Page 80 of The Divine Lies We Weave

I… Wh—what’s wrong?

Do not die on me yet. I am not done.

Th-thanks f-for the, the confidence…

Leela’s head lolled back and hit Rajesh’s chest.

He ran into a room, the door banging open.

Leela had no idea what happened next. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. People touched her. Fingers grabbed at her clothes. She had no time to think about being modest.

Am I dying?

No. No, I refuse to let you.

Then save me.

18

RAJESH

The wait was agonizing. Leela continued to breathe, gentle at times and ragged at others, like someone had grabbed her lungs and was shaking them.

Each rattling breath of hers was torture. A constant reminder that it was his fault.

His healers were able to patch her wound and clean the blood from her hair, but her skin was still pale, her eyes still shut, and it tore at his heart. Rajesh bit his lip, turning toward the window to keep his emotions in check. He couldn’t let another lustisha free, not after the last one destroyed everything he held dear.

To focus on something—anything—else, he grabbed the cloth in the water bucket beside her head. He wiped over the tiny silver marks cut across her body, and noticed the cut across her right arm, another twisted reminder of what he had done.

If only he told her. But his mother had been very stern in how he approached Leela, telling him from an early age to guard his heart. He hadn’t known what she meant when he was five, or seven, or even eleven. Growing up alongside Leela, all he’d cared about was waking up, seeing her, and running through the fields like nothing mattered. Like the giant wall around their town wasn’t even there, and the monsters didn’t ravage the world.

Until his family finally sat him down and told him about the curse. Until they laid it all out, bit by bit, statement by statement, saying how heartbreak created the worst monsters. His life then flashed before his eyes, his heart already wounded upon learning his father was dying from a mysterious illness.

Before the attack, he’d gone to find Leela after pondering the news for hours. He had to tell her. Had to let her know that whatever happened, he still loved her, but he never could love her. Not if it would form monsters.

Had he known what would happen hours later, he never would’ve told her. He would’ve kept up the lie and tried to love her while keeping his distance. Would have lied… about loving her…

No. That was worse.

Leela stirred and groaned.

Every muscle in Rajesh tensed, watching and waiting for what was to come next. He picked at his nails, anticipation on the edge of his trembling tongue.

You know you can’t do it, the Scorpion warned.

What?

Love her. The curse is pretty simple.

The curse can fuck off.

Do you want to create more lustishas?

Of course not!

Don’t do this then, Rajesh. Protect her.

Why? Why should I? I get one life, and I get to live it like this? To never love someone? To never touch the one person I want to, ever again?