Page 70 of The Burning Mountain
Veer retrieved the goblet and placed it back on the table with athwack. “This is precisely why I didn’t reveal Virat’s existence to you,” he said in a clipped voice. “Because I knew you would behave unreasonably toward him.”
“Unreasonably?!” She shook her head in disbelief. “You think I should welcome a man who has destroyed so many lives?”
Veer didn’t meet her eyes. “Are you sure that’s the only reason you loathe his existence?”
“What do you mean?”
“He is a wizard. Same as me,” he said softly.
She was taken aback for a moment, unsure where he was going with this statement. A knot of confusion formed behind her eyebrows. But before she could ask for clarification, he spoke again.
“I had to keep you in the dark because we had to conduct a trial. It’s kind of complicated…you should ask Shota about the judiciary amulets he always carries with him.”
His curveball revelation caused her thoughts to go haywire, but she wrenched her mind back. There was one very important detail that needed to be addressed. Far more important than past wrongs.
“Why wasthat mansaying he is going to come back in a few days. And what does he mean by set to sail?”
Veer finally seemed to have found the gumption to look her in the eye. “Exactly what he said. He is going to help us bring in the next key piece.”
“You’re going to be working with him?” she asked, failing to keep the accusation out of her voice. She knew he believed her, on some level at least. She thought, they had been growing closer, and that he seemed to want to build bridges and give their marriage another chance. So, she couldn’t fathom why he chose now to back a man who had proved himself to be a turncoat.
“Yes.” Veer ran a hand over his suddenly haggard face. “You are entitled to your opinion, Princess. But Virat has offered his help in this quest and his knowledge is substantial enough that I don’t want to turn him away. It has nothing to do with what I believe happened in the past.”
His quiet but firm words scared her more than his weary expression. This was beyond wishful thinking and moving into the territory of turning a blind eye.
“Any association with him will only bring you grief,” she stated and then softened her voice. “Veer, I realize he was onceyour friend. But just think. He is inhabiting a corpse for heaven’s sake. It…it isn’t natural.”
His mouth set in a mulish line. “Admit it, Princess. This is the real reason you cannot abide his presence. Because of your narrow-minded world view that condemns magic users like me.”
“When have I ever held your magic use against you?” she said, frustration brimming in her voice. Veer was stubborn almost as much as she was. If he decided on a course of action, it was difficult to turn him away from it, as she knew to her cost. “And you are nothing like Virat,” she added.
“How would you know, Princess?” he said, directing a sarcastic smile at her. “For all you know, I could be doing the same.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“How sure are you of that, Princess?” Veer shook his head, filling the goblet once again, his mouth twisting into a smile she could only call bitter. “Words are so easy to say.”
The simmering pot boiled over. “Because I don’t believe I could ever fall in love with a man like that.”
Her words fell like rocks into a placid pool, disturbing the deeper currents and pushing the dark secret she had hidden at the bottom of her heart, sending it floating to the surface.
Outside, the sea roared its fury, the rise and fall of the waves loud in the stunned silence that fell between them.
Veer had paused with the goblet halfway to his mouth, which had fallen open at her admission. He looked stunned, his eyes wide but unreadable, and Chandra knew that her face must be reflecting the same feeling. She covered her mouth with both her hands, afraid of what secret she would blurt out next. But then, she had nothing else left. She had left herself open.
“I think you’d better go,” he said finally, lowering the goblet suddenly, as if he had lost strength in his arm, his words slowand measured, eyes hidden by the lock of hair that fell over his face.
“What?!” her voice came out in a strangled whisper. Of all the things she might have expected, being asked to leave wasn’t one of them.
“You’ve said enough.”
Her heart sank. Chandra needed no further prompting. She turned and fled.
32
A MANUSCRIPT OF LOST THINGS
Chandra rested her head on the wide balcony railing that overlooked the sea and mulled over the events of the past few days.
