Page 11 of Damned and Broken Gods
Asura Ione, the head of the earth house, greeted us at the door. She was a tall woman with strong features, kind eyes, and a smile that exuded sincerity.
Araz had explained that Ione wasn’t a tutor here in Prashikshan so didn’t carry the title of guru like the other Asura who worked here. No one knew why she’d been sent to act as house matron to earth barracks or what her connection to Dharti Ghar in the royal domain was. But we did know that she was a seedborn—amadegod who’d been claimed by her sire. Araz didn’t know who her sire was, though.
“Welcome,” she said as we climbed the three steps to the porch. “We are honored you chose us. Come, let me show you to your quarters.”
Up close, she was a tall woman, almost as tall as Araz, which was saying something.
She pushed open the double doors to the building and ushered us into the warmth. Araz indicated I should go first, following close behind with our bags, his solid form providing comfort as I entered unknown territory filled with native demigods well on their way to ascension.
The ground floor was an open-plan affair with pillars holding up the ceiling and plenty of seating in the form of wooden chairs and fabric sofas. Paintings lined the walls, and books were scattered on coffee tables and shelves. Demigods lounged about, reading or chatting. Several were gathered around a crackling hearth to my left, their anchors hovering close by. I spotted a hog, a wolf, a green cat, and various types of birds. But all eyes turned to me as I entered.
“Everyone, let’s welcome Leela to the house, please,” Asura Ione said brightly.
Her announcement was met with silence, and my stomach dropped. For a moment, I was back in school, walking into a class filled with students who thought I was a freak. My neck andears heated. Yes, my body remembered this feeling. This awful bug-trapped-in-amber moment, waiting for someone to throw a punchline at my expense that would make everyone laugh. Where were Dharma and the others? They’d left ahead of us, so they should already be here, but their faces weren’t among the stony ones glaring back at me.
I could have done with a few smiles of encouragement about now.
Araz moved closer behind me, his body heat spreading across my back, calming the jittery nerves in my belly and reminding me that I wasn’t alone.
I fixed a smile on my face and raised a hand in greeting. “I’m excited to be here.”
“Are you?” A demigod with short, cropped silver hair and angry gray eyes stepped forward, a huge snake draped over her shoulders—a python if I wasn’t mistaken. “Here to enjoy a little vacation before you head into the lap of luxury?”
“Bina!” Asura Ione snapped. “Donotforget who you speak to.”
Bina sneered, gaze flicking away as if she couldn’t be bothered anyway.
My stomach twisted into knots as I followed Asura Ione to the staircase and up to the first floor.
“Please ignore the icy reception,” she said. “The natives are always wary of new recruits. They’ll warm to you eventually, or not. It hardly matters.”
Because she thought I wouldn’t be here long. Maybe I wouldn’t, but it still mattered if people liked me or not, whether as a fellow demigod or their future queen.
We didn’t stop at the first floor but went up to the third and onto a corridor with two doors, one on either side.
Ione hurried and unlocked the door to the left, letting us into a spacious sitting room with a bay window looking out towardthe complex. Two doors led off from the room, the bedrooms no doubt.
“I hope it’s to your liking,” she said.
The furnishings, the décor, the space, the floral aroma—it was too opulent. “Are all the rooms like this?”
“Oh, goodness no. This is our largest one. I assure you it’s the most comfortable.”
Unease pricked at my skin as realization dawned. “And um…whose room was this?”
Her smile dimmed. “The upper floor rooms are usually given to the demigods who have the most points on Eben’s score board.”
Eben, the tree entity, kept track of all the demigods’ performances based on what the ankh reported. So whoever had occupied this room would have been at the top of the scoreboard and closest to being ready to take the labyrinth.
“Let me guess,” Araz said. “This room was Bina’s.”
My heart sank as I’d come to the same conclusion.
“Bina understands why she was moved,” Ione says.
Yeah, but she obviously didn’t agree with it, and why should she? This was totally unfair. “Look, I know that you think you’re helping me, but taking a room from a promising demigod to give to a newbie isn’t helping anyone. It makes me look like an entitled bitch, which I’m not.”
“You’re royal,” Ione said as if that was enough.
