Gifting Fire by Alina Boyden (read my book .TXT) 📕

“No, sweetheart,” I told her, patting her on the shoulder. “It couldn’t be.”

But Lakshmi wasn’t listening to me. She shouted, “Mohini!” and tore free from me, the skirt of her sari threatening to trip her as she raced across the courtyard.

“Lakshmi, no!” I ran after her, terrified that she was going to get herself devoured. The last thing you wanted to do around a strange zahhak was make sudden movements, and a girl as small as Lakshmi would be an easy morsel, even for an acid zahhak.

But the acid zahhak being led by the Mahisagari soldier perked up at the sound of Lakshmi’s voice. She tore free of his grasp and galloped across the courtyard toward my little sister, springing with her wing claws, her crane-like rear legs kicking furiously at the paving stones.

Before I could stop her, Lakshmi had run straight up to the massive zahhak, and the animal buried her beak in my sister’s chest. I ran, horror gripping my insides, waiting for the spurt of blood as the creature tore my baby sister apart in front of me, but the blood never came. The zahhak was pushing her head up against Lakshmi’s chest, sniffing at her, nuzzling her. Lakshmi was clinging to the animal’s massive skull, running her hands over the brilliant blue feather crest atop her head, all the while crying, “Mohini!” over and over again.

The acid zahhak saw me coming and pushed Lakshmi aside, using one wing to protect her, like she might her own hatchling, and leaned her head low, her beak widening to reveal razor-sharp teeth. She hissed at me like a snake, and I froze in place, suddenly aware of the fact that I was the one breaking all the rules by running up on a strange zahhak like a crazy person.

For an instant, I thought I was going to be bathed in acid, but at that moment, there was a fluttering of wings, and a huge blue and gold form appeared out of nowhere, dropping from the sky to land in front of me, roaring a warning. It was Sultana. She’d pulled free of the man holding her the moment she’d seen me in danger.

“Mohini, no!” Lakshmi exclaimed, and I was shocked when the zahhak turned her crimson eye to look at the little girl for permission.

“You don’t eat my akka!” Lakshmi chided, her harsh words making the zahhak bow her head in submission.

For my part, I had put my hand on Sultana’s neck to calm her, and though she kept one emerald eye on Mohini, she nuzzled my body with her snout, taking in great sniffs of me to make sure I was okay.

“Thank you, my friend,” I told her, giving her a big kiss on her snout, and rubbing her cobalt scales with great affection.

“Akka, come see my Mohini!” Lakshmi called, now that both of our zahhaks were under control, even if they were eyeing each other warily.

“Be nice,” I told Sultana as I slowly approached my little sister, watching Mohini for any signs of aggression. She regarded me suspiciously, but since Lakshmi was walking toward me with no signs of fear, she kept her wing claws and her razor-sharp beak to herself.

My sister was grinning from ear to ear, her face wet with happy tears. “Can you believe it, Akka? My Mohini came back to me!”

“She’s my wedding gift to your big sister,” Karim declared from his place in Amira’s saddle. “I traded a zahhak egg to your father for her.”

My hackles went up at once. Was this gift meant to be some grand gesture to me, or a way of earning Lakshmi’s undying favor? Was he grooming her, as he had groomed me? The possibility of it roiled my insides. I could never let the two of them be alone together, no matter what happened. I wasn’t going to let him do to her what he had done to me.

“Thank you, Prince Karim!” Lakshmi exclaimed, tears continuing to stream down her cheeks as she petted Mohini, as the two of them nuzzled each other, as she clung to the zahhak’s emerald neck scales. It should have been such a joyous moment, but I felt nothing but hatred and fear at my sister’s reunion with her zahhak. If I’d entertained any doubts about the sort of monster Karim was, they were gone now.

“You’re welcome, Princess Lakshmi,” Karim replied, bowing gracefully in the saddle, favoring her with a charming smile.

“Your father really traded a zahhak egg to his rival, the zamorin of Kolikota?” I asked dubiously.

Karim shrugged. “We have plenty more where that came from. The Firangis were using Ahura to build up a force of acid zahhaks, as it’s a nesting ground. When we captured the island, we captured their acid zahhaks, and a cache of eggs. Soon, Mahisagar will have a force of acid zahhaks to rival even Virajendra.”

“That’s wonderful news,” I said, and I thought I even managed to sound sincere, though in reality my mind was churning, trying to work out just how strong Karim’s position really was. I supposed when we reached Kadiro, I would find out for myself. I bowed my head. “Thank you for this magnificent gift, your highness. It warms my heart to see my little sister so happy. I could have wished for nothing more than this.”

“I really get to have my Mohini back?” Lakshmi asked me, her face full of tears of joy.

“Yes, you really do,” I assured her. I came forward slowly to embrace her, and though Mohini kept a scarlet eye on me all the while, she made no aggressive movements, though she did press her snout against Lakshmi all the harder, as if trying to prove to the girl that she loved her even more than I did. Normally I would not have imagined myself a rival for a zahhak’s affections, but where my little sister was concerned, I didn’t think even a zahhak’s fabled loyalty was