My hands let go, and we plummeted, crashing through the branches. I bent my knees to absorb the shock of landing and touched down like a cat. Prying off the stick-like arms from my neck, I tossed off the attacker. I twisted around, drawing both of my knives. The rat hissed and leapt to his feet, heading for the nearest tree. I was faster. Crossing my arms around his body, I pulled the knives over his throat and beheaded him. The blood spurted into my mouth. Once again, my body sizzled with energy, like someone plugged me into a transformer.
I dragged the rats to the hole they’d climbed out of and shoved them down inside. Let those who came later find them this way. I stripped off my bloodstained costume and stuffed it in on top of them, just so they’d know an adept had done this.
But no one in the palace would ever know.
* * * *
As suddenly as the rats had appeared around the compound, they disappeared. I doubted my small contribution had anything to do with it. All over the world, the uprisings ceased. Rumor had it that the infamous Loki was dead. The New Year passed with a celebratory banquet including all of the chief’s alphas and their entourages. All left the following sunset. Things quieted down a lot, giving me a lot of time to reflect on things I’d rather not. I turned to music in an attempt to tamp down those dragons. Sitting in the ashram garden, I played my guitar, roughing out a song I’d written. Sandhya skirted the pool on silent feet, as if to slip by unnoticed. Right. When just the smell of her perfume drove me mental.
I stopped playing. “You don’t need to run from me.”
She drew herself taller and flipped her braid over her shoulder. “Why do you assume that everything I do concerns you?”
I caught her arm. “Don’t act like the kisses never happened.”
“A kiss means nothing, except for a momentary lapse of good sense.”
“That momentary lapse had a lot of passion behind it.” I pulled her close and snogged her once more. She didn’t fight it. In fact, she returned it like a woman deranged. Momentary lapse my arse. Marco came tearing into the garden, his robes and hair flying behind him. Why on earth was he in such a hurry? Sandhya and I pulled apart.
Marco halted in front of us, panting and red-faced. “It’s over!”
“What?” I asked.
“In America.” Marco struggled for breath. “Gaius is dead. Kurt killed him. The rats have won!”
“Merciful Mother!” Sandhya fell to her knees, invoking Kali’s protection.
Marco sank to the bench, fussing with his disarrayed clothing. Adrenaline coursed through me. My heart pounded. This news didn’t bode well for adepts. How could Marco just sit there preening when at any moment rats could swarm the compound?
I pressed him for further information. “What happened?”
“They fought for several nights in New York, but the rats beat Gaius’ dogs back. Gaius took Kurt’s woman hostage. Kurt and his rats retaliated. You’ll be glad to know that Diego is dead as well, the bastard. Kalidasa is beside himself with fear. He’s ranting and raving. Giulietta ordered me away and locked herself in with him.”
My emotions ran the gamut, from terror to elation. “What does this mean?”
“Kalidasa sent Rosnan, his second in command, to America to hunt down Kurt.”
“The rats will be all over us,” I said.
Sandhya remained on her knees, her murmuring lips bloodless. “We are in her hands now,” she whispered. “The Mother’s will prevail.”
Avijit dashed into the garden with Padma and Sita on his heels. “Have you heard? This is indeed an evil day!”
He fell to his knees before the statue with Sandhya, chanting. The other women followed suit. Marco and I exchanged looks. Pray? I thought not, although part of me wanted to shout Hallelujah and praise Kurt’s name. Diego the pig was dead. After thousands of years, someone had stood up to the monsters and actually won. Yet, when I looked at the face of the woman I loved, I worried for her. The rats would fear nothing now.
I shook my head in disgust. “How can you all fall on your bloody knees when at any moment the rats could attack this place? We’re a symbol of oppression to them. You should be looking for something to arm yourselves. Our patroness is a warrior, not a pathetic drone.”
Marco tugged at my sleeve. “Leave them be. It comforts them. I don’t know about you—but if it comes to it—I’ll cut my own throat rather than giving them the satisfaction.”
I pulled away. “Suit yourselves. I’ll fight every last one of them, as long as I have breath in my body.”
