Page 122 of The Divine Lies We Weave

What he thought was heading in the right direction had been torn to shreds. He had to admit, he understood. That was what hurt the most. Leela wasn’t selfish, and he’d known it was going to happen sooner or later. It had been why he hesitated to tell her about the curse in the beginning.

He just hadn’t expected her to end things when they were on the cusp of something great.

“Captain…?” Tanmay asked.

Rajesh turned to Tanmay. “Yes?”

Tanmay fidgeted with a loose string on his shirt, looking everywhere else to avoid connecting his gaze with Rajesh. “I… umm… How do you expect us to proceed into the mountains?”

Rajesh knew the ship wouldn’t make it through the rough terrain, especially with the way the monsters loitered. If the monsters couldn’t survive the conditions of the desert, they would find safety, and what was safer than the mountains where no one dared to go?

“We proceed on foot,” he told him. “Get as close as we can, and then we’ll need to hike.”

“And avoid the monsters,” Tanmay added.

“Granted, there will be monsters.”

“Will we have people back on the ship? To protect it?”

“Of course,” Rajesh said. He sculled the last of his whiskey and slammed his cup on the table. By now, his senses were numb, his vision wobbly. He was trying to numb the pain, and he knew whiskey was the wrong way to do it. But better that than regret lying in the arms of another woman.

Tanmay glanced at the cup and then at Rajesh. “I might be overstepping, Captain, but should you be drinking so much? We have a long trek ahead.”

Rajesh cast him a weary glance. “Yes. You overstepped.”

Tanmay bit his lip.

Rajesh sighed and ran a hand through his curls. “But I should have listened to you the last time. When you spoke about the dangers of the Viperess.”

“Is that why you’re drowning your sorrows?”

Rajesh tightened his grip on his cup. He knew he was being obvious. It wasn’t like he was trying to hide how he felt—just the events. He had told his crew to lie low, yet here he was, almost begging for someone to come and thump him in the head. “Somewhat.”

“Whatever has happened, Captain, know we are by your side. We cannot stand the Viperess and the way she looks at us, like she’s waiting to eat us all. We cannot even begin to explain how nervous she makes us feel.”

Guilt harrowed his bones. He had considered his crew, but he hadn’t considered how they felt about the Viperess. Now, he felt even more shitty over his circumstances. He should’ve put them first, but he had trusted Leela. Had fallen for her without a question in the world.

What a fool.

Love makes people foolish.

Funny. It hasn’t changed you, it seems.

Care to elaborate?

Care to explain your thoughts on the Viperess?

The Scorpion hissed. What happens between the Viperess and me will stay between us.

Have you forgiven her?

Not entirely. One cannot simply just forget.

Yet it was you who was in the wrong?

Watch your tongue, the Scorpion demanded.

Or what? You’ll make my life even more miserable? Please. I’d love to see what else you can do to me. I’m sitting in a bar, looking at my sorrows at the bottom of a cup. You can have your partner. You can have the Viperess. What is stopping you but your own arrogance? Your need to be right? You could let it all go and go back to her. The curse lifts. I get my life back.