Page 33 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“Sit and watch the training. I’ll be back soon,” she instructed.
Dharma turned to me as soon as the tantrik was gone. “That was weird.”
“The light show?” Priti asked, joining us.
“Yeah,” Dharma said. “But it was more Umbra’s face when it happened. She looked scared.”
“She said it happens,” Priti said, “but you’re right; she looked shifty.”
I showed them my thumb. “It healed right away.”
Dharma checked hers. “Mine’s scabbed up quicker than usual.”
“I felt something, like someone was holding my wrist. Did either of you feel that?”
“No,” the sisters said in unison.
I’d heard something too, but now I felt silly mentioning it. Maybe it had been my imagination.
“It could be the essence thing she was talking about,” Priti pointed out. “We’re coming into our demigod powers…” She trailed off, her gaze slipping over my shoulder.
I followed it to the silver and blue-haired drohi who’d promised to teach me how to punch. He strode across the arena, barefoot, wearing loose cream pants. His hair was a knot on his head, tendrils sweeping his high cheekbones, but it had to be the glistening bare chest decorated with inky blue tattoos that had Priti’s attention. I mean…okay…
“Do you need a napkin for that drool?” Dharma asked her.
Priti quickly snapped her mouth closed, her cheeks going pink. “Oh, come on, Dhar, even you have to admit he looks good.”
Good…yeah, he did, but it was the drohi behind him that had me staring. Araz’s hair was secured in a braid that rippled black and gold down his back. Hewas barefoot and bare-chested too, and what a feast for the eyes.
He looked larger without his black and silver outfit. A predator on the prowl. He carried twin blades, serrated and bulky looking. I’d have to use two hands to lift even one of them, but he carried them with ease, mesmerising me with the play of muscles across his powerful shoulders and up his arms as he turned his wrists, cutting patterns in the air with the blades.
The two drohi faced each other and fell into combat stance. A wicked smile curved Araz’s mouth, topaz eyes catching the sun, so it looked as if they were on fire a moment before he attacked.
He took the offensive, pushing his sparring partner across the arena with quick slashes and swipes of his sword. The silver-haired drohi let out awhoopand vanished in a whirl of air, appearing behind Araz a moment later, but Araz was ready for him, ducking to avoid a grapple. He danced out of reach and pointed a sword tip at his friend in friendly warning.
The silver-haired guy took a mock bow. And it began again, but this time with him as the aggressor.
“It’s beautiful to watch, is it not?”
I jumped at the stranger’s voice, then peered up at the blue-skinned woman we’d spotted in the arena earlier. She was huge, just like Araz and his combat partner. She had to be a drohi.
She smiled, showcasing dimples. “I’m Padmini. I’ll be helping you train alongside Guru Mihir.”
There was something warm and inviting about her that immediately put me at ease. I couldn’t help but smile back at her.
“I’m Leela.”
Another whoop from the arena drifted over to us.
“They seem…happy,” Priti said. “I guess they enjoy sparring.”
“Combat is in our blood. There is always satisfaction in it, but in this case, the reason for their cheerfulness is unrelated. Araz is celebrating his upcoming centennial with a friendly match with Pashim. They have been friends since boyhood.”
Pashim…I filed the name away. “What’s a centennial?”
“A drohi must give a hundred years to their Danava sire, after which they are free to choose their path. They are no longer obligated to fight in the war or stay at Aakaash. Tonight is his last night, and tomorrow his service will be over.”
I wasn’t sure why my heart sank at the thought of Araz leaving. He’d been a total ass to me, after all. I guess I had damsel syndrome. It would pass soon enough.
