. I snuggled under a blanket with Keyton beside me to keep me warm, while Chandra took up the seat opposite us.
“The dinner party will be a small gathering,” Chandra said. “Consisting of Arpita herself, the royal advisor, chief of security, Arpita’s daughter, and her niece.”
“I would have thought she’d want me to meet some of the raees that live there.”
The corners of his mouth dimpled as he pressed his lips together. “There are no raees in the Danava domain. The few that have been elevated to that status reside in the Shahee Kshetra. The Danava domain is…It is not what it once was.”
“What do you mean? I know the Authority took it over after the royals were…after the incident. Have they not maintained the domain?” Speaking of the incident sparked another thought. “Chandra, you killed the Danava king, and now you’re headed to dinner with his descendants. Isn’t that…strange?”
He stilled. “So you’ve heard the stories. In which case you should know I had no choice but to end his life.”
The stories said that the Danava king had set fire to the ballroom using an eternal flame, killing all the Asura royals. “Why did the Danava king do it? Why kill everyone?”
Chandra shook his head, his eyes dark. “I do not know, and I have pondered the same question a million times. That night, he was like an Asura possessed. There was no talking to him. He attacked me, and I defended myself. During the scuffle, he fell into the very flames that he had created.”
“So Arpita holds no grudge against you?”
“There is no grudge to be held. Justice was served.”
We fell into silence for a little while, and I dropped into my thoughts. My life had changed so much over the past few months. One blow after the other. Constant change. The need to pivot…There was a part of me that was exhausted by it all. That wanted to curl up and sleep forever. It wanted to mourn, grieve, and feel sorry for itself. It wanted to shut down. But there was another part of me, a part that had been buried for a long time that was now awakening. That part of me was in its element, craving the challenges and changes ahead, and if I embraced it, then it would keep me alive.
My stomach dipped as the carriage dropped altitude.
“We’re almost there,” Chandra said. “You can see the domain below us.”
I clutched the blanket to my chest and peered out at the fine mist swimming beneath us. “I don’t see it…”
Chandra leaned close, looking out with me. “Ah…Wait a moment. The mist will part and…There…There it is.”
My breath snagged in my chest as an oval land mass made up mainly of water peeked out from the mist. A palace floated in the middle of this sea domain. The building was connected to smaller structures via bridges.
The mist parted further, unveiling a larger land mass beneath the first. Water from the upper mass spilled into it, surrounding a city that was made up of buildings connected by bridges. Boats bobbed in the moonlit water. There were barely any lights on in the tiny buildings, save a few dotted here and there. The closer we got, the less opulent the domain seemed. Scaffolding and crumbling ruins formed the city, creating a picture of poverty and neglect.
We veered toward the upper domain and the palace, where not a single light was on. The building to the left of it, an estate that held a mansion, blazed prettily.
I looked across at Chandra. “I thought the Authority was taking care of this domain?”
“I said they took it over, not that they care for it. The Danava domain is where our rice and fish come from. The Asura provide wheat and fruits in exchange. There was trade once, but now the Authority takes what they want and provides only what they wish to.”
“How can you stand to be a part of it? To work with the Authority? To let them do this?”
He sighed. “Things would be a lot worse if Ididn’twork with them. I do what I can to help the Danava, but I do not have thepower of the throne. You, however, can change everything if you choose to.”
The carriage dipped again as we made our descent toward the estate, leaving the palace in the distance. It was obvious that Arpita wasn’t able to maintain the structure. Her royal home. Her birthright. Yes. Things would have to change. And soon because it wasn’t just the drohi and the pari and the rakshasa that were under Asura control; the Danava were too.
The balance of power was skewed, and it was my job to fix it.
Chapter 14
THE FACE IN THE PAINTING
Arpita met us personally at the mansion doors. Dressed in a simple black and silver sari, hair up in a knot, no makeup except a little kohl, she looked a lot younger than I expected her to.
She greeted us warmly, hugging me and enveloping me in the scent of jasmine before leading us into her home.
The domain might be dark and dreary, but Arpita’s home was filled with color and life. We passed huge gold and silver framed paintings of beautiful landscapes. One in particular had me slowing down to study it. It was an aerial view of the domain, but in the painting, both the palace and the city below were lit up. The painting was filled with movement and possibilities, and my heart ached for what was lost.
Arpita joined me by the painting. “One of Danava Harish’s paintings.”
