Page 63 of Lost and Stolen Gods
But he wasn’t a man. He was a drohi. A creature I had very little understanding of. Something it was about time I remedied.
Chapter 23
CAN’T WE JUST BE FRIENDS?
Sleep refused to come because my mind was on high alert in nervous anticipation of Araz’s return to our shared quarters. The moments we’d shared in the baths scrolled through my mind as I analyzed them over and over—the way he’d made me feel until he’d ruined it with his anger and his taunts, the way I’d been certain he’d been feeling it too. I must have nodded off at some point because I woke suddenly, alert and aware that I was no longer alone in the room.
Araz was a shadowy figure by the wardrobe, undressing or, wait…was he pulling on his armour?
I sat up. “What are you doing?”
“Go back to sleep,” he snapped.
But I was wide awake now, my attention on the sword he’d pulled from the armoire. Where had that been hidden? “Araz, what’s going on?”
He made a sound of exasperation. “Nothing that you need to concern yourself with.”
Someone hammered on the door.
“Laanat hai,” Araz muttered. He yanked open the door. “I said give me a moment.”
“Pavan Savaar are here,” a male voice said.
Jasha? I pulled the covers closer to my body.
Araz looked my way, his attention dropping to my hands gripping the sheets. “Stay here,” he said before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
The rumble of the drohis’ voices drifted away, leaving me with a pounding heart and an awful sense of dread.
Stay here,he’d ordered. Yeah, not happening. I needed to know what was going on. I dressed quickly and gathered my thick hair into a knot. I’d fallen asleep with it wet, and it had dried all wonky and awful the way wavy hair tended to do. Would ascending give me manageable hair?
Boots on, I slipped out of my room and hurried down the steps, no particular plan in mind but to find out what the heck was going on. It had to be past midnight, maybe even later. No way to tell for sure without checking the timepiece hanging in the kitchen—one of the only clocks that I’d come across here. Created specifically for us off-worlders. It hung next to a Svargana clock, one which measured time in eight eras of day, awakening sun, rising sun, dipping sun,sleeping sun. The night-time was similarly worded but substituted sun with the word moon. They still used dawn, dusk, midnight, and midday, so at least we had that in common.
It was going to take some getting used to the new terminology. Right now, it was probably dipping moon time.
Bootfalls echoed behind me, coming down fast from the floor above, and I flattened myself to the wall with a yelp to avoid getting knocked over.
Pashim, dressed in his black armour outfit, blade strapped across his shoulders, ran by me then stopped suddenly and glanced back “Leela, what are you doing out of bed?”
“What’s going on?”
His jaw flexed. “Nothing for you to concern yourself with.”
I expected the brush-off from Araz, but not from Pashim. “Pashim, please…”
He exhaled heavily. “An attack to the west on a human settlement. We had a battalion stationed there for weeks, but it was moved a few days ago, and now the devouring force is attacking. You’re safe here in Aakaash, worry not.” He hurried down the stairs, leaving me with even more questions.
Dammit! I hurried after him, but he was already gone by the time I reached the foyer.
More bootfalls sounded behind me, and Remi joined me with Crag, her drohi, close behind.
“Come on,” Remi urged, pushing open the door. “Hurry or we’ll miss it.”
“Miss what?”
But she was already outside, Crag close on her heels.
I followed them into the night, where a chilly breeze wrapped itself around me in an unwanted hug. Remi and Crag stood looking up at the moon. It hung a little shy of being full, its silver gleam competing with the twinkle of its starry companions.
