Poison's Kiss (Poison's Kiss #1)(48)

“The Dark Days,” I breathe.

“Yes,” Deven says. “The Dark Days. The tiger and the crocodile disappeared. Most people assume they were killed off—they had grown small and weak and were easy targets. But Garuda…Garuda could fly.” He unfolds his arms and leans forward. “She had shrunken to the size of a hummingbird, but still the snake couldn’t destroy her. The people of Sundari were desperate for relief, and so Garuda’s followers grew and grew until she was big enough to blot out the sun. Big enough to force the Nagaraja underground again.”

“So where is she now?” I ask.

Deven shrugs. “We don’t know. Once Sundari was safe again, most of Garuda’s followers grew complacent and she disappeared. We hope that if her followers grow, she will show herself again. But the Naga are growing far faster than the Pakshi, and the Snake King is becoming more and more powerful.”

A wave of nausea rolls over me. This is what I’ve spent my life doing. Helping a monster grow large enough, powerful enough, to steal Mani. I rest my forehead in my palms. It’s so much to take in.

“So Iyla was helping you?” I ask. Did she know all of this? Why didn’t she ever tell me?

“Yes,” Deven says. “Iyla asked if we would help her leave the Naga in exchange for information, and we agreed. She’s only been pretending to work with you.”

I feel like I’ve swallowed a brick of ice. “That’s not possible,” I say. “I’ve killed based on her information. Recently.”

“Not necessarily.”

I slam my palm against my thigh. “Stop that. Stop telling me what I have and haven’t done. I kissed those boys. I killed them. They’re dead and it’s all my fault.”

He sighs. “I’m not saying that you didn’t kiss them. Only that they didn’t die.”

“You don’t understand. Everyone I kiss dies.”

His gaze is steady. “Not if they’re immune.” My breath sticks in my throat. I didn’t think anyone was immune except Gopal and Kadru. And me.

“But…” It doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t Iyla tell me? She knew how miserable I was. She knew I would have helped her.

“I’m telling you the truth,” Deven says. “The Pakshi have been trying to infiltrate the Naga for years. Iyla was the perfect way in. She has been feeding them false information and setting up false kills since she’s been with us. The boys you kissed—we made sure they were immune before Iyla set up the meetings. We hoped it would give us a chance to see how the Naga work, without anyone having to die.” If what he’s saying is true, then there was no use being sad about Iyla’s empty house. She left me a long time ago.

And if Deven knew who Iyla was all along, did he know who I was too? It touches something raw inside me, the thought that he was pretending when he took me on that hike. When he showed me the waterfall and the Widows’ Village. When he held my hand. A yawning emptiness opens up in my chest. At least I haven’t killed in a long time.

“So none of the boys died? Not for two years?”

“Well…we’re not entirely sure that none of them died.” My heart sinks—my redemption lasted only a few seconds. Deven rubs his palms against his legs like he’s nervous, like there’s something he doesn’t want to tell me. “Iyla may have been working both sides. It’s possible she set up kills we weren’t aware of.”

“What makes you think that?”

He bites his lip. “One of Iyla’s primary missions was to reveal the identities of the vish kanya. We knew there were dozens, but we hadn’t ever been able to locate any of them, and every time we sent spies to witness the false kills, to be there to capture the visha kanya, they ended up dead.”

My mouth goes dry. He still thinks there are many vish kanya, that Gopal has a network of assassins. Deven doesn’t realize that the people he works for were only trying to capture me. I take slow, deep breaths and try to regain my composure. “What do you mean they ended up dead?”

He sighs. “We’d find them later at the location of the kill, their throats slit, gone before they’d had a chance to report back to their handlers. The Naga have spies for our spies, and they always seem to be one step ahead.” A chill scurries down my spine. Gopal always warned me I might be followed, but I didn’t know I was being trailed by multiple sides.

“What about the targets? If they survived, couldn’t they give a description?”

He rubs a hand over his face. “Not a good enough one—they expected the girls to be followed and captured, and so they didn’t pay attention to details. The descriptions were vague. Always girls between sixteen and twenty. Always alone. It wasn’t enough.”

I think of the way Gopal made sure I looked different for every assignment—The boy will prefer the hair down, rajakumari or Today we’ll cover your hair with a scarf, rajakumari. Was he aware I was being watched? Did he want me to look older sometimes and younger others? Was I playing the part of a dozen different vish kanya?

Deven sighs. “And then there was you.”

My breath lodges at the base of my throat. “What about me?”

“You were supposed to kill me, right?”

I swallow hard. It’s painful to hear him say it out loud. “Yes.”