The looks on Zarael’s and Jaantor’s faces said it all. There was no winning this one.
An Asura rushed toward Araz’s fallen from.
“No!” I beat him to it, falling to my knees to cover my drohi with my body, my cheek pressed to his, arm around his head to shield him.
A fiery tingle rushed over my skin and the Asura screamed.
I exhaled, my heart in my mouth as Araz wrapped his arms around me. I lifted my head to look down into his face, bathed in the golden glow of the light surrounding us. A ward. A shield.
“Araz…”
He returned my gaze with topaz eyes ringed in startling green looking up at me as if seeing me for the first time.
“Hey…it’s me, I?—”
Whoomp. Whoomp. Whoomp.
My head whipped up, heart sinking as thunderbirds rose to surround the ship. But wait, they didn’t have crimson eyes.
I spotted one with golden head feathers and yellow eyes.
Pakshiraj!
A tiny figure appeared on his head.
Wait, was that Blue?
The golden dome around us shuddered as an Asura slammed an astra into it, and beneath me, Araz growled, the vibration traveling through me in a way that was wholly inappropriate for the situation.
I looked down into his beautiful face, feeling the fire in his eyes echo the flame burning in my chest.
He smiled, wild and feral. “Let’s bring these Asura to heel.”
With Arazon his feet and Pakshiraj and his kin on our side, the battle lasted mere minutes. The Asura who’d been in Mizikiel’scommand retreated quickly, leaving us to lick our wounds and regroup.
Araz pulled me into his arms. With his chin resting on my head and his heart thundering against mine, the fact that Mizikiel had escaped didn’t matter.
A gust of wind cooled the sweat on my brow and washed the scent of blood from my nostrils as if trying to cleanse the evidence of death form my senses, but the deck was bathed in the blood of Asura and djinn. Blood that shouldn’t have been shed. There was no erasing that.
My stomach twisted, a fist of grief clutching at my throat.
C’ael was gone.
Chandra was gone.
Ravi, Kalani, Yudh, Dhoona, Pashim…Oh gods, what had become of Pashim?
Araz kissed my temple. Soft words soothed the tumult in my chest. Heat bloomed at my solar plexus—calming and sure.
There was work still to be done.
I stood taller to meet his eyes and saw my thoughts reflected there.
Yeah, I had him back, but our work wasn’t over.
His jaw flexed, and he nodded slowly. “We need to get the ship to Shahee Kshetra.”
“Leela!”
