Page 3 of Damned and Broken Gods
“I think…I think we floated?”
“The stars…” Blue said.
“Yes!” I’d seen stars. So many stars. “Something obviously went wrong, though.”
I wanted Araz. Why wasn’t he here? It would help if I could remember howI’dgotten here. Surely if things were bad, if I was in danger, then Arazwouldbe here, right? The logic helped calm the thunder of blood in my head.
“What’s wrong with us, Blue?”
He looked up at me with a fierce expression on his tiny face. “Nuthin’, and if they say otherwise, I’ll twat ’em one.”
I had no doubt he’d try, but my quivering belly warned that whatever had happened was too big to be solved with fists.
I wandered away from the window and its ethereal view and toward the table, considered taking a seat then discarded the option. I was too antsy to sit still right now.
The memory of what I’d seen when in the circle of the nexus played over and over in my mind.
“It’ll be all right, chickadee,” Blue said softly.
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“Hey.” He jumped up on to the table. “It’ll be all right because it has ta be.” He peered up at me with glittering dark eyes, and the knots in my belly dissipated.
“Yeah. We’ve done nothing wrong. It’ll be fine.” I took a deep breath and summoned a smile. “We’ve got this…whateveritis.”
“Damn straight we do.”
A sharp click drew my attention to the door. It swung open a moment later, admitting Guru Chandra. His wings were hidden, but their absence didn’t take away from his impressive presence. Even with several feet between us, he loomed over me.
Alone in this room with him, I was reminded of the imbalance of power between us as his energy swelled and filled the space, pushing against my skin and rendering me small.
His thick, dark hair, usually groomed perfectly and swept back off his brow, was now disheveled, as if he’d been raking his fingers through it.
I searched his face, noting the tightness around his mouth and the conflict in his eyes. My stomach twisted.
“What’s happening?” My voice came out in a hushed whisper. “What did I do wrong?”
His expression softened. “You did nothing wrong, Leela.”
“Then why am I locked in this room?”
“What do you remember about your moments in the affinity circle?”
I cast my mind back. “Not much. I think I floated and…I saw stars.”
“And that’sallyou recall?” he said, his tone suggesting that there’d been more.
“What else happened?”
“All five pillars lit up, triggering an ancient defense mechanism and waking the Rak who sleep beneath the floating landscape of Aakash Sansar. I was able to deactivate them before they could attack you.”
A memory flickered in my mind—Araz looking down on me, his eyes blazing with a mixture of fear and concern, and beyond him, the shadow of epic batwings.
“The situation has been defused,” Guru Chandra said with a small smile, “but the fact remains that you were able to awakenallthe pillars. Dharti, Paani, and Pavan eventually dimmed, and you were left with Agni and Aatma. Do you know what that means?”
My mouth went dry. Agni was a royal Asura affinity, and Aatma, which I assumed was spirit, was only ever exhibited by deva. “There’s been a mistake.”
“The nexus does not make mistakes,” Chandra said tightly. “Royals have an affinity for Agni, something they get from their deva blood, but there was only one royal whoevershowed an affinity for spirit, and that was Vijayroodra himself. The last true king of the Asura.” He studied me carefully as he spoke, as if looking for something vital. I shrank back under his probing gaze, my skin pricking with unease. “I don’t know how, but you are a descendant of Vijayroodra, the last king of the Asura. Leela, you are a royal.”
