Page 12 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Leela had never known pain this suffocating. It was as if a fire was burning within her, intangible and without mercy. It ripped her apart—every blood vessel, every vein, every organ—from the inside out.

A dark vortex swirled, trapping her inside her mind. Through the smoky darkness, a woman stalked forward, shimmering into existence. She drew nearer, like a snake slithering forward. Closer. Clearer.

Leela gawked, unable to look anywhere other than the golden waves filtering around the shadow’s curves and edges. She was stunning. She was divine.

And she was inside Leela’s head.

Leeeelaaaa.

Leela’s eyes shot open. She thought she was back at the palace, trapped in a room the maids locked every night, worried she would run.

Except this felt worse. Much worse.

When the pounding in her skull finally eased, silver cylindrical bars came into focus. Sun splintered through tiny holes in the ceiling, heating up the tiny alcove of the cave where they’d caged her.

A low hum echoed in her mind, vibrating throughout her skull. Leela rubbed her eyes and finally glimpsed a man on a wooden chair on the other side of the bars. As soon as she stirred, the man leaped to his feet and disappeared through the cloth covering the doorway, yelling out for someone.

Groaning and clutching her head, Leela stumbled to her feet. Dizziness drove her back to the ground, her legs unable to communicate with her brain. She bit her lip as her knees dug into the earth and nausea seized her throat. She could only shut her eyes and pray for the pain to disappear.

“She wakes.”

Leela shifted her eyes up to Ishaan, standing before her cell with his hands in his pockets and a smirk. She refused to falter under his gaze. She ground her teeth, fingernails digging into the red earth. “Wh—what did you do to me?”

“I gave you your weapon,” he said. “Perhaps she’ll be all you need to bring the lustisha down. Or maybe she’ll simply lead you to what you seek.”

“W—weapon…?”

“You’re now a Vessel. A Flame that can be used in the line of duty. Or, in your case, a weapon.”

Leela’s gut sank. No. This was far from what she wanted to defeat the monster. She’d rather scour the desert for endless days, yet the choice had been taken from her. Again.

Her nostrils flared, and she ground a lump of sand between her fingers. Fuck this. Fuck him! She forced herself to her feet and clung to the bars. “I didn’t want this!”

Ishaan tilted his chin, gaze firm on hers.

Leela glared at the man, lips twitching in anger. If she could get her hands on him, she’d kill him. But she had to keep the bile down first. Her sweat was thick and sticky, and not from the stifling heat of the sun either—but from the toiling emotions through her.

Anger, for having her body taken from her. Regret, for ever having left the palace. Hope, to get the fuck out of here.

Ishaan stepped closer, a shadow of the Raven and another of a man reminding Leela what she needed to do and how she should behave.

Leela whipped around, hoping to see the shape of her shadows, but no light touched the depths of the cave.

“Wishing to know which Flame you’ve harnessed?” he asked. “Do you hear her?”

Her…

Leela gripped the bars tighter. “No.”

“She’s not a quiet one,” Ishaan said, rubbing his chin and smirking. He sat on the wooden chair, interlocking his fingers on his knees. “I have been waiting a very long time for you, Leela.”

In the blink of an eye, Ishaan’s pupils turned into the dark orbs of a raven, and a muskier voice took hold. Despite the searing afternoon sun, a chill ran down Leela’s spine.

“The Viperess wishes for revenge,” Ishaan—or rather, the Raven—continued. “A way to condemn her lover to the pits of the Netherworld where he should have reigned with her.”

Viperess…

Netherworld…