Page 130 of Her Soul for a Crown
“I don’t think this is necessary,” Premala whispered. All confidence disappeared on stale air.
“That is why you are an acolyte and I am the guruthuma. Now hush.” The woman lifted her chin as she circled the pit. “Yakka, Iknow of your powers and your bargain with the consort. Invoke your oath with Anula, bring her and the relic here.”
“Our connection does not function that way. I do not control her. I doubt anything could.”
The guruthuma raised a brow to the Kattadiya with the drum. “Begin, Sandani.”
“Wait!” Premala stepped toward the other girl.
“Heed her, and join the Yakka in the pit,” the guruthuma seethed. “Your banishment will reach the beaches of the island, to die alone on the sand.”
Sandani hesitated, sharing a look with Premala. Then slowly, she sat, crossed her legs, and struck the first tone. The sound came before the sting. Reeri seized. The dark marking on his chest shivered and bit into his skin.
“This won’t get us the relic,” Premala blurted. “If—if we could get to the inner city—”
“Silence!” the guruthuma said. “Yakka, call Anula here with the relic!”
“I cannot.” He would not, even if he could.
Boom.
Pain flared, sizzling up his markings and sending a bolt through his chest. His knees smashed into the rocks, adding fresh blood to the cave floor.
Boom.
It lashed at his shadow.
Boom.
As if it were Wessamony and his whip.
Boom.
Reeri landed on all fours.
“This is your fault,” the guruthuma said.
A muscle twitched along Reeri’s jaw. He glanced at the rocks beneath him.
The guruthuma scoffed. “Already seeking a way to kill us? I expect nothing less of you, Yakka. You are but pure evil. If you had not brought the Yakkas here, people would not be suffering. Anula would not have been cursed. You have destroyed all you touched.”
The words slid down his spine, curled around his throat, and tightened like a noose.
Centuries ago this island had been blanketed in blood. It covered his hands. He had acted for personal gain, at the behest of humans, and even after centuries of guilt and shame, he had still returned only to cleave Anula’s soul. But he had not. He had changed his mind. Because he saw which were his mistakes and which were not. And without the burden of blame, he could easily see where to draw the line. He was no monster, and he would not be convinced that he was. Not again.
“No,” he grunted.
“Everything bad in this world can be traced back to you.”
He laughed, dark and low. “You cannot break me, Guruthuma, or force me to abandon myself. Wessamony already did that, and Anula has put me back together.”
She grinned, sharp and wild. “You forget the Kattadiya have the might of the First Heavens.”
“I could never forget that.”
Images flashed. First of Ratti flying through the air and Yakkas doubled over in suffering, snapping back to their shrines. Then of the call the Kattadiya made to cause the descent of the Lord—
“Bring. Her. Here.” The guruthuma stood at the lip of the pit, eyes blazing. Reeri held her fury, accepted her challenge. She pointed at Sandani—
