Page 71 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Knock, knock.

Rajesh sighed. Whoever had knocked was about to get a mouthful.

He grabbed the doorknob and braced himself to berate the person on the other side. Wrenching the door off its hinges, his comment faded on his tongue. “Leela?”

Before he could understand why she was there, a knife clipped his neck.

“Shit!”

Rajesh swerved at the last second, dodging the oncoming attacks as Leela swiped left and right. She cut the air with a katar in each hand, forcing Rajesh further and further into the corner of his room.

What the fuck was going on?

Eventually, his back hit the desk, and he gasped as Leela advanced. She flung herself at him, both katars driving up before coming to his chest.

Rajesh ducked, her katar striking the table where he had been a moment before. He slammed his palm against her wrist and watched the katar hit the floor. Before she could grab it, he swiped it and lowered into a stance. His heart froze as a pair of yellow slits for eyes stared back at him.

No.

“Leela?” he called. “Leela, answer me!”

“She can’t hear you,” the Viperess said, a long hiss at the end of her words.

It was clearly not Leela with the way the Viperess awkwardly used her body, how she stood with hunched shoulders, and plucked another katar from her pocket and aimed it in the wrong direction. Her legs were facing at awkward angles, and her eyes… they told Rajesh all he needed to know.

“Get out of her,” Rajesh snapped. He clenched his own katar handle tighter, wondering how to get Leela back without injuring her. “Get out of her, or I will kill you.”

“You or the Scorpion? Bring him out here so I can kill him myself!”

Rajesh dodged her katar as the Viperess launched.

She tackled Rajesh, fingers raised like claws. They crashed on the floor, Rajesh’s head hitting the wooden deck. He cried out in pain. He didn’t have time to dwell on the room spinning, however. He had to save himself and Leela.

He grabbed hold of Leela’s wrists and wrestled her onto her back. He pinned her down with his hips, pressing harder than he wished to. The Viperess snarled and gnashed her teeth, wriggling and thrashing underneath him.

Rajesh simply held her, trying to keep her under control so he could figure out a way to get her back. She bucked, dislodging his grip on the katar and sending it across the room.

“Leela!” he called. “Come through. Get out! Come back! Come back to me!”

The Viperess spat, and a drop landed on his shirt. The smell of burned flesh and a sharp putrid stench wafted from where the poison dropped, and Rajesh quickly flung his shirt off before it could eat his skin. He stood, rushing over to his bed where he grabbed a godsblade from his bedside table and held it steady.

Leela stumbled to her feet, arms flexing at her side and eyes still a vibrant yellow. The slits in her eyes were enough for Rajesh to focus on what he needed to do. He needed to get Leela away from the Viperess or risk the beast controlling her forever.

“Leela, come back to me. Listen to my voice. Follow it… Follow me!” Rajesh said. “Come on, Leela, I know you can do it.”

The Viperess hissed. “Leela is not here.” It flicked its tongue again. “I will kill the Scorpion. Then, you can have her back.”

“Leela,” Rajesh said, picturing her deep brown eyes instead. “Remember me. Remember what we were. Who we were. Our first kiss. Our first dance. The way we held one another. The way we… the way our bodies were.”

The Viperess’s head jerked.

It was working.

Rajesh’s chest heaved. “Remember that night? The night we were together. How I held your hand, and you held me. How we⁠—”

“NOOOO!”

The Viperess jerked back, arms flailing and neck snapping to the sky. Her knees buckled, and she fell. The shadow merged back down Leela’s spine into its rightful position.