Page 40 of Heart of Night and Fire

“I’m glad you aren’t dead,” he said before walking away.

“What’s his problem?” she asked as Yasen’s tall, broad form and his stiff shoulders receded into the crowded infirmary.

“You know how he gets,” Vikram said. “He’s just worried about all this.”

Before she could respond, Apsara came storming in, stopping in front of Zarya and crossing her arms.

“You’re okay?” she asked, her words clipped. “I need you to tell me what you remember. Leave out no detail.”

“We were…” Zarya cleared her throat, cheeks warming at the memory of the short-lived kiss with Vikram. “Eating lunch,” she said, with too much force. Apsara arched an eyebrow but said nothing. “And that giant egg came hurtling at us. We jumped up and ran for cover. Something must have hit me in the head because I was suddenly on the ground and covered in blood. I fainted and woke up in the cave where Vikram took us.”

“And that’s it?”

“I think so. What else should I remember?”

“You didn’t notice anything unusual?”

Zarya bristled at Apsara’s brusque manner. “You mean, other than hundreds of hard objects pelting us and screeching birds hatching in the sky? No, I’d say that’s as unusual as it gets.”

“And after you woke up?”

“I could hear them.” She recalled the thrum of synced heartbeats again, like a clock ticking towards ruin.

“You heard them?” Apsara’s expression turned to alarm.

“Apsara,” Kindle called, striding into the room. “Something dreadful… Suvanna sent a messenger. She said they were examining the largest egg—” He paused and took a breath. “And it sucked in nine guards. One moment they were there, and the next moment they had melted into the surface and were gone.”

They all stared at him. Something was alive in those eggs. Something hungry.

Vikram leaped up from his chair. “I need to go back out there.”

“I’m heading out, too,” Kindle replied. Apsara nodded, turning to follow them.

Zarya interjected, “I’m coming with you!”

Apsara turned her cool gaze on her. “No. You are staying here to rest and heal.”

Without another word, she stalked off with Kindle and Vikram, the trio conversing in low voices.

She watched them go, but she had no intention of staying behind. Zarya waited for them to leave and then stood to follow as soon as they cleared the doorway.

* * *

A short while later, Zarya had changed into clean clothes and strapped Row’s sword to her back. Yasen had returned it to her weeks ago, and in Row’s continued absence, she’d claimed the strange weapon as her own. A few more knives and daggers were tucked into her boots and belt. The forest wouldn’t catch her unprepared again.

As she left the haveli, she passed the ruined palace wall, where a group of masons were building it back up. Gopal’s magic had shifted the chasm enough that it was no longer a gaping hazard, and bridges had been erected across it, making transport more convenient. The edges had also been fortified so no one else risked ending up as its inadvertent victim.

Between the swamps, kala-hamsa, and the chasm, Daragaab was dangling on a fraying thread of security. Zarya had settled into a comfortable routine during her weeks here, but it seemed like something was trying very hard to kill them all.

Trapped on the seaside, Zarya had been living on the outskirts of reality, helpless and ignorant. She had no idea the world she’d emerged into was coming apart at the edges, but she’d found a tentative place here. She’d made friends. She was happier than she’d ever been. Now something threatened that existence before she’d even had a chance to enjoy it, and she couldn’t let that happen.

She passed through the destruction that had fallen upon the city, noting the ruined buildings and pockmarked streets. Word had already spread about the danger of going near the scattered eggs, and people were keeping their distance as they scurried past. But as their glances darted to the side, it was obvious they also couldn’t look away.

She reached the gate and entered the forest, determined to find the site of the original egg that had interrupted their picnic. She wanted to know what these things were. As she moved deeper into the forest, Zarya sensed their innate wrongness with increasing trepidation. Whatever they were, she was sure they didn’t belong here. Their hearts continued beating as one, worming their way into her subconscious.

It felt like a signal, a warning.

But the message was conflicted.