Snared (Kaliya Sahni Book 2)

by K. N. Banet

  “Good. Now, I expect you’ll interview him tonight, find someone to look into his memories, then take him back to the prison to complete the investigation. Am I correct?”

  “You are. Unless someone comes out of the woodwork and tries for the kill, I should be able to wrap this up in a day or two. The investigation could take longer because I haven’t found everyone yet, like Kartane, but I can get to work on it for your Investigator.”

  “Thank you. We’re still wary of sending anyone else into Phoenix.”

  “Yeah, I would give it a couple of weeks,” I said quietly, rubbing my face. Until some of the escapees started showing up around the world, I had to assume they were in my region.

  “Well, let me get a few things clear before I leave you. Good work on this so far. Your response has been quick and effective in managing this crisis, and we of the Tribunal are lucky to have someone with such dedication. Second, good luck with the rest of this. Don’t make one of us have to call Adhar and tell him we got the last female naga killed. Last, get back to work.”

  “Yes, sir, and thank you, sir,” I said. I heard a satisfied huff, then the call ended.

  I looked at the phone in my hand and sighed.

  Get back to work, Kaliya. This isn’t done yet.

  23

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I leaned on the table and considered my next move.

  I had to talk to Nakul.

  Part of me wanted to go out and kill another inmate. I would rather spend the next week fighting more like Levi than have a full, open conversation with my uncle.

  To avoid it, I pulled my phone closer again and looked through my contacts. First, I went to the local coven leader. With the fae mostly MIA, the witches were who I had to go to about Nakul’s memory problem. I sent a quick text, explaining I had someone with possible information important to me and the Tribunal, but his memories had been tampered with. Whatever they could do to help would be appreciated. A reply came quickly.

  Monica: Bring the subject to my home in three hours. We’re willing to help the Tribunal and you further, of course, but we need time to prepare.

  Kaliya: Thank you.

  I continued scrolling, now with three hours to kill. I slowed every time I passed a naga name until I finally found the one I wanted. It wasn’t Adhar. Talking to the male leader of the nagas wasn’t on my agenda and hadn’t been since he was an absolute asshole four months ago. He sent emails and texts, all news about the nagas, like the announcement that one of the babies was going to be a girl, but I never replied.

  There was another name, a naga I hadn’t spoken to since I was a child. I kept up with all of them, getting news from Adhar, but I hadn’t spoken to any of the other surviving nagas in over a century. Adhar gave me their numbers and mine to them, but nothing came of it.

  One of them was Nakul’s brother.

  I hit his name and let it ring. He was twelve hours and thirty minutes ahead of me because of course India Standard Time had to be one of those times that fell on the half an hour. It was nearly nine for me, which meant it was definitely time for him to be awake.

  “Kaliya?” The deep confusion and disbelief on the other end of the line didn’t surprise me.

  “That’s me,” I said. “Hello, Mahavir.”

  “Why are you calling me?” His voice was thick with an accent I didn’t hear often. I avoided mortals who hailed from India, avoided celebrations and ceremonies—avoided most things that reminded me of home.

  “First, let me say congratulations on your son. I bet you and your wife are very happy. He’s fifteen now, isn’t he?” I didn’t want to jump into talking about Nakul without care. It would have been cruel. Mahavir was one of the few lucky nagas with a human mate, and they had a fifteen-year-old son I had never met. I didn’t even know if the boy knew my name.

  “He is.” Mahavir chuckled, sounding like every bit a proud father. “You sound very American, did you know that?”

  “I do. I live in Arizona. Sounding American helps me blend in.”

  “Why are you calling?”

  “Maybe I’m just—”

  “Don’t lie to me, Kaliya Sahni. Don’t disrespect your parents’ memories or me like that.”

  I sighed and leaned back in my seat. Looking at the door to the kitchen, Raphael was standing there, waiting quietly, watching me with his warm chocolate eyes I wanted to fall into.

