Page 53 of Between Ghosts and Gods

Kasu pursed her lips for a moment. “I had a sister. I think I had a sister. And a mother. I don’t really remember.”

She didn’t want to remember. Not if all her memories were like the one that flashed through her mind last night. A corpse. Wild dogs. Her stomach gave a sickening twist.

“I brought food.” She tossed Arun a portion of her dinner.

Arun caught it with a grin and sat down by the boulder to eat.

Kasu sat next to him and nibbled on a stale sesame bun. She wondered if she could get her hands on mangostern or whatever Arun said he had eaten in the palace. Fruit was not popular in the under-realm. Unless it was soaked in blood or grown from the belly of an impaled warrior, most did not bother importing it from the mortal realm. She wondered if Arun was eating enough. Surely a prince like him was used to seven meals a day. While he popped a piece of boiled yam into his mouth, she took the opportunity to study him closer. Was it just her imagination or was he thinner than before?

The smell of sugar and fresh bread flooded her senses. Kasu’s head shot up so quickly she felt the bones in her neck crack.

Arun had taken off his mask.

“What are you doing?” she screeched. “Put that back on at once!”

“Can’t I have one meal without it?” he asked. “I know it looks like I’m not wearing it when I put it on, but it’s really stuffy.”

Kasu pressed her sleeve to her nose and tried to breathe through her mouth. “I told you never to take it off.”

“But there’s no one here.”

“I’m here,” said Kasu, tightly.

“And? Are you going to eat me?”

She blushed. “I am a ghost you know. I’m not … unaffected.”

A sly grin crossed Arun’s face. Gesturing for Kasu to come closer, he leaned into her ear.

“It’s fine. You can take a bite if you want.”

Kasu shoved him away.

“Don’t joke about that! Put your mask back on or I’m leaving!” she shrieked as Arun burst into peals of laughter.

“Sorry. Sorry!” He did not seem sorry at all. In fact, he was grinning the way Banse and Manzu did whenever someone gave them a tasty bit of human flesh. If Arun were a dog demon, his tail would be wagging. Kasu glowered at him some more for good measure.

“The gods would never forgive me if I ate you. I’d never forgive myself.”

“I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t mean to ruin your chances at reincarnation.” Arun’s expression was penitent as he put his mask back on.

Despite everything, Kasu felt some of the tension she had been holding all day slip away.

“It’s fine.” She wanted to lean her shoulder against his, but her heart fluttered with something she could not name.

Heavenly Principle thirty-nine popped into her head like a sudden reprimand. Refrain from indulging in unnecessary pleasures. They will erode your discipline like sand before the sea. Kasu shoved her hands into the pockets of her dress.

They should discuss what they had learned from the Pale Lady. Kasu was about to bring it up when she heard a loud rustling from the bushes.

Something was approaching.

Kasu stiffened. Though they took care not to wander too deep, she had visited the shadow forest so often now she had started to forget the rumours about things lurking beneath the trees. Things older than Camellia House and the demon lords, older than Ghost City itself.

Rising to his feet, Arun drew his sword.

“Help! Someone, help!”

A tiny imp-like demon stumbled into the clearing. He was as tall as Kasu’s knee and bleeding badly, though the blood was hard to make out against the dark red of his skin. One of his horns was cracked and there was a huge chunk missing from his tail, as if someone had taken a bite out of it.