Page 14 of Damned and Broken Gods
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would I have tobuyloyalty?”
Her eyes narrowed, and she studied me for several beats before her expression relaxed into something that looked suspiciously like pity. “You truly have no idea, do you?”
“Why don’t you enlighten me?”
“Enough.” Her drohi stepped in. “Bina, we spoke about this.”
“She deserves to know,” Bina said.
“It’s not your place to enlighten her,” the drohi replied.
Bina looked like she wanted to say more, but her drohi steered her away from me. She muttered something that sounded likelamb to the slaughterbefore her drohi hushed her, urging her to the far side of the room.
Araz strode over as they left. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Come. We have a table.” He led us to the opposite side of the kitchen where Chaya and Mahira were setting down bowls of chicken, rice, and meat curry.
Everyone grabbed a seat, and I took a spot on the end of the bench.
Araz sat opposite me, his brow furrowed in concern. “What did Bina say to you?”
I filled him in on the cryptic altercation. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”
Araz shook his head, looking to Chaya and Mahira.
“I have no idea,” Chaya said.
“I’m sorry,” Mahira added.
A shadow fell over me, and I looked up at a young man with dark hair pulled up in a knot. His warm brown eyes, ringed in kohl, had the kind of intelligent spark that reminded me of Nani’s.
He smiled, lopsided and disarming. “Hi, my name’s Vick. Mind if I join you?”
“Go away,” Araz said.
Vick kept his attention trained on me. “Doyouwant me to go away? And before you answer that, consider the fact that everyone is watching right now. So the real question is, do you want to make friends here?”
“Are you threatening my demigod?” Araz growled.
Vick looked genuinely stunned by the question. “Gosh, no. I just…I know things, okay, and it’s been a while since I met someone from the mortal world.”
“You’re not native?” Dharma asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. Can I join you?” He aimed another smile at me. “Pretty please.” There was a hint of desperation in his tone now, and I got the impression that he’d benefit from joining us as much as we’d benefit from hosting him. Either way, what harm could it do to let him sit?
I indicated the empty spot on the bench next to me. “Sure.”
Vick took a seat, his arm bumping mine, and across the table from me, Araz’s eyes glowed brightly. He dropped his gaze for a beat, and when he raised it again, the gleam was gone.
“What things do you know?” Joe asked from across the table.
“Oooh, can I have some chicken?” Vick asked, eyeballing the plate loaded with roasted drumsticks.
“Answer the question,” Araz ground out.
Vick pouted. “Fine. Bina is seedborn or will be once she ascends. Her sire is an official with Pavan Ghar in the Shahee Kshetra. She told me some stuff about the political divide there. How there are those loyal to the monarchy and those who want the Authority to have full control and the concept of monarchy to be abolished.”
