Poison's Kiss (Poison's Kiss #1)(42)

“An antidote?” She laughs. “Oops. Did you give your boyfriend too much venom?”

I shake my head. “No, he’s not my boyfriend and it’s not for him. It’s for my brother.”

“Your brother?” Her confusion looks genuine. “Oh, you mean that little boy Gopal gave you for a pet?”

I go hot all over. “Mani is not a pet.”

“I never said pets were bad, Marinda. Look around—I adore my pets.” I refuse to look and she sniffs as if offended. “Either way, I can’t help you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have an antidote.”

She has to be lying. “How could you not? Look around.” I throw her own words back at her but she just holds my gaze, and when she speaks, her voice is gentle.

“I tolerate the snakes the same way you do, my darling. I’m immune.”

“You really don’t have an antidote?”

She shakes her head sadly. “I really don’t. I can’t think of a single reason why I would ever need one.”

“But…” I’m at a loss for words. If Kadru can’t help me with this, there is no one else who can. I press a hand to my forehead. There must be something.

“What about the Raja?” I ask. “If you could tell me how to contact him—how to get through the guards at the palace—maybe he could help.”

Kadru’s eyes widen. “Surely you don’t think you belong to that Raja.”

My stomach goes cold and my pulse is beating out a warning. “What other Raja would there be?”

Her mouth pulls down at the corners and she strokes one of the snakes absently. Her jeweled fingers send light bouncing around the walls of the tent.

“What other Raja?” I repeat more forcefully. Kadru meets my eyes.

“The Nagaraja,” she says softly. I take a step back.

“Nagaraja? The Snake King? No, that can’t be right. Gopal always said…” I stop talking, trying to remember what Gopal said. Did he ever specifically say the Raja of Sundari? I can’t remember. Kadru is watching me carefully, studying my face in a way that sends gooseflesh racing up my arms. There’s something almost sad in her expression.

“He really never told you?”

“He never tells me anything except that we are working for the Raja.”

She sighs and falls into her chair. Two large snakes follow her and coil themselves at her feet. Another snake drops onto her shoulders from a bamboo pole above. “We serve the Nagaraja, Marinda. He specifically chose you. Surely Gopal told you that much?”

My fingernails bite into the tender flesh of my palms. “He told me the Raja chose me. The Nagaraja…the Raksaka…those are just stories.” My heartbeat is roaring in my ears. This can’t be happening. The only thing that has kept me from hating myself completely is knowing that I’m serving my kingdom, helping the Raja fight evil. If I’ve been killing for any other reason…I clap my hand over my mouth. I really am the monster that Deven thinks I am.

“I’m sorry to upset you,” Kadru says kindly. “Gopal really should have told you by now. But now that you know, maybe it will make things easier.”

“Easier? How would it make things easier? I will never kill for Gopal again. I won’t serve a snake.”

Kadru’s eyes fly wide in alarm. The snakes at her feet turn their heads toward me and hiss in unison. Their eyes look like polished onyx. “Hush, Marinda,” she says. “You’re just upset. Of course you will serve the Nagaraja. Of course you will obey Gopal’s orders.” Her voice is soothing and sweet, but there’s a warning under the surface.

“No,” I say, my voice as hard as flint. “I won’t. He can have one of the other vish kanya do his bidding.”

She jerks her head back. “One of the other vish kanya?” Her face reddens and she flies to her feet, sending the snakes slithering away. “Gopal is a fool. Has he told you the truth about anything?” I just stare at her because how would I know that? Kadru begins pacing. “There are no other vish kanya, Marinda. The Nagaraja chooses only one.”

“That’s a lie,” I tell her. This I’m sure about. We are arranged in pairs—both Gopal and Gita have been clear about that. Part visha kanya, part spy.

Kadru raises her eyebrows. “Have you ever met another one?”

My certainty falters. “Well, no. But only because it’s against tradecraft.”

She releases a breath through pursed lips. “It has nothing to do with tradecraft. You’ve never met another visha kanya because you are the only one. You have been for years. Gopal lied to you.”

“How do you know that?” I shoot back. “Maybe he lied to you.”

She laughs. “I know because I was the last visha kanya.” The tent suddenly feels far too warm. My legs go spongy and I look for a place to sit down, but the snakes have claimed every surface. “I used to be you,” Kadru continues. “And when the Nagaraja grows tired of you or when you become too deadly to be useful, you will become me.”

My throat starts to close. I can’t imagine a worse fate than being Kadru, stuck in a tent, surrounded by the snakes I detest. Holding children down while serpents feed on them and listening to their screams while their blood becomes toxic. Stealing years from girls who don’t have any other options. Kadru and I are nothing alike.