I couldn’t put into words what terrified me about the apple. I felt as if it were capable of devastating consequences. It had to be, if a group of people was willing to guard it with no hope of its return for almost a hundred years.
“They warned me against eating it.”
“And you trust them?”
“No,” I said. “But I trust eating this fruit even less.”
Vikram stalked off, muttering things that sounded a lot like “stubborn” and “why me” under his breath. I tried to will away the pangs of hunger, but they only seemed to grow louder and more insistent. My gaze fell on Vikram. Exhaustion had stamped bruises beneath his eyes. His face—severe and sharp—drank up what little light filled the dungeon. His body was less skinny than I’d first thought. He was muscular, but trim, with the lean angles of a runner. Nothing in excess. And it made me…
Hungry.
Maybe if I ate him, I’d have the sustenance to fight my way out of here.
Maybe if I ate him, I’d survive.
What waswrongwith me? Horrified, I stepped back. But whatever demon possessed me demanded a voice. I croaked out:
“You’d be more use to me dead than alive.”
Vikram’s head snapped up in the same instant that another voice chortled and hissed from the corner of the room:
“I agree entirely.”
I jumped. Cold sweat ran down my back. I looked up to the iron tree standing flush against the cold wall. I thought I’d seen a former prisoner’s cloak hanging from its limbs. But it wasn’t a cloak. It was a corpse. Pale. With only a handful of flesh left to stretch over its bones.
“Only a corpse,” I breathed.
“Acorpse? What a common thing!” huffed the body. “Have you never seen avetala?”
Vikram stared, his jaw slack. “Those are only supposed to exist in cremation grounds.”
“Very good!” croaked the creature. “Cremation grounds are the best place to steal bodies. As one does when one is just incorporeal evil.”
I knew very little ofvetalas. Maya refused to share stories about them, for fear of giving me nightmares. I knew they stole bodies and fed on souls, but nothing else.
Thevetalaswung upside down from the tree, pale and decaying knees locked to the branches. Behind him, folded and what I’d first mistaken as a cloak, were a great pair of wings.
“Admiring them, are you?” he asked, twisting his neck all the way around. “Pity they are nothing more than ornamentation. But I couldn’t bear to be parted from them. They add style to decay. What afterlife is worth living without some beauty, wouldn’t you agree?”
Thevetalalooked me up and down, and sniffed. “Perhaps you wouldn’t.”
Vikram moved closer to me. Which didn’t seem wise, given my last thought.
“What do you want, creature?” he demanded.
“A body with more cartilage would be nice,” exclaimed the creature. “Would you be willing to give me yours?”
“No,” said Vikram.
“Perhaps I might have your wife’s instead?”
“I am not his wife.”
“Unmarried? Perhaps you might like to bemywife? Mine was most unfortunately beheaded by villagers. No one quite understood her humor.” Thevetalasighed. “Ah, Putana… your breasts may have been filled with poison, but they were delightfully plump.”
Vikram crossed his arms. “Have you been sent here to spy on us?”
“Why would I waste immortality on you?” laughed thevetala.“I only decided to speak up to offer some advice. Best give that non-wife of yours a bite of your arm. That’srakshasifruit in her hand. The want alone will devour you. But she’ll be fine. It’s all temporary. Like any rage. Difficult to avoid the temptation though. I’m surprised she has not eaten you yet. Shewasmusing about it.”
