Hira shook her head, but didn’t answer. Aiden stayed silent, watching all of them.
Aru loved riddles, and so when she heard Lady M’s words, a different answer came to her mind:
“Stories?”
Itwas the only answer that made sense to her. True, gods and demons were immortal, but they didn’t live a thousand lives at once. Only stories fit that description. Aru’s mom had taught her that many tales from around the world were similar. That didn’t make them unoriginal or bad, but rather proof that people cared about and were frightened of the same things no matter where they lived. Each cultureput their own spin on the same universal story, keeping it alive in many different versions.
Lady M’s eyes snapped to Aru’s. “That’s right,” she said softly, stroking the metal dome like it was a large cat. “Stories. Legends.Myths. Once a story stops being told, it dies. Unless people find pieces of it later, polish them up, and breathe new life into them … I need the nectar of immortality notfor my body, but for my story.”
Lady M stretched out her hands and Aru watched as herpreviouslysmooth, golden-brown skin turned rough and gray. Her once polished red nails grew sharper, deadlier. Even her bottom canine teeth had grown and were now jutting against her top lip. And her nose … it was fading away.
“It’s happening more and more,” Lady M went on, her voice breaking. “I am beginningto lose my true self. In the end, all we are is the version of ourselves that others choose to remember.”
Wariness prickled through Aru….
“You must have found my soul song in the treasury,” said Lady M. “I’m sure you know by now that if you wish to reverse what I’ve done, you’ll have to plunge this arrow through my heart. But did they tell you what would happen to me? To the song left in mysoul?”
At their silence, she answered:
“You would kill the truth of my story. My soul would become a song of death.”
Brynne was getting impatient and flustered. “We’re not here to talk,” she said gruffly. “We’re here to get back what was wrongfully stolen. Hand over the bow and arrow.”
Lady M looked at them with tears in her eyes. “Pandavas … I accept that you wish to fight me. I understandand would even forgive you if it came to that. But before we draw our weapons, may I tell you my tale?”
Brynne looked unsure, but Mini’s face was calm—she was probably relieved not to be fighting. Aru didn’t know how to read Hira yet. Aiden looked suspicious, his dark eyes pinned to Lady M.
Aru had never considered herself theLet’s go attack things!type, but she didn’t want to hear Lady M’ssob story. She was already torn about fighting Takshaka because she was sorry for hissuffering,and nowthis? Aru didn’t want to see all those gray spaces between good and bad—she just wanted things to be easy.
But then Lady M asked, “Pandavas, will you see my truth?”
See well. Those words, uttered by Varuni, Sage Durvasa, Ratri, and Agni, echoed back to her. Aru’s jaw clenched, but she nodded.She owed it to all of them, and, a small part of her said, she owed it to herself.
Lady M cast out her hands and an illusion flew forth from her fingertips….
“When I was born, my parents named me Meenakshi … the girl with fish-shaped eyes.”
So she’s the girl with eyes like a fish!Aru thought. All this time she’d pictured someone with a flat head and a big round eye on either side….
Meenakshi’sstory rippled out like a scroll of silver against the metal dome, and in it, Aru saw the image of a happy little rakshasi playing with her big brothers.
“I grew up and got married, and I was content.”
The image sped up to show an adult Lady M with flowers in her hair, her hands painted for her wedding day. The scene changed again to display her sitting on a golden throne, dispensing orders andproclamations.
“But my husband was a greedy rakshasa, and so my brother, Ravana, slew him. I was devastated and searched the world for a cure for my sorrow.”
The picture expanded to reveal the god king Rama, his wife, Sita, and his brother, Laxmana, moving through the forest. But unlike the vision Aru had seen in Kamadeva’s floor, this one showed Lady M’s perspective as she walked through thewoods, her head bowed, her hand to her heart as if it weresobroken she was trying to keep it from falling out of her. The sight made Aru flinch.
She knew what happened next. Lady M fell in love with Rama, who rejected her; then she went to Laxmana, who rejected her; and then she attacked Sita and had her nose cut off.
And Aru saw that the story was true … but it was not the whole truth.
“I was too forthcoming, perhaps, in my affection,” said Lady M. “I had never learned to be shy about asking for what I wanted, and I saw no reason to start then.”
In the vision, Aru heard Lady M say that if Rama would take her for his wife, she could keep him safe from her brother. But Rama did not want another wife, and though he was kind in his rejection … his brother was not. Laxmana ridiculedher for even thinking that one of them would ever want her as a bride. Lady M’s face went from stricken and full of grief to full of fury.
“I regret that I attacked Sita,” said Lady M, “but my pride was wounded and my fury demanded release.”
