by Jasmine Walt
“Yes, but it may be different for you.”
“Because I’m immortal?”
He nodded.
“But it doesn’t change the fact that something is wrong. I can’t help but wonder . . . what if it’s me? What if my existence is somehow causing this?”
Indra’s eyes flickered from side to side as he processed. “It’s not impossible. You are an anomaly in many respects. A little like our Garuda here.” He offered Garuda a closed-lipped smile. “One of a kind.”
What if this one of a kind was killing my father? “I have to know, and soon. If there’s something we can do to stop it, we need to act now.”
Indra tapped his finger on the desk. “I don’t understand why Eamon wouldn’t come to me if something was wrong.”
Garuda snorted. “Maybe he doesn’t trust you.”
Indra locked eyes with Garuda. “I accept that you have a valid grievance, but do not forget who it is you speak to.”
Garuda placed his palms on the desk and leaned right in. “I’m speaking to a god with only a fraction of his power. Maybe you would do well to remember that I have all of mine.”
Wow, there was enough tension and friction in the room to make my hair stand on end.
“If you guys have finished comparing dick sizes, maybe we can get back to the matter at hand?” Whoa, had I just said that aloud?
Indra sat back in his seat. “Colorful, Miss Hayes.”
Yep, I guess I had. “Thank you. So, I’ll call you tomorrow? Or will you call me?”
“I will contact you when I have the results.”
“And please, don’t mention this to Eamon. Not until we know more.”
He inclined his head.
“I appreciate this, and I just want to say thank you for trying to help Eamon find a way to free my mother from the Daughter of Chaos.”
Indra stared at me, unblinking. “Eamon said that?”
“Yeah, he said you told him there was no way to help her.”
Indra’s expression shuttered. “Yes. That’s correct.”
My spidey sense tingled. He sounded all automated—kinda like he was lying. “Indra . . .”
He dropped his gaze. “If Eamon wanted you to believe there was no way to save your mother, then he must have had his reasons.”
“Like how he has his reasons to not tell me that he’s sick?”
Indra sighed. “Malina, you’ll have to speak to your father about this.”
Why would he have lied to me? What was he hiding? “You’re right. I will. Thank you.”
I turned and headed for the lift, but it had poofed. Well, there went my strong exit. “Um, can you call the lift, please?”
Garuda made a strangled noise that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed laugh, but then the lift appeared. I strode toward it. The doors slid shut, leaving Garuda to have his little chat with Indra, but instead of moving down, the elevator started ascending. I jabbed at the ground-floor button, but the whole thing lit up.
Stupid bloody lift. You’d think a huge company such as Brahma Corp would keep their lifts serviced. The contraption came to a smooth halt, and the doors slid open.
“What the . . .” A sun-dappled forest was laid out before me in high definition and supercharged color. I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to all the hues. Who knew there could be so many shades of green? The scent of jasmine was heavy on the air, and a jaunty tune whispered on the wind. There was actual wind. Where the heck was this? Curiosity killed the cat, but the cat also had nine lives, so . . . I stepped into the forest. The ground was soft with moss, each stride silent as I made my way through the trees toward the melody. Laughter tickled my ears, and the air grew moist. There was a pool nearby. I could almost feel the cool water rippling against my skin. I picked up the pace, and the trees parted to reveal a glade dominated by an oasis. The water lay like a serene sheet soaking up the sun’s rays. Female figures pranced on the opposite bank, where a familiar figure sat atop a rock playing what looked like a distorted guitar.
“Narada?”
Narada continued to play, face turned up to the sun and eyes closed as if in ecstasy. Maybe the lift hadn’t malfunctioned. Maybe I was meant to come here to speak to Narada. Something moved beneath the surface of the water, something big. And then it was surging up, breaking the surface and splashing glittering drops of water all over the place.
Not a something, but a man . . . or a god? He pushed long, dark hair away from his face and strode out of the pool toward me, his abs rippling, his . . . whoa, those swim shorts were way too tight. Great, I was eyeing up a bloody god. I met his gaze . . . and caught his smirk.
“Malina, so good of you to join me.”
“Not as if I had a choice.”
He held out his wet hand. “I’m Varuna. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
So this was the other half of Brahma Corp. I slipped my hand into his and gasped as a tingle ran up my arm.
He dropped my hand. “I wanted us to meet, for you to know you can call on me should you need my aid. Indra isn’t the only god who can be of assistance to the hellhound. We all contributed to your creation, and we all care deeply about your welfare.”
“Good to know. Is that all you wanted to say?”
He smiled. “That, and to thank you for saving my Narada’s life.”
“Your Narada?”
He ducked his head and walked past me toward a large, flat rock. “He was my devotee before he was our messenger.” Varuna stretched out on the rock and began to sun himself. “He was mortal once. When he died, I blessed him with a place at my side. Narada is . . . was one of our greatest minds—a scholar, a musician, and a storyteller. He would travel between the Loka—”
“Loka?”
He raised his head to pin me with his warm brown eyes. “It means the many earthly worlds. Narada could travel between them. He’d bring back tales for the gods and take our word back to the mortals. He was my eyes and ears, and although he may no longer be the god he was, he is still a god, thanks to you.”
