Page 115 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin

“I see now it was a mistake to allow Row to raise you. I should have done it myself. I should have overseen your education. You would have turned out the way I wanted. Instead, you are a rebel and a dissident. You married a rakshasa.”

He spat the last word out like it was a filthy thing, and her anger twisted in her chest.

“But before I send you to your grave, you will, at the very least, be useful to me.”

“I won’t do it!” she screamed.

Abishek laughed, the sound cold and dead.

“I think you will.” He turned to the mystic. “Kishore! It’s time.”

The mystic stepped forward and raised his hands before his silver bands of magic began twirling around him. He shifted his focus before they surrounded Zarya and Rabin.

“What’s going on?” Rabin demanded as the magic spiraled tighter. Zarya suddenly couldn’t breathe.

A moment later, the tattoo on her chest burned. She winced as the pressure squeezed her heart, exhaling a choked gasp. She clutched herself, and Rabin bent over, holding his side.

“When I recalibrated the Bandhan, I made a few tweaks,” Kishore said. “As well as binding you together, it is also a leash. In a manner of speaking.”

“What?” Rabin asked through gritted teeth.

“You’ll see in a moment.”

Kishore’s smile was cold as Rabin cried out, his knees buckling as he sank to the snow.

“What’s wrong!” Zarya screamed as black smoke began swirling around him.

“I’d back up if I were you,” Kishore said.

Rabin kept dissolving, his screams echoing off the high peaks. That’s when Zarya realized Kishore was forcing him to shift.

She’d seen him change enough times to know that if she stood too close, she’d be trampled underfoot. Quickly, she retreated as he thrashed against the change.

Her knees buckled as pain lashed through her limbs and bones—searing, burning, twisting. His magic.

Kishore had been telling the truth. It turned her inside out, her throat raw from screaming as she waited for his shift to stop. She collapsed on the snow, panting and writhing until, finally, his dragon emerged, rock shattering in every direction to accommodate his size.

Zarya covered her head, waiting for the dust to settle and the pain scraping her limbs to cease.

She felt the blast of wind as his wings flapped, and slowly, she pushed herself onto her knees. Her hands were ice, her skin raw. She stared at Rabin as he struggled against some kind of invisible hold, his head whipping left and right.

Kishore remained focused on Rabin with his hands out as more silver magic swirled through the air. She watched as his magic cinched around Rabin and then lifted him up.

Rabin roared, his body twisting in the cage of Kishore’s power.

“Leave him alone!” she screamed.

Kishore lifted his arms higher, directing Rabin into the sky before he threw them up and freed Rabin from his tether. Rabin flipped in the air and then recovered, his wings flapping as he circled across the horizon with a bellowing roar.

Zarya watched him, noting that his eyes were red instead of blue. They glowed with inner fire, and she felt the moment he saw her. With his teeth bared, he dove, streaking towards her. She would have sworn on her life that Rabin would never hurt her, but there was no mistaking the murderous intent in that crimson glow.

She screamed as he swooped, missing her by only a few inches, and then he came to an abrupt halt. Again, he struggled against Kishore’s invisible bonds as he was shoved into the sky again.

“He is now trapped in this form,” Abishek said. “The bond has also been reversed so that instead of protecting you, he will now be intent on killing you. When you find yourselves in Taaranas, the only way to save yourself will be to find the seal, open it, and release the nairatta. Once that’s done, the seal will nullify all magic within Taaranas for a few minutes until the darkness can escape. Luckily for you, it will cause my enchantment on your dragon to break.”

Zarya watched in horror while Kishore continued to hold a fighting Rabin back from trying to… kill her.

“And if you think you can use your magic to protect yourself, nothing has changed in that regard,” Abishek added. “You felt what happened when he shifted—and that was only a fraction of his power.”