I left the lot of them in the garden and ran back to my room, where I found my knives hidden under the bed. I honed them against the stone that I used to sharpen the ceremonial bloodletting knife I wore at my waist. The blades sparkled in the light. When the rats came, I’d be ready. No one would make an example of me.
Some hours later, Naveen came to my door and told me I was wanted in Giulietta’s chambers. I thought nothing of it, as I was often summoned to perform annoying tasks she could easily have called a common slave to do, like cleaning her bathroom or killing spiders. Nothing pleased her more than ordering the infamous Shardul about. I couldn’t disappoint her.
Raj lounged there, at home in one of her white brocade chairs. My mind worked to process this disturbing turn of events. Not that I was jealous. What feelings I’d once had for him were dead. The bodies of two mortal children lay on a sofa, as if Raj and Giulietta had just indulged in a snack. The rats’ victory didn’t seem to have upset either of these ghouls. They laughed at my distressed expression. Giulietta stroked Raj’s hair, hanging over the back of his chair like the teenager her form suggested. It stood to reason why Giulietta favored him. He made a much more pleasing bedmate than Kalidasa. I doubted Raj reciprocated. He preferred young men and liked his women stupid. As much as I hated Giulietta, one had to acknowledge that she was no idiot. It made more sense that my master was smitten blind by ambition and the rise in his trousers precipitated by the desire to rise from mere counselor and errand boy to second in command. Giulietta’s favor and her power over the chief elder could hasten this. But what was in it for her? She was already queen elect. Of what possible use could Raj be to her?
“No doubt you’ve heard the news from America?” Raj asked. “In view of this, the Queen believes you would best serve our interests if you were to accept Lord Liu’s offer. It will assure Liu’s cooperation as an ally, and you will serve as the Exalted Father’s eyes and ears in that house.”
It made sense that she’d want to get rid of me. She never liked me and no doubt viewed me as a rival to her lover’s affections. But there had to be some political angle. She’d decided that I’d better serve their interests—hers and Raj’s—not Kalidasa’s. They acted as if they’d planned events in America to go this way. This little soiree smacked of victory party. Had they some hand in Kurt’s win? Kalidasa would have both of their heads if he knew they were plotting to aid the rebels. How could they get away with it? Beeshom and two others stood guard. They must have heard everything. Why hadn’t the dogs turned them in? Then it all came together in a neat pattern. She was buying them off with the adepts’ stolen tributes and building her own army. They had a coup in the works.
My mouth dropped open. “You’ll never get away with it…”
Giulietta slipped her arms off of Raj’s neck. “This wretch needs to learn some respect. Guards!”
Beeshom and another guard grabbed me, dragging me over to a pillar. I struggled, lunging with my fangs. They forced my wrists up so I was stretched on tiptoes. An iron hook stuck out from the column. Beeshom cuffed me to it and backed away, panting with exertion.
Giulietta ripped the silk of my choga up the back with a knife and ran her finger down the symbols hennaed there. “Don’t get any ideas of going to Kalidasa. He will never believe the word of a boy whore over mine.”
I twisted my neck around to look her in the eye. If they were going to whip me anyway, what did I have to lose? “We really should c
ompare notes sometime. I’m sure you could teach me a lot about the trade.”
She slapped me across the face. For such a dainty thing, she packed a wallop. “You let this eunuch speak to your queen so?” She took up the silver-tipped whip she kept handy for slow-moving slaves, extending it to Raj. “Make him bleed.”
He took it from her with a sick smile. I braced myself. The whip rose and fell on my naked back. Each stroke sliced open skin. Blood ran from the stinging cuts. I gritted my teeth, willing myself not to scream. Sandhya’s voice echoed inside my head.
You must destroy ego, or it will destroy you. The Mother only takes her fearsome form when we succumb to selfish desires.
Sod that. I wouldn’t give this bitch the satisfaction of my submission. Gathering concentration around me, my mouth formed the words of the adept’s mantra. My chant grew louder and louder with each blow.