  “Nakul,” I said simply. “I’m calling you about Nakul. I wanted to ease the blow before we got to that.”

  “What could you possibly want from me about my brother? Wasn’t the last century enough? He’s locked away—”

  “He’s escaped, and I wanted to ask you some questions—”

  “No, absolutely not. The last time you asked me some questions about my brother, you caught him and tried to have the Tribunal execute him. Adhar had to go and save him. From you. Now, I’m willing to forgive a lot of things when it comes to you. You had a rough childhood, Kaliya, but having one of your own kind killed is not something I’m going to help you with. You’re supposed to be our female species’ representative, a leader.”

  I put the phone down and let him rant. Raphael stepped closer, concern on his face, and leaned over to listen to Mahavir.

  As Mahavir continued to berate me, I watched my roommate’s eyes go wide.

  “His brother. This is Nakul’s brother,” I explained softly, hoping the phone didn’t pick it up. Raphael nodded sharply, then took a seat near me, supportive with his very presence. As Mahavir continued about how terrible I was, I reached out and hit the button to turn on speakerphone.

  “Stop,” I ordered. The rant ended in a split second. I wasn’t a young teen at the beck and call of all the adults. I was an unknown to the other nagas as much as they were an unknown to me. The difference was they knew I could be threatening, and I knew they weren’t. “Please listen carefully, Mahavir. I’m not going to kill Nakul. There was a breakout at the prison, and he’s already in my custody, very much alive.”

  “Not that she couldn’t,” Raphael added, speaking loudly enough to be heard. “He did murder innocent women and children from what I’ve heard.”

  The silence from Mahavir said volumes.

  “I need to know if Nakul knows where you live. If he ever visited before he…before he was incarcerated.”

  I couldn’t say ‘before he started killing people’ because Cassius had often wondered if Mahavir had secretly kept his brother safe between kills, not knowing what Nakul had been doing. What Mahavir would never know was I stonewalled Cassius on that front. I played both sides to stop a killer and to protect my people. It wasn’t my fault Nakul had done everything in his power to get himself killed, but I hadn’t let him take down anyone else. Adhar had told me Nakul never showed himself to the other nagas or him, and I used that to protect them. I had believed Adhar, not the fae noble, who was being a pushy ass at the time. I still believed Adhar, but I made sure to ask Mahavir the right question to cover my bases.

  “And if he did, you need to move and get into a different secure location,” I finished.

  “We’ve all moved since you left—”

  “That doesn’t answer the question, Mahavir. Give me the respect of not treating me like an idiot. I work with and for some of the most intelligent people in the world, and I spend my days tracking and killing the most dangerous. I’m not a fool.” Now I knew either Mahavir had lied to Adhar…or worse, Adhar had lied to me.

  “He…he stopped by my home a couple of times.”

  Since that wasn’t surprising information anymore, I pushed for more, suppressing the hot anger that tried to come to the surface. I didn’t want to yell at him, even though the urge was strong.

  “And you never told me or Adhar.”

  “I told Adhar.”

  That filled me with cold rage, that sort of anger that makes people want to kill. In all the years Nakul had been killing, I had been led to believe Nakul had been missing until I started he
lping Cassius on the case.

  “Did he go to Adhar’s home?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck. You’ll make immediate arrangements to move, Mahavir. That’s an order.”

  “Why?” For the first time in the entire conversation, I caught a note of fear in the old naga’s voice. Mahavir was six hundred years old. Nakul was his older brother by a long shot. At least he finally remembered what was at stake.

  “Nakul’s memory was violated, and I don’t know what all they played with or looked at. Tell your family it’s time to pack up because your location is no longer secure. I need to call Adhar.”

  “Of course. Thank you for this warning, Kaliya.”

  “Anything for my people,” I whispered, reaching out to hang up.

  “Well, he’s a fucking piece of work,” Raphael growled. “Are they really all like that?”

