I’m surrounded by bars.
Araz smirks down at me. I’ve never seen that look on his face. Didn’t know he could make it. He looks evil. Cos he is, and if he’s ’ere, then somethin’s gone terribly wrong.
“Where’s Leela?”
“I was hoping you could tell me, little mouse.”
“Firstly, I’m a rat, secondly, I ’ave no fecking idea, and thirdly, even if I did, I wouldn’t tell ya.”
He arches a brow. “Feisty little thing, aren’t you? Stands to reason, considering you belong toher.”
I need information. I need to know where the feck we are. A quick glance around the room is all it takes to figure out I’m in Chandra’s sitting room.
We’re in the palace.
Good.
So the others must be close.
Probably coming up with a plan to take this fucker down. I just need to hold on till they come fer me.
“So you’re ’ere, which means bad shit. Go on, fill a rat in on the gossip.”
His eyebrows go up. “Oh…You want the gossip, do you? Tell me where Leela is right now, and we can talk.”
“Are ya deaf? I told ya, I don’t know.”
His mouth tightens a fraction. “You’re connected to her.”
This primordial evil guy isn’t too bright. “I was made with a fragment of her soul, but I ain’t no crystal ball. I don’t know where she is. Sorry. Ya gonna have to do your own dirty work on that front.” I cross my arms and glare up at him. Ha, Leela is in the wind. She got away from ’im somehow. That’s my girl.
He sits back in his seat, giving me a better view of the room, and I see ’em. The demigods. Joe, Dharma, and Bina. They’re standing by the wall, still and silent, their eyes glowing softly crimson.
“Friends of yours, I assume,” the primordial evil says.
“What have you done to ’em?”
“I’ve bound them to me. They are now compliant to me, as are their drohi and their anchors. They belong to me now.”
Bloody hell, he has the demigods in his control. What about the Asura? Information swims to the surface of my mind. Anancient power that strips the will not only of the victim but of anyone soul-bound to him or her. He must be using something similar, but why not use it before? Why use it now? Maybe he couldn’t use it before. Maybe he didn’t have the power then but does now. What is he? What is he truly? I wait for knowledge to rise, but nothing comes.
“But you…” He leans forward, his topaz eyes filling with a speculative gleam. “You’re different. Like her.”
Leela…he doesn’t have her because he can’t control her like he does the others. Her Deva blood makes her immune to such power. That’s good. It means she’s free. Out there somewhere. She’ll find a way to stop this bastard.
Chandra has a plan. A dagger. Where is he now, though? Wait…he has Deva blood, so it means he’s free too. Free or dead. Dammit.
“I should kill you,” the primordial evil says. “If you can’t find her for me, then you’re useless.” His eyes narrow as he considers murder, and my pulse goes wild, but I’m damned if I’ll beg for me life. Not ta this fecker. “I suppose I’ll have to wait for news from the ankh.”
He has the ankh in his control too? Bloody hell. What about the shakti? Has he taken control of that power?
“I can’t control you, and honestly, that’s almost refreshing after how easy it was to devour the shakti and commandeer the ankh.”
Well, that answers me question.
He raises his hand, and crimson bolts of power crackle between his fingers. “It’ll take time to undo what has been done here, and honestly, I was beginning to get bored with no one lucid to talk to, but now I have you.” He grins, a manic, show-all-your-teeth grin. “You and I are going to be the best of friends, little rat.”
Friends my hairy arse. “Yeah? In that case you can start by telling me what you did here.”
