Page 62 of The Legend of Meneka
“Meneka?” Rambha presses. “Answer me.”
My thoughts constantly pull away. I am in the middle of the ocean, a storm raging around me. My hold on lucidity is loose, and in desperation I lift my wrist, the motion slow. I carve a rune in the air, one Kaushika taught me. A rune for clarity. My wooden comb tingles in my hair, and even as the rune completes and dissolves, a burst of light suffuses me, clearing the fog in my head. I inhale sharply, blinking.
Rambha is still waiting for my reply. I see the revulsion in her eyes that I’ve used mortal magic instead of my own celestial one.
“Meneka,” she says, and this time it is a command, “is Kaushika seduced?”
“No,” I whisper. “He is not seduced and he will never be. Not through the methods of Amaravati. Not in the way we apsaras perform. Nothing I do will influence him.”
Rambha smiles. It’s a glint, so satisfied and malicious that a small gasp escapes me. “Then you have failed. I will report it to Indra, and he will decide your punishment.” She turns, her mouth already opening to form the prayer that will take her back to the City of Immortals.
I move forward hastily. This is my one chance to set things right between swarga and the mortal realm. To save Kaushika.Hedid not listen to me, but Rambha will. Shehasto. She loved me once. She was my friend. The words pour out of me in panic.
“Rambha, wait. He knows I am an apsara. I—I told him. Ihadto, in order to prevent him from doing anything drastic. But he is furious, wanting to bring the battle to Indra with his army—and he will be destroyed. Rambha, you have to stop the lord, you have to make him understand—”
Somewhere thunder cracks, loud enough to drown out the rest of my speech.
The afternoon grows darker. Quieter.
Rambha trembles, her body still half-turned from me.
I think of what I must sound like to her. She and the lord are bound to each other in a way I don’t understand. Did he feel her reaction to what I said? I look up at the sky, and dark storm clouds gather above, visible through the gaps in the leaves. I shiver.
“An army?” she says. “You have seen this army?”
I look back at her. “Kaushika has told me of it. But it is all amisunderstanding. If the lord only listens, if the two of them negotiate—Rambha, you can make the lord see reason. It is for the lord’s own benefit,please. The mortal realm is already turning away from Indra, believing him to be the enemy. If Indra made peace with Kaushika, it would turn favor toward the lord again. Everyone would see him for his greatness and magnanimity. The lord only needs to ask forgiveness from Kaushika. He has done this with other sages before, and if he gives Kaushika the respect that is his due, then Kaushika will retreat, I know he will—”
Rambha spins around. Her eyes flash, and lightning cracks above. “This is blasphemy.”
“No—I—”
“You think the lord should ask for forgiveness? You would defy Indra? To whom you oweeverything, even your magic? For this one mortal man?”
I raise my chin. “I love him.”
Her laughter is almost a shriek. “Love?This isn’t love. It is a passing fancy. You are a child. What do you know about love? You may be an immortal, but you haven’t lived more than a few years. Live longer, and then talk about love.”
Her power sharpens, radiating around me, but I hold my ground. It is easier now that I’ve begun. “Maybe I don’t understand true love,” I say. “Maybe as an apsara I never can. It does not mean my feelings are insincere. Take my message to Indra, please. Or to Queen Shachi. She will listen, she didn’t want apsaras to go to this mission, she will not want this battle—youdo not want this battle, surely—”
She cuts across me. “Where is this army? Where did you see it assembled?”
“I—I didn’t—I didn’tseeit, but—”
“Do not lie to me,” Rambha snaps. “You are trying to protect him.This creature you love is a threat to your lord, and yet you defend him at every turn.”
“Because I finally understand. I’ve wanted my freedom from being Indra’s weapon for so long, and what these people are asking—it is the same thing. Kaushika says he will not rest until Indra abdicates his hold on heaven. Rambha, living under Indra’s rule, being sent for these missions because he has decided that is my nature—this is what I wanted freedom from. Maybe Kaushika is not entirely wrong. Maybe this is what we need, Indra not as the master of swarga, but its guardian—”
“How dare you?” Rambha rasps.
The skies open in a flood. Lightning flashes over and over again. I cry out, shielding my eyes, staring up.
The afternoon has turned wholly gray. A storm rains down, and I am drenched in seconds. Thick black clouds cover every inch of the skies, and thunder roils deafeningly with the wrath of heaven. My knees shake.
I glance at Rambha—but it isn’t Rambha. Her face is changing, a veil slipping off. Everything around her blurs—
And then the illusionexplodes.
My throat grows dry.