  “The first thousand nagas were male, the sons of Kadru,” I reminded him. “It gives them…a big fucking head sometimes, and they think they make the rules. My mother was the female representative before she died, but I was too young to remember that time. I know she fought against the old ways, trying to modernize nagas and change the way we did things and protect ourselves, but she died…just like the others.”

  “And now you need to call your…co-ruler?” Raphael looked at the phone. “If your numbers are so low, why aren’t you…mated? Having kids? I mean, I’m sorry, that was really fucked up to ask. It’s not my business—”

  “Finding a mate is hard. They’re biological matches.” I always said biological because I refused to believe the gods were so cruel to leave our people without mates for so long. I didn’t like the idea of fated mates either. Fate was for the faint of heart, people who didn’t want to forge their own destiny but wanted to have one given to them. “We can’t just mate anyone, which means we can’t have children with just anyone. Adhar is several centuries older than me and has never found his mate. Never. If he had, he would have popped out as many children as he could by now.” It was about time I explained some of it. The more I gave him, the more I could ease him into my world. I knew if I ever got the chance, I would cut ties and run, to protect both of us, but since that wasn’t looking likely, I had to prepare him for the day I lost my control.

  “Our mate is truly immune to our venom. When ingested or injected into them, it’s an aphrodisiac. Same as if I were to accidentally ingest it while trying to milk. That’s why I’m so careful.”

  I picked up my phone and flipped it around, considering if I should tell him more. He was a sponge, staring at me like a curious child but with an adult edge. There was a keenness in his eyes that told me he was thinking about what I said in ways I didn’t need to know yet. He wasn’t a threat to my species—only my peace of mind.

  “Beyond that, I refuse to have children while I know there’s an evil in the world trying to kill me and my kind. It’s unfair to a child, and I know I can keep myself alive. As long as any naga is alive, there’s hope. I won’t be a part of a massacre of another family but in my mother’s shoes. I won’t choose to bring a child into the world, knowing that child might grow up without parents.”

  “That…makes a lot of sense. I’m sorry. It was really messed up to ask. I won’t bring it up again.”

  His sincere apology was more than Cassius had ever given me on the topic. Cassius knew I was touchy about the subject and treaded carefully and respected my decisions, but when he asked me the same question decades ago, he hadn’t cared to apologize. It had become a passionate argument where the nobleman couldn’t bring himself to admit he had done anything wrong.

  Beyond Cassius, most people told me to shut up and breed if I wanted to save the nagas. My plight wasn’t theirs. Mostly. Hisao had never even covered the topic, which I felt was for the best. He had always thought of my future, not the future of my people.

  “Let me do this call, then we’ll get to what’s next.” Hitting Adhar’s name in my contacts, it rang only once.

  “I was wondering when you would call me. I was called by Matilda several hours ago about you being injured, and your status looked precarious to the wolf pack when they saw you. And the prison had a breakout, but you couldn’t be bothered to call and tell me the female representative of our species was in mortal danger because of the job she shouldn’t even have? Kaliya—”

  “Not right now, okay? There’s a lot going on,” I hissed. Remembering what Mahavir had just told me, I bared my teeth, wishing I was in Adhar’s face to chew him out instead of on the other side of the world. “You fucking piece of shit. There’s a lot we can talk about that makes us both look bad, and the last thing I want is our species going down because we hate each other. So, you need to listen to me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Let me run through an important chain of events I think might impart to you the danger of the situation. One hundred and fifteen years ago, Nakul’s family was murdered like mine and some others. It was a slaughter. Nakul then went on a fucking murder spree, but no one knew that. You told me you never found him. When I was on the case, helping Cassius since I was the only naga who would work with the Tribunal and knew about the murders, you told me you had never seen Nakul and believed he was dead. You remember that?”

  “I do,” Adhar said, the words sharp and angry.

