THE INSTANT KRUSH MADE contact, she knew something was different.
She could sense the minds of the dromads racing across the desert on their long legs, worked up to a frenzy, spittle dribbling down the sides of their open mouths. She sensed the minds of the soldiers that rode the dromads, their battle-hardened brains intent on only one thing: killing. She even sensed the mind of Dirrdha at the back of the attacking army, evil and wicked.
But there was something else here. Something she had not expected. Not this time.
Or rather, someone else.
Daughter.
You? You are here?
Where else would I be? I came to see you. It has been a very long time since I last visited, hasn’t it? I apologize. I have been occupied with pressing matters that required my presence elsewhere. But you, my daughter, have never left my thoughts, not even for an instant. I am here now. Finally, you and I will be together. We will be a family again.
Never! We can never be a family. You saw to that. You tried to kill my mother.
That is true, and I regret that profoundly, daughter. That was a long time ago, and I was a different person then. I have changed.
You have not changed one iota. You have never stopped trying to kill her. You killed so many innocents during the deadwalker attack. And in the years before and after. You prevented us from reaching Reygar when we were so close. I know everything, you cannot deceive me with your sweet lies. Even now you are trying to wipe us out with this attack. And you dare to talk of family!
I can prove it to you. I can stop this attack right now. I can turn this entire army around and march them back to Reygar. Or even farther into the desert. I can abandon them all there to die. They don’t matter to me. Only you matter. Say the word, and I will call off this attack, and we will be reunited as a family.
You expect me to believe you? It’s all a lie, like every word out of your mouth!
Suddenly, something happened. She sensed his power going out, rippling through the air. The charging dromads slowed, faltered, then as one being with a common consciousness, the entire charging army stopped its forward momentum.
Krushita stared down at the train from above.
The encircling army had come to a halt a few miles short of the train.
Down below, she could sense her mother, Bulan, and everyone else looking around in disbelief, still afraid, trying to understand why their attackers had stopped, yet terrified as the sand clouds began to settle slowly and they could see the sheer size of the force arrayed around them.
Do you believe me now? I show you good faith by doing what I said I would do. Now it is your turn, Krushita.
What do you expect me to do?
Give me another chance. Bring me to your mother and let me talk to her. Then all three of us shall go away together and restart our lives.
You expect me to just . . . trust you? After all the havoc you’ve caused? All the pain you have brought us? The many deaths on your hands?
We are still family. You are still my daughter. Nothing you do can change that. I have come to terms with our differences. I cannot promise that your mother and I will be able to rekindle our old fire once again. In all likelihood we will not. But I will not harm her. She will live out the rest of her days in comfort and safety, as she deserves and desires. She will never want for anything. I can offer her that much at least. And she will never fear anything else ever again.
And in exchange you want . . . what?
You know what I want, Krushita.
The Burning Throne. You want me to claim it so you can rule the Burnt Empire, and then the whole world.
Perhaps more than one world. What difference does it make to you? Your mother will be alive, and safe, and you will be queen of everything that exists. The fairest queen in all creation. What could be more desirable than that, my child?
And if I refuse?
The wolf is still at the door. Dirrdha’s army can continue their attack, and will on my command.
She tried to think, but she also knew she had to be careful. Jarsun could see her thoughts. She tried to follow her guru’s instructions, to shield her mind as effectively as possible, make a tiny space for herself to mull on the problem privately.
He has to know about the Deliverer and me, she thought. That is why he is here now, at this very moment. He knows that by separating us, he takes away the advantage that Drishya has.
But she also knew that Drishya was strong in himself. He was an avatar, after all. He could probably kill Tyrak without her help. After all, he was the Slayer that the prophecy foretold. He had been born for this purpose. And it was not Tyrak she cared about right now. There were a thousand tyrants in the world she could not simply go about killing and stopping. Not while she had family of her own to care for and protect. If she only had to choose between helping Drishya kill Tyrak or saving her mother and friends, it was an easy choice. She had already made that choice. And for the moment, she had stopped the attack on the train.
No. This was about what she had intended to do after Drishya killed Tyrak.
It was about ending Jarsun himself.
That was the bargain.
Drishya would kill Tyrak, then challenge Jarsun in the same arena.
And Jarsun would accept the challenge and fight Drishya.
And Krush would join her strength with Drishya’s, and together they would slay the greater tyrant, he who created a thousand Tyraks. Jarsun Krushan.
She had to go through with that plan. It was the only way, her only chance of ending her father’s evil once and for all.
Why?
Because Vessa said so?
Where is Vessa now, when you need him most?
He isn’t even here.
This time, it wasn’t Jarsun who fled like a coward, it was Vessa.
Somehow, he knew that his plan had been found out, that Jarsun had seen through his stratagem, and he went and hid away. Where Krushita couldn’t find him.
Vessa had betrayed her. That was the only way she could see it right now.
He had betrayed and abandoned her.
And now she had to face this on her own.
She came to a decision.
It was not the decision she wanted to make, or even one she had ever dreamed of making, but it was the only one she could make in that moment.
She came back to where Jarsun’s consciousness waited.
Very well, Father, she said. It hurt her brain to even form those words, but she made herself say them. I will bring you to Mother and let you speak words with her. But if she refuses your offer, if she tells you to go to hell, as I am sure she will, then you will not harm her. This you must promise me. Only if and when you let her do as she wishes—not as you wish—will I consider the next step. But I am not speaking of moments or hours, or even days, weeks, months. I am speaking of years. Let Mother live out her life in peace and safety. Then, when she has passed away in the way of all mortals and I have laid her to her final rest and grieved for her, I will go to Hastinaga and I will claim the Burning Throne.
That is not what I asked for.
That is all you’re going to get from me. Take it or leave it.
What if I wait all those years, and after your mother’s passing, you refuse to honor your part of the bargain? I will have no hold over you, nothing to bargain with. I know that once your mother is gone, you will not listen to anything I have to say.
Unlike you, Father dearest, I have a sense of honor. I honor my promises once I make them. It may surprise you or even shock you, but most people in this world are honorable and keep their word. Not everyone is a lying, murdering, genocidal monster like yourself.
I see. Well. Is that your final word?
It is. Take it or leave it. You will not get anything else from me.
In that case, I will take it.