He was staring at me as if he could see right through me. I broke eye contact and gazed across the oasis . . . at Narada, still lost in his music. “What’s wrong with him?”
Varuna sat up. “He has retreated into himself. A defense mechanism, I believe. After what the entity did to him, after Indra questioned him so harshly . . . I believe he is hiding within himself. Healing. And this tiny piece of Swarga is the best place for him to do it.”
Swarga? As in heaven? “This place is an actual piece of heaven?”
He smiled, but his eyes were sad. “A tiny speck of home. A place for the deities unable to stomach the mortal realm to call home. Not all gods are as adaptable as my brother Indra and me. The ones who do not slumber hide here, waiting for the day when we will return home.”
What was it like to be stranded like this? To have known a world this beautiful and full of color only to be locked out and left to wander a world gray in comparison? Yet they’d risked it all to save us. To protect humanity.
“Thank you.”
He cocked his head. “For what?”
“For your sacrifice.”
His lips curled in a warm smile. He reached out and placed a hand on my head. “Bless you, child.”
Warmth spread from the top of my head to my toes. Tears pricked my eyes, and I knew I’d been touched by the divine.
Walking away from that tiny piece of heaven was harder than I’d expected.
I got outside, expecting to find Garuda waiting for me, but the car was empty. He was still with Indra, hashing out their issues. Maybe they’d pulled out a ruler and were doing some measuring—who knew? Meanwhile, there was nothing to do but grab a coffee from a nearby café and drink it while leaning against the car.
A shadow fell over me.
Garuda unlocked the car. “We should get going.”
We drove in silence for the first ten minutes or so. Garuda, stoic and tense, navigated traffic like a pro, one hand
on the wheel, the other on his powerful, denim-clad thigh. The war was on again—one part of me needing to get away, to press up against the door and flee, and the other wanting to straddle him and press up against him. I closed my eyes and exhaled to quell the turmoil inside, the heat that trickled through my veins, the simmer of my sensitized skin, and the prickle of my scalp.
Garuda broke the silence. “So, Ajitah?”
“Huh?”
“Have you guys fucked yet?”
Had he really just asked me that?
He glanced my way inquiringly before fixing his attention back on the road.
“Sorry?”
“Have you fucked him yet?”
Okay, so I had heard right. “That’s none of your business.”
“Of course it isn’t. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.”
“You might want to know, but I have no intention of telling you.”
He smirked. “So you haven’t fucked. Okay.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Don’t tell me. You can smell it.”
We came to a smooth stop at the light, and he turned his head to look at me, his tongue sliding across his top teeth. “You have no idea.” He raked over me with those intense peepers of his. “I can smell your desire, your need, your anxiety, and your desperation. You want me, and if not for the naga in you, we’d be parking in a lot somewhere and fucking each other raw right now.”
Heat pooled in my belly, and I was instantly wet. The bastard was right. But this wasn’t real. This was hormones and confusion, an almighty dangerous mess. Ajitah was real, solid, and at home with a broken leg waiting for a sponge bath from his naughty nurse. Chest heaving, I fixed my gaze out the window. “Shut up and drive.”
With a dirty chuckle, he did just that.
The sun slanted through the windows, bathing the sitting room in revealing light, highlighting every speck of dust, every mote floating in the air. Outside in the real world, night would have fallen—shadowy and concealing, just like Eamon. Gah, I was so mad right now. Garuda lounged on the sofa, completely at ease, but sitting still wasn’t an option for me.
“You lied to me.” I paced the floor, hands on hips.
Eamon, seated in his usual spot, looked at me levelly. No remorse. No nothing. “Yes.”
“Is that all you’ve got to say?”
He sighed. “Well, I know you don’t trust me if you had to go behind my back and speak to Indra . . .”
“Oh, don’t even try to turn this around on me.” I jabbed an index finger at him. “You lied. Not me. Just tell me the truth, already. Why did you say there was no way to help my mother?”
“Because there isn’t.”
“You’re lying again. I can hear it in your voice. Gah! Indra told me you never approached him with the problem.”
“And what did Indra have to say?”
What had Indra had to say? “Something about you having your reasons. But he didn’t look ecstatic about having to try to cover for you.”
Eamon quirked a brow.
“Yeah, he tried to pretend he knew what I was talking about, but I saw right through that, so tell me the truth. You owe me that much.”
Eamon massaged his temples.
“Give the guy a second,” Garuda said.
I turned on him. “Why are you even here? This has nothing to do with you.”
“Maybe not, but I’m here, so deal with it.”
My God, he was annoying. Ignoring him, I focused on Eamon. “Why the lie?”
“It was necessary to protect you.”
“So there is a way to save her?”
“A slim chance, but it could be dangerous for you.”
Once again with the Daddy attitude. “Look, I can take care of myself. You need to stop trying to mollycoddle me. I don’t need you to decide what I can and can’t deal with.”
