Hollow Palace (Wattpad Exclusive)

Chapter Seven

Seven

"They'll find us here. They'll be hunting for us," Eli said late that night.

"Hunting for you," Kiran said, kneeling in front of the fire pit that he and Jena had dug out in the middle of seemingly nowhere.

"They wouldn't be hunting for me if it weren't for you."

She kicked a clod of dirt at him. The clump of brown soil struck his cheek. His jaw flexed but he didn't move.

Jena grabbed Eli's arm and flung her down. She landed on her backside. Once again, she attempted to catch Jena's eye, but Jena refused to look at her.

Jena stalked away, behind Kiran, to the outer edge of the circle that she and Kiran had cut out of the tall dry grasses all around. She crossed her arms and stared into the small licks of flames, the cool breeze stirring her hair and running over the grasses. Overhead, the sky was wide and starry. Eli tried not to be hurt by Jena's coldness. She knew it was Kiran's doing. Still, her chest tightened. 

"You were already being hunted," Kiran said.

Eli pushed back to her feet. "Not by soldiers! Not for murdering a vami!"

Kiran pulled the water skin's strap over his head. "When I have completed my task, you'll need not worry about blood-hunters or soldiers wanting to kill you."

"Why don't you just kill me now or leave me for the hunters? Either is preferable to spending another moment in your cursed company."

"My cursed company is the only hope you have of surviving," he said, the growing flames reflecting in his eyes. "Think on it, adrijanya, and be silent."

Eli glowered. Damn him. She spun around and plunked onto a hunk of stone that had been buried under the grasses. More than a few worn chunks scattered around them-more ruins. They'd been obscured completely by the grasses, but Kiran had come right to them, even in the dead of night.

Eli dug her hands into her tangled hair and stared at the chopped and flattened stalks under her feet. Everyone in Tapur would think she had killed the vami. She'd been the only other person in the bathhouse. What else could they think? But everyone knew she was no fighter and certainly no match for the vami . . . If Eli could speak to the vitra and explain what had happened, then maybe the vitra would believe her. She was a sensible woman. But the more Eli thought about her story, the less plausible it sounded. A viprashan born from a corpse? Jena a slave to his magic? Gods returning and demanding the blood of the vamins? Even thinking it, Eli felt off-kilter. And then . . . what if Kiran succeeded?

She glanced back at Kiran.

His eyes were closed. His lips moved as he murmured some damned prayer or some such thing.

He had been quick against the vami and had killed her much more easily than Eli would've imagined possible. Not that she had imagined it ever was truly possible. Vamins, like padakas, were not murdered. It just didn't happen. Their families fought and killed each other all of the time. Apparent heirs were quietly poisoned or mysteriously drowned. Cousins and in-laws sent blood-hunters against each other over the smallest slights and grudges. But vamins grew old and withered, rarely there was an accident, or even more rarely, like her mother, they became ill and perished. But no one murdered a vamin.

And none of this would have happened if Uma hadn't broken one of the oldest laws by sending blood-hunters after a padaka. Eli and Jena wouldn't have fled by way of the old road. They wouldn't have stumbled upon Naga's temple. She wouldn't have killed that hunter. Kiran wouldn't have been resurrected. Jena wouldn't be a slave. Vami Jay and Amber would still be alive. And Eli wouldn't be stuck with a murderous viprashan who made aggravatingly astute observations.