Page 54 of Her Soul for a Crown
O Heavens. He washed down the thoughts with the rest ofhis wine and moved on. “The stupas are large and obtrusive. One cannot look at the Kingdom of Anuradhapura without seeing them. The Bone Blade is there, hidden in plain sight.”
She twirled her glass. “Sounds more like it’d be in the city. In a market, where hundreds of wares are sold and displayed. Plenty gets overlooked there.”
Heat flashed up Reeri’s neck. A city, where people lived, bartered, squirreled away secrets and treasures. Anything could be within a city. He frowned. “A city is a very large place to search.”
Anula smiled, cunning and sharp. “Yes, it is. Good thing you have me on your side.”
His shadow shifted. Sweat broke out on his brow as it furrowed. “Why do I sense a ‘but’ coming?”
She laughed, light as a breeze, and winked. “Don’t worry, I have an excellent one.”
Reeri’s nostrils flared, pulse hammering. Mayhap he had judged her wrong. Again.
“Butwhat if I weren’t on your side? What do you think could happen then?”
The room tilted. He had drunk too much wine for this. Even his shadow tremored. “You said you wanted to help.”
“I didn’t say who.”
The edges of his vision blurred. Alarm bells pealed in his mind. “What did you do?”
Anula snaked out a hand, caught him by the chin. “Your eyes are glazing over. Is your heart racing? Soon it will stop. Unless I’m on your side.”
“O Heav—” A cough shook Reeri’s ribs.
“Complete the bargain and I’ll give you the remedy.”
A vial sparkled in her hand. The world darkened around it. He reached out to grasp only air.
“Ah-ah.First, complete the bargain.”
Words shriveled as his tongue thickened.
“Do it, Blood Yakka.” Anula’s voice rushed, somewhere in the distance. “Come on. Don’t die like this. Complete the bargain!”
A wheeze and another cough.
“Yakka?” Her voice pitched.
Blood squeezed from his lungs as he hacked. It speckled the food, the wine. Convulsions shook him like a rockslide.
“Yakka!”
Blood burst.
Reeri choked.
His heart thump, thumped—
And ceased.
21
There were so many ways to stop a heart…and once again, this wasn’t supposed to be one of them.
Thrice-cursed Yakkas.The measurements in Uncle Manoj’s journal must have been wrong. A face made of shadows rose from the dying Raja, dark and insubstantial. Saffron eyes flashed. A bright pain pierced Anula’s chest, tearing through her rib cage as the shadow spun in circles. The tether raged for it. A gust licked her hair into writhing tentacles, as the Blood Yakka’s shadow ripped from Chora Naga’s body and pitched over the terrace railing.
Anula’s arms flayed in dark strips, shredding onto the wind to chase the shadow. The room shivered at the edges. She screamed.
