Page 87 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin

The king faced him and approached on slow steps, his gaze raking Rabin from head to toe.

“What is she looking for, Rabindranath?” Abishek asked, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. “What does she seek in the vanshaj wing? What has she been looking for the last few days?”

Rabin shook his head, trying to think of a lie.

Abishek watched him with a calm expression, and it was then Rabin knew Zarya hadn’t been dreaming at all. Asha was in the castle, and if Abishek didn’t already know Zarya had learned his secret, he was about to find out.

“Nothing,” Rabin said. “She hasn’t been looking for anything. She only went to speak with some vanshaj interested in hearing more about the Rising Phoenix.”

Abishek chuckled with a dry, cold sound. “The resistance. Yes, my noble daughter and her precious vanshaj.”

Rabin didn’t care for the mocking tone in his words nor what he was implying about Zarya, but he bit his tongue because something was very, very wrong. “Why are you acting so strangely? She’ll be here in a moment, and we can finish this thing and be on our way.”

The king’s expression turned hard. “Yes, you’re both so eager to escape me, aren’t you?”

Rabin shook his head. “That’s not…”

“I took you in, rescued you from death, nursed you back to health, and gave you everything.”

Rabin shook his head again. “I don’t…”

The king took another step towards him. “And then you defied me. Not only bonding to but marrying my daughter after I expressly forbade it. You’ve ruined everything.”

Cold fire entered the king’s eyes as Rabin took a step back. He’d arrived without weapons or armor—just as he’d been asked.

“It wasn’t your decision to make,” Rabin said. “She’s a grown woman, and I love her.”

“Did you think I’d approve of my own flesh and blood mating with a rakshasa?”

Rabin’s blood turned sluggish at the venom in the king’s words.

“It was her decision,” he finally answered, hating the uncertainty in his voice.

Abishek shook his head with a dark laugh. “Rabindranath, I have only one heir, and I would rather die than see anyone but an Aazheri on my throne.”

Those words hurt. The king had always been protective of Aazheri magic, but he’d claimed so many times that he loved Rabin like a son.

“Oh,” the king said, perhaps reading his expression. “You’re wondering why you aren’t an exception? You thought you were family?”

Rabin took a step back. “Aren’t I?”

Abishek clasped his hands behind his back. “I can see why you think so,” he said. “But I needed to earn your loyalty, didn’t I?”

Rabin backed up another step. “I don’t understand.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would. I did my job well.”

“What… job?”

Abishek said nothing as the door to the study opened, and a flood of soldiers filed into the room. The world around him slowed as Rabin took in his surroundings. He studied the guards. The men and women he’d trained with and fought alongside over the years. They stood in a line looking straight through him.

A moment later, Ekaja entered, her long legs carrying her with purpose.

He stared at her. At the blank expression on her face. It took her a moment to meet his eyes. When she finally did, all he saw was darkness. All he saw was the cold certainty of her duty.

“She’s somewhere in the vanshaj wing,” Abishek told Ekaja. “Find her.”

“What’s going on?” Rabin snarled. “If you touch her…”