  “Yeah, well, Cassius thought Mahavir would have seen his brother, but I decided to shield the nagas because you told me the nagas weren’t involved. You told me that, Adhar! I stonewalled him on your word!” I was screaming at the end as the implications settled in. Adhar had known Nakul was being looked into as a serial killer, had withheld information from the governing body of the supernaturals, and I had inadvertently helped him.

  If the Tribunal found out and wanted to prosecute to the full extent of the Law, we were doomed. Me, Adhar, and Mahavir would be investigated and found guilty. The sentence would be execution by a Tribunal Executioner, which would hopefully be quick. Three nagas, four including Nakul, because he would be executed without me helping him. It would cut our species in half.

  “Now, Kaliya, let’s talk about this rationally—”

  “I am being rational!” I roared, slamming my hands on the table and getting to my feet. “I’m apparently the only fucking person who understands how bad this is!”

  “What does this have to do with the prison outbreak?” Adhar asked softly, his own rage clear.

  “Nakul’s memory was tampered with,” I explained, hitting a hand on the table again. “I just got off the phone with Mahavir. I had a suspicion he would be compromised. Finding out you were compromised because you not only lied to me, but also let Nakul stay in your home while he was running from us…” I hissed in anger, unable to form the threat I needed. “Pack up and move, Adhar. Your location is no longer secure.”

  “Thank you for letting me know.”

  There was silence for a minute until I decided to try to deescalate the situation. Adhar and I needed to be on the same side.

  “You were worried about me?” I asked.

  “Of course, I was. I don’t think our differences in opinion should be something for which we wish each other ill.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Are you going to visit us next summer? I would very much like it if you did.”

  I needed a vacation. Maybe it was time to revisit India. It had been more than a hundred years, and now I had Raphael to worry about. I’ll need the support of the other nagas one day.

  “What’s going on this summer?”

  “Mahavir’s son, Devesh, turns sixteen and gains his majority. At his majority, he is owed a visit from every eligible female naga—”

  “No,” I whispered, my stomach flipped. Nausea rose up, and I resisted the urge to lose the burger I just ate.

  “You would deny him the right to find out if—”

  “He’ll be a sixteen-year-old boy.”

  “You know—”

  “I will not find out if a sixteen-year-old
boy is my mate,” I snapped. “Don’t ask again. In most countries, that’s fucking illegal. I’m not a goddamn predator. Don’t ask me to be one while you continue to live in the past.”

  “This is the way things are done, Kaliya. You went through the same—”

  “Yeah, I remember. I remember the disappointment on the faces of the other male nagas, Mahavir being one, when they realized I wouldn’t be their ticket to getting laid for the rest of their lives. I remember spending two years in your house and seeing the resentment in your eyes because you knew I wasn’t your mate.” That last thought made my stomach twist. It hadn’t been sexual. No one would have tried to have sex with me at fourteen, but the sexual pressure of the situation would always leave a bitter and scared taste in my mouth. “Now, being that young might have been acceptable centuries ago, but it’s the new millennium, and we’re going to do things my way. Is that clear? He’s a boy. When he’s a man, I’ll meet him. I like my bedroom partners to be adults with a little experience.”

  “Fine,” he snapped. “I’ll help Mahavir find a new place to settle his family, then let him know his son will be denied a privilege every naga has been awarded since the first child. I’m positive the young man was excited to finally meet you, and now I must crush those hopes.”

  “I’m not going to speak about this any longer. Be safe.” I hung up, pushing the phone away, and let it slide off the end of the other side of the table.

  “Did he…” Raphael reached out and grabbed my hand. “Did he just ask you to see if a teenage boy was your mate?”

  “Yup. It’s like a coming of age thing we’ve done for a long time. A boy turns sixteen and gets to meet all the eligible females. A girl starts puberty and gets to meet all the eligible males. It’s…” I shook my head. “A remnant of a dying time. All I want to do is put a bullet in it and kill it off completely.”