Poison's Kiss (Poison's Kiss #1)(16)

All the shops on Gali Street are closing and the crowds have thinned out. I walk as fast as I dare without drawing attention to myself. Suddenly I’m desperate to see Mani and make sure he is okay. I feel like I can sense Gopal’s anger already, and I want to shield Mani from his wrath. I have never disobeyed a kill-order before. Not ever. Gopal knows I hate what he makes me do, but I’ve never refused to do it.

I arrive at our red door and rap three times. The door swings open. Gita has fire in her eyes. “Where have you been?” Gopal is standing behind her. He’s almost never here when I return from an assignment. This one must be important to him. Suddenly I know what I have to do.

“The mark never showed,” I say. I hope I sound annoyed.

“What do you mean he never showed?” Gopal asks. There’s a challenge in his voice, but I try to keep my face passive. I kick my sandals off and sink down into a chair. At least I don’t have to fake the exhaustion.

“He never showed. I waited all day and nothing.” Smudge circles my ankles and I pet her in careful strokes with steady hands. She purrs contentedly.

Gita is looking anxiously between me and Gopal. “Maybe we had the wrong day?” she offers. “Or the wrong place.”

His eyes narrow. “Or the wrong girl,” he says softly.

My stomach is swimming with panic, but I hope my face is calm. I think it is. Gopal is nobody, I tell myself. Just another man I must make trust me. It’s a lie, but it’s a good one and I feel steady.

I shrug. “Unless the mark was a mother with small children or a balding man with bad dreams, then he didn’t show. I can’t kiss someone who isn’t there. Even I’m not that good.”

Gita’s face smooths out and I know I have convinced her, but Gopal just continues staring at me. “Are you playing games with me?” he asks. I look straight into his eyes.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing about you all day,” I say. This part is true and I know that Gopal can see it in my face.

He looks away first and I feel like I’ve won a small victory. He makes it to the door in two strides. “I’ll be in touch,” he says, and then slams the door behind him.

Gita puts a hand to her chest and lets out a long sigh. She stands like that for a while before she meets my gaze. “I made some rice,” she says, gesturing toward the table. Mani is sitting in front of an untouched bowl. He hasn’t said a word since I arrived.

“Thank you, Gita,” I say. “I can take it from here.” A hurt look flits across her face, and I almost laugh that she thinks she has the right to be wounded. As if, after today, I should want the pleasure of her company.

Mani doesn’t look up until she leaves, but then he hops off his chair and flings himself into my arms. “That was the longest day ever,” he says.

I pull him close to me. “Did they hurt you?”

It’s a senseless question, because their very existence hurts him, but he knows what I mean. Did they use my tardiness to punish you?

He shakes his head, but his eyes are shiny with the memory of two years ago, when we thought we could escape. I’d been planning it for months—squirreling away money beneath the floorboards under my bed, mapping the fastest route out of the city, gathering supplies in two small packs until we were finally ready.

We left under cover of darkness—the fear clutched around my heart like a fist. My breath hitched at every shadow and Mani startled at every noise, but the farther we got, the more the seed of hope in my chest grew—expanding my rib cage and making it easier to breathe. We just had to make it to the Kinjal River and the edge of the city, where freedom waited for us.

Instead we found Gopal.

All my hope bled away and I scrambled for an explanation that would stay Gopal’s rage, but he didn’t ask for one. He reached us in three steps, yanked Mani from my arms and hauled him to the edge of the river.

“Stop!” I shouted, chasing after him. “Leave him alone.”

I grabbed Gopal’s arm and tried to wrench Mani away, but my strength was no match for his. He grabbed Mani by the hair and plunged his face into the water. Panic choked my throat.

“No, Gopal, please.” Mani’s small feet kicked in a frantic attempt for escape. I tried to reach for him, but Gopal kicked me hard in the stomach, sending me flying backward. He lifted Mani from the water, and the sight of my brother’s face sputtering and gasping for air broke something loose inside me.

“Please,” I begged. “Please, let him go.”

Gopal thrust Mani back into the water. “You know better than to try to leave me,” he said. Mani thrashed in Gopal’s grip.

“Yes,” I said. “I know better.” Mani’s movements were slowing and I was desperate. “Please, Gopal. I’m sorry.” Those were the magic words, and Gopal’s face broke into a wide smile.

“That’s a good girl,” he said. He lifted Mani from the water and tossed his body onto the shore. Mani was blue and lifeless. “Never again, rajakumari. I can find you anywhere. And next time the boy dies.” Gopal strode away without another word.

I knelt beside Mani and lowered my cheek to his nose, praying to feel his breath stir across my face, but there was nothing. His chest was motionless. If he didn’t get air soon, he was going to die. Without thinking, I lowered my mouth toward his and then, at the last moment, caught myself and pulled away, horrified. What was I thinking? My lungs were full of the air he needed, but I couldn’t give him any. I couldn’t try to save him without killing him. I put my hands against his breastbone and pressed with all my strength. “Please, Mani,” I said. “Please don’t die.” I pounded on his small chest until, finally, a huge amount of water gurgled from his mouth and he sucked in a lungful of air. I held him close to me and rocked him back and forth. “I’m so sorry,” I said over and over. “So, so sorry.”