Page 64 of The Divine Lies We Weave

“We take on parts of the animal too. Scorpions absorb the light during the day to see at night. The scorpion is a nocturnal creature, after all.”

Leela’s mouth went dry. “Oh… Right…”

“Has the Viperess finally answered any of your questions? Or is she still being stubborn?”

Hiiiisssssss. The Viperess slunk from the depths, golden eyes flashing.

Leela couldn’t help but chuckle. “She’s finally said some things, yes.”

Rajesh nodded. “I’m pleased. Hopefully, we can get you to control her and her to not control you, and we can find this artifact.”

“What is the plan?” Leela asked as they entered the dining room. It was busier than she had seen it most mornings, a loud chatter blocking out the winds. “When do we find it?”

“Patience,” Rajesh said, smiling down at her. “We have time now that you’re all caught up.”

“I don’t have time,” Leela stated. “What if the Viperess takes over me? What if the Scorpion⁠—”

“All things we don’t know,” Rajesh said, eyes staring ahead. “Let’s not waste our time on things we can’t control.”

Huh? She could never get her brain to shut up and stop thinking about every tiny thing and stew over it for hours. It was how she learned to survive. If she could think of every way to get out of a situation, then she was prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Maybe it was wishful thinking.

Or the trauma talking, who knew.

“Captain!”

As they entered the hall, Tanmay waved Rajesh over to where the rest of the crew were sitting, but lowered his smile when he realized Leela was with him. Hema, however, smiled broadly at Leela and patted the bench spot next to her.

“What are you two doing together?” Iravan questioned, gaze flickering between the two with a goofy grin splitting his lips.

Leela scowled at him.

“I was taking her to the hall,” Rajesh replied simply.

“Ah-huh,” Iravan said, smirking over the rim of his cup at Leela. “And how was last night?”

Leela shuffled on the chair and avoided Iravan’s questioning gaze.

“We got attacked by an angstent,” Tanmay said, thankfully thinking the question was for him.

“Haven’t seen one of those in a long time,” Hema said. “It had two heads, and then Rajesh’s Scorpion pierced it with poison, and it died. Lucky, because it was about to kill us all and smash the ship in two.”

“Lucky indeed,” Iravan said, bored.

Leela grabbed the metal cup in front of her and took a big sip, not realizing it was red wine. She winced, the richness hitting the back of her throat. She coughed to cover up the bitter taste and looked at the room filling up with people instead. When she turned, she met the vehement eyes of Navya sitting further down the table.

Despite Leela’s circumstances, Navya had not warmed up to her. Something told Leela that Navya really did not like her, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. She’d barely spoken two words to her. How could she hate her?

Leela frowned. “How did the Scorpion pierce it?”

The crew all stared at her with the same blank expression plastered on their faces. Vedant chuckled and tilted his head to the skies.

Leela took a swig from her cup instead of producing a snide remark. She knew she didn’t know a lot about the Flames and the Vessels. Why did she need to when she was born in a village, meant to be a farmer for the rest of her life? Even when she was made to be a pretty wife for a man, she never needed to know about Vessels then.

Iravan cleared his throat. “Vessels can harness the Flames, right?”

“Yes,” Leela said.