Page 46 of The Divine Lies We Weave

Rajesh thudded down from the quarterdeck, grabbed onto the knob of the staircase, and turned in the direction of the captain’s quarters. As soon as he was inside, he walked over to the table and sighed. He worked his fingers through his hair, tugging on the strands to suppress the burning rage eating him alive. The gentle heat of the Scorpion mellowed, but it was a constant reminder of the Flame that could control him.

At least, the Scorpion tried to control him.

Breathe…. Breathe…. Breathe…

Your emotions are shimmering.

I know.

Rajesh grabbed the edge of the table and leaned over, his head pounding and blood pumping. He tapped his foot as he tried to calm his emotions. He remembered all the strategies his mother taught him, to focus on five things in the room, to feel the soles of his feet and whatever they touched, and to just breathe…

Nothing worked. His anger reached a crescendo of hunger, like eager claws. Heat ran up and down his spine. The Scorpion curled in the back of his mind, always watching and waiting.

Rajesh burst. He swept the table, smashing everything to the ground. A clay cup full of wine splattered onto the scribbled notes with a loud clatter, and he grabbed the closest paper and scrunched it. He screamed into the parchment, ignoring the way his body succumbed to the emotion.

It was too late.

When his anger dispelled enough, he glanced at the paper and unfolded it. He’d grabbed an image of Leela, the one he’d drawn in charcoal to ensure he could remember the precise length of her nose, the way her cheekbones resembled the curve of the dunes, or even the tiny freckle by her right eye.

She used to be his everything.

His wonder in the wandering world.

She had come back to him. The same on the outside, but different on the inside. So was he. When they’d last seen one another, he wasn’t a Vessel. He wished his mother had never told him about it. But only hours before the attack six years ago, she had told him he would have to become the next Vessel to the Scorpion—the one Flame who, when the dimensions split, latched onto the first man he saw and had since harnessed generations of Rajesh’s bloodline.

His family was cursed to forever serve as a Vessel to the Purple Scorpion.

Until it enacted its revenge.

Rajesh gritted his teeth and smoothed the paper out. He hadn’t meant to do it, but no matter how much he tried to suppress his emotions, they rose without warning like whirling monsters.

Shit…

Shit indeed.

What happens now? You want me to kill her, don’t you?

It is why I’m here. Kill her, and your bloodline goes free. I get to ascend back to the Awakening.

It was all Rajesh had wanted. To get rid of the voice inside his mind, the one that had caused too much destruction. To use the Scorpion to rid the world of the monster-turning sandstorms.

He refused to believe there wasn’t another way to get rid of the Scorpion. He’d been trying so hard to find an artifact strong enough to destroy the Flame but not harm himself. Now that the Viperess was using Leela as its Vessel, he needed to pick up the chase again.

He had to find the wish-fulfilling tree. It was the only thing capable of granting his unattainable wish. But he had tried, for years, and so had his father and grandfather before him, to find that fucking tree. It was impossible to find an artifact said to have dropped from the Awakening gardens and sprouted in the earthen plains. Especially when Rajesh was tied to the desert kingdoms, to Nihikia.

Indeed, impossible.

Shut the fuck up.

The Scorpion chuckled, the sound low and vibrating throughout Rajesh’s skull like a drum.

No. He wasn’t ready to give up.

He scrunched the paper and let the anger, for the first time, control him. He needed to feel it, to breathe in the idea of his revenge. To ignite the fury. To start his mission once again and find this wish-fulfilling tree, or at least find a way to help Leela control the Viperess.

Whatever it took.

There might be a way.