Page 105 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Don’t hurt her.

“She’s talking, isn’t she?” Hema questioned. “Your face says it all.”

“How do you know my facial expressions all the time?”

Hema shrugged. “I can read people pretty well. With the way they talk and their mannerisms.”

Leela wished she had the same astuteness. She was not the best at reading people’s expressions or even understanding small talk sometimes. It made her uncomfortable, like something was crawling under her skin, and afterward, she’d process every interaction over fifty times in her head. Unless it came to Rajesh. He was easy to read.

How exhausting.

Sucks to be stuck in my head, right?

“I’m just concerned for you,” Hema said. “Having the Viperess plus Rajesh… I mean, it has to be weighing on you, right?”

Leela glanced at the ground. “Right.”

“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but know I’m here and I’ll keep being here until you finally start talking,” Hema said with a supportive smile. “You don’t have to do it alone. I… I know the feeling of going at it alone. When I lost my village and family, things were hard. Really fucking hard and… well, I guess, I wished I had someone there to even listen.”

Leela’s chest tightened. She twirled the katar in her hand to distract herself from the conversation. Talking about her past wasn’t something she liked to do. She pushed those into the furthest reaches of her mind so she didn’t have to remember.

Hearing Hema’s story hurt more. Maybe, because of Leela, Hema had lost everything. What sort of monsters ravaged her village? The drakion? Angstent? Lustisha?

Fuck. Leela shouldn’t have messed around with Rajesh. She should have left it well enough alone instead of trying to mend their relationship and her broken heart. There were things she had to let go of, and Rajesh needed to be one of them.

For the sake of not making more monsters.

For the sake of not hurting him.

For the sake of Leela.

A flash of silver swiped near Leela’s eye, and she stepped back in time to save her nose. Gathering herself, she stared at Hema, who had a playful smirk.

“You were thinking. I’m distracting you,” Hema said. She swung again, and again, and again.

Leela caught each swing, connecting her blade with Hema’s.

“There’s my girl. Now, let’s distract you!”

24

RAJESH

Rajesh’s head hit the back of his couch once again, a glass of whiskey in hand. Tanmay continued to stand at the table, bent over and rubbing his head. They had been at the maps for hours, assessing safer routes and ways to get around Kithium.

Rajesh didn’t know Kithium. He knew Nihikia and what the kingdom would do. Kithium, however, scared him—no more than the monsters, and not enough to make him second-guess his course.

“What if we head further west?” Tanmay suggested. “Around the Whispering Mountains and hit them from behind?”

“Can’t do,” Rajesh said, twisting the glass. “There aren’t any sands to sail there, and it borders Jhuna Rin.”

“Oh, right,” Tanmay said. “What about the eastern route?”

“Too wet,” Rajesh said. “The twisted peaks are only through the city. I doubt the Kithium kingdom would let us stroll right through without a permit.”

“Then how do we get there?” Tanmay asked, voice sharp. “How do we get to the peaks and the tree without our ship? You can’t possibly think about going on foot?”

“I can. I do.” Rajesh glanced over his shoulder as Tanmay stilled. He could sense his second mate’s tension from the table as he stared, wide-eyed, back at him.