Page 135 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

Dhawan croaked, lifting a hand as if to fend her off as a pool of blood congealed under him. He’d hit the wall hard enough to shatter it, cracks snaking up from where he lay. He flung out his magic, but she batted it away.

“How are you doing that?” he asked, referring to that strange magic that continued to react without her influence.

She ignored the question. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t tell him.

“Tell me why,” Zarya demanded, pointing her sword at his throat, violence and adrenaline the only things keeping her upright anymore. “Why do you care if my father has me? Why are you working for him?”

Dhawan cowered against the wall, but the loathing in his eyes was as steady as marble.

“Because he cast me out,” he spat. “I made one little mistake, but he refused to listen to reason. He threw me aside like I was no better than a filthy vanshaj.”

Zarya pressed the tip of her sword into the flesh of Dhawan’s neck, pulling up a bead of crimson that trickled down the line of his throat.

“I groveled. I begged for centuries. But he wouldn’t forgive me. Not like Ravana, who walked in like the world owed him everything.”

Zarya reacted to Rabin’s name as Dhawan’s words speared through her heart.

“You are my path to redemption and a place at the king’s side, once again.”

He glared up at Zarya as though all of this had been her fault. She pressed the blade harder, and he sucked in a gasp, scrambling against the wall at his back as though he could melt right through it.

“Why Amrita? And Rani Vasvi? What did they have to do with this?”

Now, his angry expression morphed into one of smugness.

“Oh, that wasn’t for me. That was for you, my dear. For you and your father.”

His smile grew wider as Zarya’s brows knit.

“You’re a smart girl. Surely, you’ve realized by now that you are responsible for all of this? That the darkness lives in you? Why do you think the swamp grew on the shoreline where you spent your entire life? Why do you think the king covets your nightfire so much? With the darkness set free, the possibilities are limitless. You started all of this—I was merely helping it along.”

Zarya let out a pained breath. For months, she’d suspected it. Ever since the night of the kala-hamsa attack, she’d known she was tainted. She took another step forward, pressing the sword tip into Dhawan’s throat harder. He wheezed against the pressure, fear spreading into his eyes.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

Dhawan began blubbering, pressing his hands together in a plea as if detecting a chink of mercy in her armor.

“My dear girl. You may be strong beyond comprehension, but I have lived so long, and I have so many secrets. I can tell you so many things. With me and your father at your side, you can do anything,” Dhawan scrambled to his knees, his hands still fused with hope. “You could rule the continent with that much power in you. Spare me, and I will help you. The darkness, Zarya—it is yours to command. If you learned to use it properly, no one could ever make you a prisoner again.”

“But my father wants to steal my magic for himself,” she said.

Dhawan shook his head. “No. They’re all lying to you. Don’t you see? They’re just holding you back from everything you could be.”

Zarya considered his words. His offer. His promise. Rabin had told her it wasn’t evil, but he had lied about everything.

Dense black ribbons of magic curled in her chest, seducing her with whispered nothings. Crawling shadows unfurling from dark corners. A tender hope pushing through soil to greet the sun.

To never be caged again.

That’s all anyone had tried to do to her from the day she was born. Her mother had stolen her magic. Row had locked her away. And her father? Could she place any trust in Dhawan’s words?

She imagined what it would be like to never be vulnerable or at anyone’s mercy again.

She stared down at Dhawan, who now seemed so small as he trembled at her feet.

But even if her father wasn’t trying to use her, Zarya did not want to become a creature molded of fury and vengeance. She did not see a future built on the ashes of darkness. What she saw was light. The brightness of the life she’d found here. Her friends. Her family.

She would not become the thing everyone feared.