Page 67 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Leela grinned. “Thank you. I…” She rubbed her arm. If she was going to make friends besides her ex-fiancé with a vengeful Flame in his head, then she might need to start somewhere.

Sighing, Leela relayed the trauma of her village, her family and the Viper to Hema.

Hema stayed silent.

Leela didn’t know if that was a good thing or if she’d overshared.

“I am sorry,” Hema whispered. “It seems everyone has a tragic backstory these days. I guess mine isn’t much better. My village was attacked. I fled to the nearest city and hid behind the walls. Decided I wanted to become a Gilded Thorn and trained relentlessly for three years. Got gifted the Fox.”

“Gifted?”

“Sometimes, if you’re high in a rank, a Flame will choose you. Better than having a random one placed by the kingdom and hoping to make the ascension.”

Leela knew the risks. Flames and mortals had to be compatible. A working force of nature. It almost made her story feel a little less daunting, knowing Hema also had the same threads of life woven before her. Even if they were both tragic. She felt for Hema, seeing how her life laid out and hoped she could be as content with her circumstances as Hema seemed to be.

“Now, let’s pick up the mood,” Hema said, grabbing one of the jawblades from the rack. “What should we start with first? Basic techniques or sparring?”

Leela’s entire body hurt by the time Hema finished training her. In the sweltering heat, Leela and Hema fought for hours. Hema taught her where to position herself, how to move her legs and arms into position, and how to thrust a weapon. Leela had some work to do before she was battling any monsters. Her arms and legs had been built as a farmer, but her muscles weakened when she was made to be a wife. No one could grow muscle in this short amount of time, much less wield a jawblade of this caliber.

Now, all Leela wanted was to soak and rest.

Leela flopped onto her bed that evening. They had gifted her a beautiful room with a four-poster bed against the furthest wall, a wardrobe full of clothes, and a tiny weapons rack in the corner. A grand carpet intertwined with the Flames along the edging sat in the middle of the room, with a small fireplace set off by a velvet couch and a coffee table. Hema said the entire ship was better than the den.

Leela rolled over and stared at the ceiling of the four-poster bed. A drawing of the Flames sat in two intertwined circles. One side showed the Flames from the Awakening, the other showed the Flames of the Netherworld. In the center sat a blue gem.

The elixir of immortality. The thing the Flames had fought over for years and eventually ripped the realms apart to get to.

I think you forget we are more than tales, mortal, the Viperess murmured.

Oh?

Tales are the things mortals have formed so they can connect with us on a more personal level. We are more than tales. We are alive. We are beings born from the world, same as you were. When the world was split from the egg, the yolk split into the galaxy to create us.

We are more than a tale. We are you.

I understand that.

She flicked her tail, hitting the side of Leela’s skull. Do you? You mortals use our carcasses to defeat the monsters. You use us in your tales when someone does something horrendous, claiming it is our fault that someone has turned out this way. Condemning us as though it is our fault because we are a part of greater beings.

You all act as if it is all our fault.

Isn’t it? It was you who split the realms apart.

It was also mortals who ruined the Flames, the Viperess hissed.

Leela shook her head. She was too tired to argue with the voice in her head. So she got up and wandered out onto the deck to get some air. After navigating through the red halls of the ship, she managed to find the door leading upstairs. The cold wind nipped at Leela’s ankles and swept comfortingly across her face. She reveled in it, as the humidity underneath the deck stifled her.

She tilted her head to the billions of stars splitting the dark purple and navy misted night and breathed.

“A beautiful night.”

Leela didn’t need to turn to know who it was. “I enjoy nights. It’s quiet.”

“The thing about being a Vessel. Your brain is never quiet.”

Leela glanced at Rajesh leaning on the banister beside her. The wind twirled his curls, flying them behind him as his gentle brown eyes found hers.

“My brain has never been quiet,” Leela said. “Regardless of the Viperess.”