Page 71 of The Legend of Meneka
I can scarcely believe Anirudh would speak to her that way, that he is not already bewitched. Suddenly I do not know who will win in this standoff.
Rambha smiles a slow smile. Kalyani leans forward, her face serious. Parasara straightens, resigned, and Romasha and Eka begin to spin fire.
Enough, I think.
I hurry from behind the trees, in full view. “Stop,” I command.
A dozen eyes swivel to me and Nanda, magic and illusions aimed toward us, ready to be unleashed. Everyone’s mouths fall open.
Rambha is the first to recover. She leaps forward, grace and poise forgotten. “Meneka!”
I am engulfed in her arms. I don’t return her embrace, and behind her the others exchange glances but do not stop their mantras and runes from pointing at me even as Rambha turns to Nanda, nearly sobbing in relief. The two apsaras grip each other, shuddering, Rambha stroking Nanda’s hair over and over again while Nanda assures her in murmurs that she is unhurt. Rambha is already inquiring about the other missing apsaras, but Anirudh stares at me.
“Areyou Meneka?” he says. “I almost think we should ask you to prove it.”
Rambha swivels, frowning at him as though to indicate she would know me from an imposter. I flinch, remembering how easily I was taken in when Indra was pretending to be her.
“Would you like me to make an imperfect rune,” I ask dryly. “You can deny me any knowledge of Kaushika, then, and it will be just like old times.”
At that, Anirudh grins. Behind him there is a murmur as the rest of the mortals relax too. They drop their magic, their half-formed mantras slowly dying, the tension receding. Smiles grow on their faces. Kalyani opens her mouth, glancing from me to Rambha to Nanda, no doubt noticing the same patterns in our beauty.
I nod in understanding. “Perhaps we better sit down. I think we need to explain.”
RAMBHA SITS CLOSE TO ME.
She doesn’t touch me, but she is there, just a breath away. She fillsthe corner of my vision. Her magic, her delicate perfume, swim in my head. I see us on the brink of my mission, Rambha brushing her soft lips against mine, and my urge to pull her to me, free her hair with my hand, kiss her senseless. The memory tosses in my head, a dead fruit, the heat and passion of it gone. I do not know if it was Rambha all those times when I made my report or if it was always Indra—but I do know it was her when the two of us walked out of the lord’s throne room before I left for my mission. The Rambha then and the one now … It is hard to reconcile how far away from each other we have drifted, though we sit beside each other now, for all purposes finally on the same side.
I try to keep my thoughts lucid. I must learn certain things from her. Until then I cannot allow myself to get distracted. I don’t look at her, not even when her fingers graze my arm accidentally.
No accidents with her, I remind myself. She is the best of apsaras. She knows exactly what she is doing. Her voice echoes in my head from before.
You are too young. Too inexperienced. Too naïve.
Not that naïve anymore, I think. The thought makes me cold.
Perhaps she senses my mood. Her aura stutters, subduing. Staranise decays and quietens. She diminishes in the corner of my vision, a result of her own heartache. I take no pleasure from it; it saddens me. She is responding tomypower now. This is not what I wanted, but I will take it regardless.
The others sit down haphazardly, though the mortals and the apsaras keep their distance. Someone builds a fire resistant to the rain. Suspicion still hovers heavy over us all, and the mortals look from me to Rambha and Nanda, their bodies still on alert. But Kalyani settles on the other side of me, her brows furrowed in concern. Unlike Rambha, who has quietly been asking for attention, Kalyani merely gazes at me.
I give her a watery smile, and she returns it. Relief bursts in meat her response, and her health. She seems weak, but no longer in danger. I saw Shiva take the halahala. Maybe that healed Kalyani too. Did Kaushika even register it happening, concerned as he was with what to do with the poison?
Though I do not touch her, I lean forward to ask her how she is. Rambha speaks first.
“Indra is coming,” she says softly. “He detected the surge of power here too. This is where the lord will bring his battle.” There is an iron edge to her voice, and she doesn’t look at me. She stares at the ground in front of her, the dust and earth muddying her beautiful clothes.
Mortals and celestials all look at the sky. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes again. The night darkens further, the drizzle continuing to lash. It is the slow anger of the gods, and Nanda murmurs in worry. She recognizes it.
OnlyIdon’t study the heavens. I finally turn to Rambha, the shape of her next to me, the curve of her body, the shell-like ear. Loose strands from her braid wave in the slight breeze, and an urge grows in me to tuck them behind her ear. I don’t move.
Does she know what I endured? Does she understand how much of a part she played in it?
“Coming for me?” I ask, a foolish question.
“And Kaushika.” Rambha looks at me then, and real pain flickers in her eyes. It reminds me of the woman I once loved. I wonder if she is remembering it too, the possibility we had before the choices she made. Before the ones I did.
The mortals from the hermitage exchange uncomfortable glances. It is the perfect opening to ask about Kaushika and where he is, but I cannot bring myself to take it. His absence lingers heavy, filled with the gravity of a hundred planets. It stares at me, and my own power flashes in retaliation and pain. I wrap my arms around myself and look away from Rambha into the fire.
“He is at the meadow,” Anirudh says quietly. “Readyinghisarmy. Meneka, he will come here too—I am certain he felt the same surge of celestial magic we did.”
