“Show me,”demanded Kara.
“It won’t help,” said Sheela, flinching a little. “It won’t make a difference. You know that.”
In that moment, Kara realized so much. Too much, perhaps. She felt the weight of Krithika Shah’s guilt over giving her up and knew it was genuine. She recognized the expression of bittersweet happiness on her biological mother’s face as she’d stood outside Kara’s childhood home and seen that her firstborn had found love there.
Kara had been kidnapped by the Sleeper, and her memories—those vital pieces that had made her who she was—had been violated by someone who had dared to call himself a parent. And yet, even after what he’d done to her, she was grateful for one thing: he had helped her find something precious.
She had found sisters.
She had found another family. Weekends spent watching movies. Weekdays locked in training. Nights spent laughing.
And then she’d lost that, too.
“Are you okay?” asked Sheela. “It’s going to go away now.”
Above them, the cage of gilded roses and thorns cracked down the middle. The sounds of clashing weapons and shouts poured back into the space, rattling Kara’s thoughts. In her hand, Sunny glowed with infernal heat. Then her weapon shot up, towering over her. Her skin felt hot. Her veins glowed.
For all that she loved words, neither sound nor sentence could hold what she felt in that moment.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” said Sheela, rising to a stand. “I’m sorry, Kara.”
Sheela held out her hand, but Kara did not take it. Instead, her eyes roved over the battlefield, finally landing on the Sleeper. Krithika Shah stood in front of him and they were speaking. Kara was not interested in what they were saying. Alarms blared through her senses. All she knew was that the Sleeper had destroyed enough lives, damaged enough people.
Kara’s eyes snapped to the figure behind Krithika. It was Aru, caught in a net suspended in midair, one arm flung out. Vajra’s electricity spangled over Aru’s body as if trying to blanket her. Toprotecther. Or perhaps, thought Kara with a sudden lurch in her stomach, to prevent damage to her dead body.
Suddenly, the Sleeper’s shoulders sagged. His hand lifted, Krithika closed her eyes, and…
Kara aimed her trident and let it loose.
She did not miss.
Aru Shah went numb.
There was too much to feel, and so her mind rewired itself to feel nothing at all—not the electricity wrapping around her body as Vajra shielded her from harm, not even the tears that she knew must be sliding down her face. All she could do was scream. She screamed as she saw the prongs of light slice through the Sleeper’s charcoal jacket. She screamed when his eyes bulged and he sank to his knees. Eventually she ran out of screams and the Sleeper ran out of life.
The last thing he did was reach for something at his neck. It was the necklace that held his memories, the same one she had thrown around him when they’d fought before the Tree of Wishes. His hand fell and the necklace of memories skittered across the ground, landing near Aru. She didn’t reach for it. She was too busy looking at her father’s face, trying to catch his eye. But it didn’t make a difference.
Not once did Suyodhana remove his gaze from Krithika Shah.
***
Run.
The word shattered through Aru’s skull, forcing her to hop out of the net. Dimly, she registered that Kara was stumbling, dazed, toward the Sleeper. Her trident, Sunny, glowed bloody as a sunset. Krithika was bent over the Sleeper’s chest, her hands shaking above the place where his heart had once beat.
“Mom?” asked Aru bleakly.
Her mother didn’t turn.
Kara’s gaze met Aru’s. “I thought he…He was about to—” she said before stopping.
Aru understood, but she had no grief left to give. The only thing she wanted was for all this to be over. She’d thought that the Sleeper’s death would bring the war to a standstill….
And yet it continued.
Something flew overhead. A creature that was all teeth and wings. Aru flinched, reaching for her lightning bolt, only for the creature to gosplat!against a sudden, shimmering violet shield. Mini appeared. She was levitating, her eyes sheening purple as she looked at the scene.
“I’m so sorry, Aru.”
