“We are not,” I croak.
“You killed your husband and aided in the fall of Vanhi, the very act Prince Ashwin employed me to reverse.” The demon rajah rubs his thumb over my bottom lip. “You know I speak the truth. You belong with me in the dark.”
“Father,” Ashwin says, returning. He sees Tarek close to me, and his expression goes flat. “The guards want proof of the sultan’s death.”
The demon rajah aims a prolonged stare at Ashwin. Please let Ashwin be stalling. Please let him realize this man is not his sire. Please let him discern that this replica of Tarek has no humanity whatsoever.
“We will give them proof.” The demon rajah waves at a dead guard’s sword. “Hand me that khanda. We’ll show these people what happens to traitors.”
Ashwin does not move. “I won’t rule with fear.”
The demon rajah rises with deliberate calm, dispassionate as he picks up the khanda. “Fear is the only way.” Clenching the sword with both hands, he arcs down the blade. I grimace at the sultan’s severed head. Natesa still lies motionless on the floor, unconscious.
The demon rajah straps on the sword and returns to my side. “Wait here, love. Soon we will march on Vanhi, and I will return us to our rightful thrones.”
He presses dry lips to my cheek, lingering as Tarek once did. While the demon rajah faces me, Ashwin reaches for one of my daggers. Gods’ mercy. He does realize his father is an imposter. I curtail my revulsion and withstand the demon’s chilling touch long enough for Ashwin to pocket a blade. Then I jerk away.
The Voider picks up the sultan’s decapitated head. “We will go down to the prison camps and show our people their rajah has returned.”
Cooperating with the demon will put Ashwin in danger, but he understands the ramifications of his heart’s wish more than I do. He does not spare me a glance as they walk out.
Alone in my chamber, I lie on my back and stare up at the ceiling in frustration. I must get up. I have to wake Natesa and warn our people, warn Deven. My broken leg is bandaged, and my side still weeps blood. Ignoring the pain, I scoot to the side of the bed and try to stand. My injured leg gives out, and I wind up on my back again.
Footsteps echo closer. I brace, anticipating palace guards or perhaps the demon rajah’s return, but Brother Shaan rushes in with Pons and a limping Indah. They falter to a stop and scan the bodies.
“Kalinda,” Brother Shaan stammers. “I saw . . .”
“The Voider.”
Brother Shaan lifts his chin, praying skyward. “Gods protect us.”
Natesa groans and sits up, holding the side of her head. “What’s going on?”
Pons kneels down to help her, and I explain what they missed. “Ashwin released the Voider to stop Vizier Gyan from doing the same. The Voider came disguised as Tarek to help fulfill Ashwin’s wish to take back the empire. I tried to stop the demon rajah, but he is immune to my powers.” Brother Shaan prays more fervently. “Ashwin and the demon rajah are headed to the camps. We have to warn Deven.” I try to sit up again, but a sharp pain pushes into my side, and I double over. Beads of sweat from the exertion of trying to stand wet my forehead.
Indah helps me lie back. “You’re bleeding through your bandages, and you shouldn’t stand on your leg. Pons will carry you to the boat.”
“Where are Opal and Rohan?” If I cannot go to Deven, I can send someone else.
“They brought Brother Shaan here and then went to the boat,” replies Indah. “We have no time to go to the camps. Iresh will fall into disarray without the sultan ruling or the vizier leading their army. The city is beyond saving.”
“He has Ashwin,” I protest. The Voider recognized Ashwin, Sultan Kuval, and me. Will the demon remember Deven betrayed Rajah Tarek?
“Kalinda, we cannot stop the Voider,” says Brother Shaan. “He does not need to refuel his powers and rest like bhutas. Demons are immortal, like the gods. We must run while we can.”
“But our people—”
“Will follow their rajah,” he finishes. “Even with your tournament win, the people will not stand with you, a bhuta, against their ruler. The Voider is a master deceiver. Our people will believe the demon rajah is Tarek.”
Shrill screams of panic and terrified shouts spill in from the garden. The Voider comes into sight out the open balcony door. He has set the sultan’s head on a pike and lifts it for all to see.
“This is what the gods think of traitors,” the demon rajah proclaims. “Anu raised me from the dead to punish my enemies. First Vizier Gyan and Sultan Kuval. Next the warlord Hastin!”
Janardanian bhuta guards rush at the Voider. He throws blue fire, and the guards are blasted backward in a radiant explosion. Those overtaken by the blue fire melt away. I gawk in amazement as the Voider cuts them all down. His blue fire eats through bhuta winds and rocks, banishing all hope of reprisals.
The demon rajah continues across the courtyard. At the cliff, he stakes the pike in the ground so the people of Iresh can see what is left of their ruler. Then Tarek and Ashwin disappear over the cliff’s edge, traveling the stairs down to the city.
“We have to go now,” Indah says, trying to help me to my feet.
Hot tears flood my eyes. “I cannot go like this.”
Indah sweeps my hair from my clammy face. “I can take away your pain for a time by tricking your body into thinking you’re better.”
“You can do that?” Natesa asks.
“The pain blocker is temporary,” answers Indah. “Kalinda will be pain-free for about half an hour.”
Explosions crash nearby, and blue flames lick the sky as the demon rajah carries on his way to the encampments.
“That’s all I need,” I say.
Indah runs her hands up my leg and over my abdomen. She chants under her breath, and the pain falls off of me like a leaden weight, lightening my whole body. Adrenaline pulses through my limbs. I stand on my broken leg, my stance offset and my balance not quite right. My body will punish me later, but for now, I can walk.
Indah hoists her trident, and Pons fills his blowgun with darts.
Natesa borrows a khanda from a fallen guard. A bruise darkens her cheekbone where Vizier Gyan struck her. “I’m going to find Yatin.”
“My healer is still in camp,” Indah says. “He’ll help you bring Yatin to the boat.”
“Bring him and Deven back,” I add, trusting Natesa to find them both. “We’ll send Opal and Rohan to help you if there’s time.”
Natesa hugs me, a quick embrace. “Send them no matter what,” she says and then darts off.
I sheath my one dagger. Indah’s pain blocker is holding, but this invincibility will not last. I need to make the most of it. “Let’s get to the river.”
30
DEVEN