Page 34 of Heart of Night and Fire

“Come with me.” He put his glass on the table.

“Where are we going?”

“Can you ever just do what you’re told?”

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “I have trust issues.”

“Fine. Don’t come.” He turned and walked away.

When she realized he intended to abandon her there, she made a sound of protest and ran after him.

Yasen rolled his eyes as she came up alongside him. “So predictable,” he drawled, causing Zarya to glare.

Yasen took them to a staircase that led down to a narrow beach. The Nila Hara sparkled before them, the frothing waves beckoning in the heat of the sun. Zarya immediately kicked off her shoes and rolled up her pants, heading into the surf with a satisfied sigh as the cool water swirled around her shins.

“Come on; it’s perfect.” She gestured to Yasen, but he shook his head, eyeing the water with mistrust.

“No, thank you. This is for your benefit. Rakshasas and the water don’t mix.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s really weird, but it’s your loss.”

Yasen chuckled as he leaned back on his elbows in the sand. “There’s a scholar who lives in the northern forest. Professor Dhawan,” he said as Zarya cupped water in her hands and dumped it over her head. “He might be able to read your book. He used to teach at the university in Gi’ana.”

With a wistful sigh, Zarya said, “I’d love to go to university.”

“It’s mostly full of Aazheri. They study magic as well as science, math, art, history.” He gave Zarya a wry look. “You would fit in given the amount of time you spend reading.”

“I would.” She nodded, not taking the bait at the implied insult. Yasen smiled.

“Have you ever been there?” Zarya asked. “To Gi’ana?”

“Once. A long time ago. It was during the former queen’s coronation. The city was a spectacle. They had acrobats dangling from roofs and massive rings of fire decorating the squares.” He smirked. “I got myself into a lot of the good kind of trouble.”

“That sounds incredible,” Zarya said, swishing up water and sand with her feet, thinking about the worlds that lay beyond Daragaab. She still wanted to get out of Dharati, but she was warring with the desire to wait for Row’s return so she could demand the answers she sought. Indecision was keeping her in place right now.

“Former queen?” she asked finally, picking up on Yasen’s last comments. “Who rules in Gi’ana, then? The history books Row brought me were so hopelessly out of date.”

“King Adarsh sits on the throne, but he will soon pass the crown to his eldest daughter.”

“Why?”

“Power usually passes through the female line in Gi’ana. I’m not actually sure what the holdup has been about. Petty family squabbles and succession issues, I believe.”

Yasen fell quiet, lost in thought.

Zarya went to sit next to him on the beach and nudged him with her shoulder, sensing there was something resting on his mind. “What is it?”

With his face tilted to the sun, he said, “There’s been a lot of unrest in Gi’ana the last few years. Also in Andhera, which lies to Gi’ana’s north.”

“Who is Andhera’s ruler, and what’s causing the unrest?”

“Raja Abishek has been on the throne for centuries. He’s probably the most powerful Aazheri in Rahajhan. Andhera has always been deeply secretive, but stories of rebellion by the vanshaj can be suppressed for only so long. A resistance is rising, but the king has struck them down without mercy.

“I heard talk of him cleaning out an entire vanshaj quarter. Thousands of them were rounded up and forcibly marched into a mass grave where they were burned alive. Children, mothers, all perished in agony.”

Zarya shuddered, the hairs on her arms standing on end. “Why? How could someone do that?”

“A message. A reminder of what their defiance costs. Smaller factions operate throughout the continent—most vanshaj have understandably had enough of their treatment—but the rebellion’s roots lie in Andhera and Gi’ana. In Daragaab, the movement is currently small, but our stability is eroding. It’s not only the blight that’s offsetting the balance.”