“Of course it’s me. Who else?” Paranjay teased, trying to bring levity to the situation, even behind bars. “How did you know I’d be here?”
Hasan frowned. “I didn’t.”
Paranjay opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked just as confused as Hasan felt. “Then why are you here? If not to rescue us?”
In that moment, a revelation dawned on Hasan, horror soaking him down to the bone. If he burned down this building, he’d burn his brother too.
“What are you doing?”
He started. He twisted around, fingers still locked with Paranjay’s.
Harithi stood at the remains of the bashed-in door, her hands on her hips. “We were supposed to be?—oh.” Her face paled as she caught sight of Paranjay. She glanced at Hasan, his distress mirrored in her eyes.
“Harithi?” Paranjay perked up. “Where’s Zeyar?”
Harithi and Hasan flinched simultaneously. They exchanged a glance, both of them on the same page: This was the wrong time to tell Paranjay about the hostage negotiations and Zeyar’s betrayal. In the prolonged silence, Paranjay’s expression morphed into wariness, his weakened frame tense as he braced himself for bad news. “Did something happen to him?”
“No,” Harithi answered quickly. “He’s fine. But he didn’t come with us. This was not supposed to be a rescue mission. What are you doing here, Paranjay?”
“To be honest, I’m not even sure where we are,” Paranjay said. “They put hoods over our heads until we got here. Am I in the courthouse?”
“No,” Hasan said. “You’re not here to be tried for smuggling opium.” Briefly, he explained the concept of the Registry Act to his brother. “You’re here as a prop,” he theorized. “As proof of how dangerous daivyakt are. Each one of you in this cage has likely committed some kind of crime using their daivyakhi, which supports the rationale behind the bill.”
“When are they voting on it?” Paranjay asked.
“Today,” Harithi said.
“But you have a plan to stop it, yeah? That’s why you’re here.”
Hasan and Harithi exchanged a glance.
Paranjay repeated the question, this time uncertainly. “You have a plan to stop it, right?”
“We did,” Hasan said. “We were going to burn this building down, with everyone in it.”
Paranjay laughed. When neither Harithi nor Hasan joined him, his chuckle fizzled out. He paled. “Oh. You were serious.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Hasan said. “Where’s the lock on the cage?”
Paranjay pointed. “Over there.”
They followed him around the perimeter of the cage, where a dense padlock had been bolted to the door.
“Has no one tried to open it with daivyakhi?” Hasan asked.
Paranjay shook his head. “None of us has made a sacrifice in some time.”
Hasan hefted the complex lock in his palm, feeling its weight. It would take an extraordinary amount of heat to melt it?—daivyakhi he couldn’t spare, not if he wanted to burn the building down too. Even with his most recent sacrifice, he wouldn’t be able to do both. He wasn’t even sure if he could do this.
“Well?” Harithi sidled up to him, keeping her voice low.
“If I do this, I won’t be able to burn the building,” he muttered. “Did you bring matches?”
“Of course I didn’t bringmatches. And even if we used them to start the fire, you’d need your daivyakhi to escalate the intensity and kill the representatives fast,beforehelp arrives.”
Hasan closed his eyes. He could use his energy to try to rescue the prisoners, but he would damn the rest of the country’s daivyakt residents.
Or, he could burn the building down as planned.