Giulietta’s voice grew shrill. “You are going too easy. I want to hear him scream and beg for mercy.”
Raj hit me harder this time, but still not more than I could take. It didn’t fool her. “Who is master and who is slave here?” she asked. “Are you in love with this thing? What kind of man are you?”
The lash fell until my back was a bloody mess. My chant continued. Giulietta grabbed me by the hair and stared into my eyes. Sweat and blood blurred my vision. I went on chanting in defiance. The Rani’s face turned an unattractive red. She drew her dagger from her bosom, trailing it down my chest and belly, leaving a long shallow cut that ended at my bollocks. “I should just finish the job. You don’t really need them.”
She wouldn’t dare. Or would she? They could always claim I’d done something horrible. It wasn’t unheard of, even if it was out of fashion. Raj finally stepped in. “You’ve frightened the boy enough. He’ll do as he’s told and won’t talk. Put the knife away.”
“He needs to know his place.” She stared at me with empty eyes and then turned away to a brazier used to warm blood. Drawing something out of the glowing coals, she approached me from behind. Hot metal seared my shoulder. My entire body convulsed in agony. I screamed in the same way the burning rats in Thailand had. Giulietta withdrew the brand and walked away, leaving me faint and moaning. “Get this thing out of my sight.”
The dogs unchained me. I wept now. Burning left permanent marks. My celebrated perfection was spoiled forever—but that meant nothing. What hurt was what the mark represented. Animals, livestock were branded. I’d known for a long time that this was in fact my status, but Giulietta had made damn well sure that I had a constant reminder.
Beeshom hauled me out of the room to a door leading down into the tunnels below. Other than our masters, only the dogs were permitted to use them. They connected all wings of the palace. The damp corridors smelled of tiger piss from the holding pens. The cats’ growls rumbled in my ears. A mewling cry echoed off the stone of the walls, not from a cub, but a mortal child caged with more of its kind, beggars plucked off the streets of Calcutta to provide blood on the hoof.
Beeshom dumped me inside the ashram door and kicked me in the ribs for good measure. I struggled to my feet and limped toward my room. Sandhya sat in the lotus position in front of Kali’s statue, meditating. Nothing escaped her, even in this spiritual state. She leapt to her feet and followed me inside, shutting the door behind as I threw myself facedown on my bed. “Good heavens, what’s happened now? Let me tend to these.”
“Leave me be, woman!”
“Don’t be a fool. You can hardly dress them yourself.” She washed the cuts and dabbed some cooling unguent from my adept’s chest onto my back, not seeing the brand right off because my hair covered my shoulders. “Who did this?” she asked. “Raj never uses the whip as punishment…unless you do something seriously wrong.”
I craned my neck up at her. “It’s nothing, just a game. He got a little carried away.”
She raised her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips. “You cannot lie to me. Did that blonde bitch have anything to do with this?”
“You want her to do worse?” I moved my hair aside to show the brand.
A distressed cry escaped her. “How dare she? You are consecrated to the Mother. I must protest to Kalidasa. Giulietta will be punished for this desecration!”
“There’s no one to complain to anymore! She has Kalidasa so wrapped around her little finger that he’d back her.”
“You should have accepted Lord Liu’s offer. It will only get worse for you here.”
“You know very well I can’t make that decision and neither can Mother Kali, Father Christmas, nor any other imaginary person. But it seems now that Giulietta can. Raj is her lover, and she wants me out of the way. They want to barter me off to Li Cheng and make me spy on him.”
“You must accept! Mother Kali wills it—don’t you see? Raj has given way to ambition and lust, and Giulietta has singled you out as her rival; no good will come of their liaison. The Mother doesn’t want you to be desecrated. Forget their evil purposes, and serve Lord Liu in honor.”
She gathered me close to her and crooned in a soft voice. My head lay cradled in that fabulous bosom, as if I rocked in the Goddess’ own arms. Sandhya embodied everything that was sweet and lovely. In spite of the pain my senses awakened. Wild longing overtook me, beyond sexual desire. Every cell of my being craved communion with hers. “I love you,” I whispered.
