Page 98 of Lost and Stolen Gods
The connection I didn’t want.
My grip on Pashim’s arm tightened.
“Do you need me to carry you?” he whispered.
But all eyes were now on me. On the woman who’d fallen off the rockface in the middle of her first important test. My cheeks burned because this was so fucking embarrassing. It felt like coming back to school the day after shitting yourself in class. Not that I’d ever done that, but I knew someone who had and?—
“They’re glad ta see you,” Blue said from my shoulder. “Been worried sick.”
The smiles came then, warm and inviting on my comrades’ faces, and the worm of doubt withered.
Dharma and Priti made a space between them for us, and Pashim led me over.
I forced myself to walk normally, to not hobble or shuffle, and my muscles trembled from the effort. The poisonous bouquet had totally fucked me over.
Dharma’s hound nudged my thigh, looking up at me with big brown eyes.
“Ida wants to know if you’re all right,” Dharma said.
“I’m getting there.”
When I glanced up, Umbra was watching us. Her attention bounced between Pashim and me, and a slight frown settled between her eyebrows. Yeah, it should be Araz by my side, but I was done pretending, and so was Araz, because he made no effort to take Pashim’s place beside me.
“You look like shit,” Dharma whispered.
“Gee, thanks.”
“Not as bad as poor Sylvie,” Priti said, her gaze shooting across the room to where Sylvie stood, supported by her drohi. There was a bandage on her head, and her arm was in a sling.
“Why hasn’t she healed?”
“It’s a triple break,” Priti said. “It’ll take time.”
“We came to see you,” Dharma said. “A couple of times, but Araz wouldn’t let us in. He was extremely protective.” Her gaze flicked across the sanctum to where Araz stood now, acting as if he didn’t give a damn. “Who’d think that men could be so complicated.”
“He’s not a man, though, is he?” Priti said. “None of the drohi are.”
No, they were something else. Males that we had yet to understand.
“Welcome to your first grading,” Guru Chandra said. “Today we will discover who will take their firstofficial pareekshan next week. Only four of you with the highest scores in the gauntlet will pass this round. The rest of you will wait and take your pareekshan next month.”
“You’re bound to come first,” Priti said to her sister.
“Course she is,” Keyton said. “She’s the only one that completed the gauntlet.”
I squeezed Dharma’s hand. “And well deserved.”
Guru Chandra placed his hand on the monolith stone that housed the spirit named Eben. “Eben, please enlighten us.”
The moss on the smaller stones lit up, then the ground rumbled, just as it had the last time we’d visited. The air grew heavy with crackling tension, and finally the stone’s surface shifted to form a face.
“Greetings, mortal gods,” Eben said. “The ankh have watched and judged. I will announce the four chosen in ascending order. In fourth place is demigod Joe.”
Joe let out a shocked squeak, and his drohi scooped him up in a hug. “I made it?” He sounded stunned.
“Yes, you did.” His drohi beamed down at him with a soft intensity that felt like it belonged behind closed doors.
Umbra cleared her throat loudly, and Guru Mihir said, “You may celebrate later,” but there was a twinkle in his eyes.
