Page 4 of Damned and Broken Gods
Denials sprang to my lips, never finding voice, because I’d felt the power of the nexus. Seen the stars, and now he’d said that name…Vijayroodra, I recalled a voice speaking it to me too. But even though my instincts told me he was telling the truth, the facts I’d gathered during my time in this world disputed the possibility.
“All the royals were killed a long time ago. All except you, of course.”
Guru Chandra’s eyes narrowed. “But ifIsurvived, it’s possible someone else did also. Someone who found a way through the ether and into the mortal world.” He exhaled sharply. “The queen’s charred remains were never found, you know. We believed that she’d been at the heart of the blaze andburned so hot that she turned to ash. But now it’s clear that she must have escaped the blaze somehow…Escaped into the mortal realm.”
“But why would she run?”
He began to pace, his hands clasped behind his back. “Two reasons: either she was complicit in the arson”—he shook his head—“a highly unlikely option, or she knew the perpetrators and feared for her life if she stayed. I can tell you that the queen, Ranirajni, was carrying the heir to the throne. If she birthed that child in the mortal realm and it grew to adulthood and procreated with a mortal, it would produce a demigod bloodline with the potential to carry the affinity for AgniandAatma. A gift from Vijayroodra himself.” A lopsided smile curled his lips. “It would also explain why the throne refuses to accept me.” His eyes glittered as they settled on me. “Because Vijay’s blood survives. In you.”
“You’re saying that my mortal bloodline is royal Asura…demigod? I’m so confused.”
“There has never been a royal demigod because the royals’ seed was sacred. Your existence is something new.”
“Wait a second,” Blue said from his perch on the tabletop. “If there have never been any Agni demigods, then why have you got a pillar for Agni in your nexus thingy?”
Oooh, good question. I looked to Guru Chandra for a response.
He smiled indulgently at Blue. “The nexus is used to identify demigod ability now, but that wasn’t always its purpose.” I expected him to elaborate, but instead he said, “I believe the answers to what truly happened are hidden within your mortal bloodline.”
If that was the case, then that information was lost. “Everyone from my mortal bloodline is dead.”
He sighed, his usually icy gaze taking on a misty look. “I’m so sorry, Leela. Sorry that your life was upturned and that you were dragged here to this world. I’m sorry you lost your grandmother.”
His sincerity made my eyes burn. “Thank you.”
He reached out and cupped my shoulder with his large hand. “Your mortal family may be gone, but your divine one is not.” He pressed his lips together for a beat before continuing. “You’re a descendant of Vijayroodra, which makes you my kin.Iam your family now.”
I stared up into his beautiful face, into dark eyes filled with compassion, and my chest warmed. I’d never known my father, had no memory of my mother. Nani had been everything to me, and losing her left a wound that would never heal. I’d thought myself alone. The last of my bloodline. But Guru Chandra was throwing me a lifeline, a new connection. To him. To a family that screamed that I belonged here.
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and smiled. “I appreciate that.”
He nodded and gave my shoulder a squeeze before releasing me.
“So what ’appens now?” Blue asked.
“That is precisely what I left you here to go determine. There will be aSabha, a meeting to decide whether to allow you to continue to take the ascension tests or whether to allow you to bypass them.”
“You’re saying I could be ascendedwithouthaving to do the labyrinth?”
He nodded. “It’s what I will petition for, but there are those that will challenge me. Asura who do not want to relinquish control of Aakash.”
“Wait, why would my bypassing ascension mean they’d have to relinquish control of anything?”
“Cos ya’re royal,” Blue said. “She’ll take the throne, won’t she?”
Guru Chandra nodded. “Eventually, yes. And there are those that would see you dead before allowing that to happen.”
My skin prickled as icy foreboding pooled in my belly. “Great.”
“What ’bout you?” Blue asked him bluntly. “Do you want her dead?”
“Blue?” I looked at him in shock, but his beady gaze was on Guru Chandra—shrewd and assessing.
“That’s a valid question,” Guru Chandra said. “I am liege, the bearer of royal responsibility, and although that does afford me some sway over the Authority, it is the Authority as a unit that makes decisions. Losing liege status would be no loss to me. I have no desire to hurt you, Leela.”
“So ya gunna keep her safe?” Blue pushed.
“I will protect her with allmyauthority.”