She pulled her arms away from me. “Hush, don’t be foolish.”
I rose up on my knees beside her. “I’ve never wanted anyone like I want you, and for once I believe she is prompting me. Raj never treated me as a person, not like you do. You’ve taught me what love is.”
A small laugh escaped her. “No, I won’t hear it. You’re just a boy. You don’t know your own heart yet.”
“When you gave me your blood my eyes were opened. Glory shone all around you.”
“You can’t love me—not in that way.”
I took her into my arms, and she trembled all over. “You get flustered every time I touch you.”
“It is simply lust of the body.”
“You’re a senior adept. You should be able to control such feelings.”
She tried to pull away, but I was stronger. “You don’t understand.”
“Don’t give me the self-denial rubbish. No one around here denies anything, except you. Not even your brother—he’s been Marco’s lover for years.”
“It is not that…”
“What then?”
All the light drained from her eyes. Her head bowed and voice fell to a whisper. “Raj is my husband. Our souls are joined for eternity.”
I released her. It was like she’d kicked me right in the balls. It literally hurt down there and everywhere else. “What?” Raj was even more sadistic than I knew. He’d made his own wife into a vampire, and he’d forced her to serve other men sexually. Worst of all, he made her train me. “I had no idea. You must despise the very sight of me.”
“I wish it were that easy…”
She left, closing the door quietly. I sat there on the bed, still reeling from what she’d said. The hot colors of the walls and draperies swirled in my head. How would I ever make amends to her? I ran from my room to hers, but she’d closed her door and bolted it. I pounded for her to come out. “Sandhya, please, I didn’t understand, forgive me!”
A hand grabbed my shoulder. “Why are you pounding on my sister’s door like a maniac? What have you done to her?”
I turned to find Avijit. His silk clad frame poised for a fight. I’d never seen him so stirred up. “No one ever told me that she was his wife,” I said.
“What does it matter any more?”
“Obviously a lot.”
“Just leave her be.” He pushed me aside. Jangling ornaments betrayed his agitation.
I grabbed his arm. “I think I deserve some explanation, Brother.”
He barely blinked an eye as he poured out their tangled history. “Raj’s family sent him to be educated in the law at Oxford. He h
ad come back to India to find a wife and start a firm of his own. We were Brahmins. His family were also, but not as wealthy as ours. The marriage was advantageous because with my sister’s dowry he could set himself up. We were thirteen when she married him. It was a bad match. She bore him no children, and he sought out…others. A wealthy man can do as he pleases as long as he does his duty as the head of the family, but since she failed to provide him with one he resented her. Our parents died when we were fourteen, and Raj was appointed executor of the estate and my guardian. I went to live with he and Sandhya until I was of age to assume my inheritance.
“Raj met Kalidasa through his business ventures. The Exalted Father saw the value of an attorney educated in England and offered him the blood. In order to keep both my fortune and my sister’s dowry, Raj forced both of us to take the blood and gave me to Kalidasa as a gift. The chief, intrigued by the novelty of twin adepts, decreed both Sandhya and I be trained.” He turned his tortured eyes on me. “We’ve been forced to do unspeakable things together. If it were only me I would have taken my life, but I couldn’t leave her alone in Raj’s hands.”
I sagged against the wall near Sandhya’s door. “It all makes sense now.”
He looked me over and shook his head, his demeanor chilling into something like granite. “You couldn’t begin to understand. Just leave her alone. She takes comfort in the fact that she serves the mother. It’s the only thing that keeps her sane.”
He continued on his way to his room. I could only imagine the shame and degradation they’d experienced. What a bloody mess it all was, and here I was caught in the middle of it. I had to leave this place. It was better for all involved.
THIRTEEN
The chief elder’s quarters smelled of blood, sweet pastries, and roasted meats. Kalidasa and the queen elect sat at the dark wood table breaking their fast. My mouth salivated, and a twinge pricked behind my eyes. I’d had no time to eat because Marco came into my room saying that Giulietta wanted us to come and play for the chief to ease his troubled mind.
My Fearful Symmetry Page 20