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I knew the Goels were ruthless because you didn’t get so rich without stepping on a few backs, but I’d had no idea that they were murderers. And now, thanks to them, I was one too.
I stared at the blood on my hands. I had grabbed a knife from the fruit bowl in my room before I snuck out of the Goel mansion, and I was glad I had it on me when Ayush’s men cornered me. But I had no idea I was actually capable of using it on a living, breathing person. Or that I’d be standing in the middle of the desert in the failing light of the setting sun watching the life drain out of a man’s eyes as blood spurted out of his neck, and his friends came at me with swords. That was never the plan.
The sound of approaching hoofbeats distracted my assailants, and they turned around in surprise.
Before they could react, a gorgeous, black horse was upon them. Its rider threw himself at my assailants and I could only stare open-mouthed as he knocked one guy out with minimal effort. A scarf was loosely wound around his face, obscuring my view, and by the time he took it off to use it as a weapon, his huge horse had come to stand in front of me, protecting me from the fight.
I tried moving around him, but the horse nipped at my shoulder gently and moved to obscure my view again.
“Oww! That hurt,” I hissed, and he turned around and nuzzled my shoulder in apology.
I rested my face against the horse’s neck and breathed deeply, trying to force back my tears.
I didn’t know who my rescuer was or whether he was just another source of danger, but I was grateful for the respite.
The rider growled something softly to my assailants, and I could hear their receding footsteps as they scurried away. I stayed put until I heard their quad bikes drive away, and only then did I step out from behind the horse.
I braced myself for another attack because the man who had driven away the rest of my attackers might have saved my life, but I’d be a fool if I thought he was out to help me. If the last hour had taught me anything, it was that this side of the Thar desert was a lawless land, and it was every man for himself.
The desert was eerily silent in the growing darkness but I refused to cower before this new danger. I knew I should run as fast as I could, but I had been running for the better part of an hour and my legs refused to move any more. My throat was parched and I wondered if this new guy would let me drink some water before he killed me.
The horse neighed loudly as the man turned around slowly.
“Stay away or I’ll kill you,” I snarled, shooting a wary glance at the man who was passed out in the sand next to the man I had killed. It was mostly for show, but I had sworn I wasn’t going down without a fight. I gripped my knife tightly in one hand as my exhausted brain tried to figure out the right moment to attack him.
“Diya, calm down. It’s me,” he said softly, sounding suspiciously like Dheer.
Great! Just fucking great!
I’d heard that the sands messed with your mind in the dark. Mareechika. That’s what my old Dai Ma used to call it. The trickery of the sands.
I needed my mind to cooperate with me right now, and not give in to these untimely hallucinations. For what else could it be? There was no way Dheer - academic, mild-mannered Dheer - had just taken down four men with just a scarf for a weapon. He was a pampered royal just like me, not Indiana Jones.
“Stay the fuck away from me,” I warned, waving my knife wildly.
The man froze and raised his hands slowly.
“It’s Dheer, Diya. I would never hurt you,” he swore, and I gasped as I realised that it was him.
That’s when my knees gave way. I had a feeling I was about to do what I had never done before. I was about to faint.
Dheer grabbed me before I fell and I could hear him swearing loudly as he patted my face. I frowned at the language and wanted to tell him to keep his filthy, betraying hands to himself. But my eyes just wouldn’t open, so I decided to rest them for a minute.
“Don’t you pass out on me, Diya,” he growled. “Don’t be a chicken now, after everything.”
It took a lot of effort, but I managed to raise my middle finger in response to that slur.
“That’s my girl! Now open your eyes and look at me,” he ordered. “Wake up, Diya! We’ve got to get out of here before they send reinforcements.”
He splashed some water on my face and I opened my eyes unwillingly. When I raised my head off his shoulder, the world still spun around me and I still felt queasy, so I took a few shallow breaths as I willed the earth to stop moving like a crazy ball.
“Who were those men?” he asked.
“Ay… Ayush Goel’s men,” I whispered.
“Can you sit up?”
I nodded slowly trying not to jostle my head too much. That was a lie, and Dheer knew it.