He pressed his lips together, eyes flashing. “Maybe not. Maybe you don’t need me. Maybe you don’t remember the bond we shared. But it doesn’t make it any less real for me. It doesn’t stop me from loving you and wanting to do everything in my damn power to protect you. I’m your father, whether you remember or not!”
What the heck could I say to that? He was right. Eamon had every right to try to protect me, but this wasn’t the way I operated. It went against how I’d been raised. Information was essential to any successful operation, and if I hadn’t discovered Eamon had been lying to me, I may have moved forward on a plan that would have killed my mother when she could have been protected.
“Tell me how I can save her.”
He ran a hand over his mouth. Dammit, why was he still holding back?
“Eamon, old friend, it’s time,” Garuda said.
Hang on. Had Garuda known?
Eamon blew out a breath and raised his chin. “Pure naga have a special power inside them—a light that resides within their core. They call it their nagamuni, and they guard it with their life. I’m not too sure of the full significance of it, but when Diya was forced to leave hers behind, I noticed the change in her. For a while, she was detached and distant.”
“Why did she have to leave it behind?”
“It was a condition her people imposed on her. A stipulation she had to comply with to be with me. I’m not a naga. Not one of them, and if she was with me, then she was no longer one of them. She told me once that leaving her nagamuni behind was like losing an essential connection. That without it, she would have to learn to be whole all over again. When we had you, it was like that emptiness inside her was finally filled.”
“So how does this help us get her back?”
“I believe if we can reunite her with her nagamuni, we can give her the strength to break away. The entity is somehow taking advantage of the fact that your mother isn’t whole. I believe it’s latched onto the emptiness within her. With the nagamuni restored, maybe Diya can expel the entity.”
“But that’s great! Why didn’t you just tell me so?”
“Because to get the nagamuni, you’d have to travel to Nagalok. It’s a place I know nothing about. You could be in danger. What if they attack you as an imposter? What if they claim you and force you to stay? No one can go with you. Only naga or gods may enter Nagalok. We have no idea what reception would await you, or even if you’d make it there alive.”
“I’m in danger every time I cross the street. And if there’s a chance this could bring her back, we have to try. I couldn’t live with myself if we didn’t.”
Which was probably why he hadn’t told me. Eamon had been happy to carry that guilt on his shoulders. No way was I allowing him to do that. If there was a chance we could save my mother, I had to take it.
“Where is this Nagalok? How do I get there?”
“Nagalok can be accessed via the Thames,” Garuda said.
My cheeks grew warm, and I turned on him. “You knew about all this?”
“I asked him to keep it to himself,” Eamon said. “You can access Nagalok beneath London Bridge.”
“I can show you the spot Eamon is talking about,” Garuda said.
So many reasons to be pissed off, but what was the point? Once again, it was all about protecting me. When the fuck were they all gonna learn that I didn’t need my hand held? I grabbed my jacket. “Let’s go.”
“It’s late. We should wait ’til morning.”
“Why? Night or day, the bridge is always a hive of activity. We have as much information as we’re going to get about Nagalok. Waiting isn’t going to enlighten us. I’m not wasting any more time.”
I strode from the room. No more arguments. I just wanted this done, but my feet faltered in the foyer. Eamon had a point; this was uncharted territory. What if something did go wrong? There was always a risk. It came with the job.
I headed up the stairs instead.
“Malina?” Garuda called from the foyer.
“I’ll meet you in the car.”
The boys were tucked in bed, lips parted on dreams. I pushed open the door to Ajitah’s bedroom. He was asleep, propped up in his bed, a book by his side. He appeared softer, unguarded, and beautiful. I wanted to look into the churning storm in his eyes, to see the clouds part just for me. I wanted him to hold me, to absorb that safe feeling and carry it with me. He needed to know where I was going, and that I’d be back. Maybe I should wake him. A shiver skittered up my spine, and I turned my head to see Garuda behind me.
He peered into the room. “I hear heavy pain relief can do that to you. Knock you out.”
He’d followed me upstairs. Why had he done that? I wanted to ask but bit back the words, not really needing to hear the answer. Instead, I fixed my gaze back on Ajitah.
“You care about him.”
“Yeah.”
“And he cares about you.”
“Yeah, he really does.”
Garuda’s breath tickled the top of my head. “Then wake him up. If that were me, I’d want to know.”
I didn’t need to look over my shoulder to feel the absence of his presence. The tiny hairs on my body told me he was gone. He was right, though. I needed to wake Ajitah. A soft kiss on the cheek and my sleeping beauty opened his eyes.
“Malina. Hey.” He scanned my face and frowned. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes. I just wanted to see you before I head out again.”
He sat up a little straighter, glancing about. “What time is it?”
“Late. But there’s something I have to do. Something important. I don’t have time to go into it right now, but I promise I’ll tell you everything when I get back.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Isn’t it always?”
He dropped his gaze to his cast, chest rising and falling. “I hate this. I should be going with you.” He looked up. “You’re not going alone, are you?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about Garuda, but I swallowed the words. Garuda wasn’t going into Nagalok with me. He was just showing me the spot where I could access the naga domain. So, technically, he wasn’t going with me . . .
I slipped my hand over his. “I’ve been working alone all my life. I can handle it. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
