Almost instantly, the tingle became a searing agony. She fell to her knees and onto the dusty ground as the pain traveled up her arm and spread through her body like fire consuming dry brush.
Gasping, moaning, Sita turned her gaze back to the two cobras. The red cobra remained close, rearing, hissing, while the black cobra lurked behind it, still and watchful. They didn’t seem interested in attacking her again. Perhaps they knew one bite was enough.
As poison flooded her veins, Sita was overcome with another sensation.
Despair.
She was going to die, having failed her kingdom and everyone she’d ever loved.
She thought of the oracle and all its divine portents. How couldthe gods have been so wrong about her? How could they not have seen the path of her life lead to a meaningless death?
How foolish she’d been, allowing herself to be delayed in Perset for so long, when she should have been raising an army to remove Mery from the throne! How selfish to fall into a happy rhythm—not to mention the arms of a man—and forget the suffering that lay outside the lost city!
You thought you’d changed after leaving Thonis, but you haven’t. You’re still weak, still a coward.
She had tried so hard to deny her demons. But still they came for her. Despite her struggles to live in the light, Sita was destined to die in darkness, alone but for the hatred she felt for herself.
The pain was cresting, and Sita knew that death would soon follow. She cursed the two strange women for abandoning her. Perhaps if they had stayed, she could have avoided this fate. She recalled their strange talk, their mysterious pronouncements.
Perhaps you and your brotherarethe same.
Sita almost smiled at that.
Mery would never take a snakebite lying down. He’d grab the snake by its throat and bite it back.
Tears pricked Sita’s eyes, and she gasped as that one simple thought unearthed a secret she’d kept hidden, the most terrible secret of all.
A sob escaped her throat.
Despite everything that had happened, everything Mery had done—
“I still love him.”
Without meaning to, she’d whispered the words aloud. And like a spell, her words invoked the voices of the two sisters. They echoed through the chamber, speaking in tandem with each other and with the slowing pulse of her heart.
Will you cling to the light?
Or embrace the darkness?
Will you accept the shadow within?
Or remain forever fractured?
She thought again of Mery.
My twin.
Being compared to him used to make her proud. Used to make her feel like she too was like the sun—brilliant, radiant with power.
Now the thought filled her with horror.
My mirror.
Her brother knew they were the same. One soul reflected upon itself. That’s why he wanted her at his side, to act as the other edge of his sword. One edge to cleave, to shape the world in his image—and the other to bathe in the blood of his glory.
After the Bast Festival, she’d learned to hate herself because every time she saw her reflection, it reminded her of him.
Sita felt the venom spread into her lungs, her throat.
