Poison's Kiss (Poison's Kiss #1)(52)

“Where?” I ask.

Gita’s eyes flick to Deven and then back to me. “The Snake Temple,” she says. I don’t know what she means, but I see a flicker of recognition pass over Deven’s features.

“Where is it?” I ask. “Where is the Snake Temple?”

“I don’t know,” Gita whispers. “I swear I don’t.”

“Go ahead, Marinda,” Deven says.

At first I’m confused by what he means, but then I understand. He’s holding Gita in place so that I can kiss her. So I can end her life. I look down at Gita, who is watching me in wide-eyed terror, and suddenly my mind flashes through a handful of vivid memories: an image of Gita spreading out a blanket for a picnic, Mani giggling as he tosses a green rubber ball to her, Gita pressing a cold cloth to my head when I was sick with a fever.

And I can’t do it.

I bite my bottom lip and shake my head. Gita doesn’t deserve mercy, but I can’t bring myself to mete out justice.

Deven studies me for a moment. “It’s okay,” he says. “But I can’t let her follow us.” He pulls Gita into a sitting position and then strikes the back of her neck with the flat side of his hand. She slumps over without a sound. I let out a startled cry. “She’s not dead,” Deven says as he climbs to his feet. “She’ll have a terrible headache when she wakes up, but she’ll live.”

I nod, but as long as I’m not the one to kill her, I’m not sure I care.



By the time we make it back to the safe house, I am faint with hunger, exhaustion and grief. I don’t bother to undress before I collapse on one of the beds and pull my knees to my chest, but my mind is too hectic for sleep. The need to find Mani is like a grating noise in my head. I could go to Kadru—she’ll know what the Snake Temple is, where it is. But she’s as likely to turn me over to the Naga as to help me, and I can’t risk being captured, not when I have less than four days to find Mani. I think of Deven’s face when Gita mentioned the Snake Temple. He’s heard of it before, I’m sure of it.

“Deven?” I whisper into the darkness.

But his breath is deep and even, and my eyelids are so heavy—I’ll ask him in the morning.



I wake to the tangy aroma of dosa batter, and before I’m fully awake, I sigh appreciatively. And then reality comes rushing back to me and I feel terrible. It seems wrong to want to eat when Mani is somewhere scared and in danger because of me. But my traitorous stomach doesn’t understand the finer points of loyalty and betrays me by grumbling loudly.

Deven pokes his head around the corner. “Hungry?”

“Not really,” I lie. There are no windows in the safe house, so it’s impossible to know what the hour is, but it feels like I slept for a long time.

“You need to eat something,” he says. “You’ll need your energy.” This seems an acceptable trade-off—to eat so that I have energy to search for Mani, to save him if I can. I sit up and stretch. Deven brings me a plate of folded dosas with a dish of coconut chutney on the side. As soon as I take the first bite, I realize that I am famished, and I have to work to slow down so I don’t make myself sick.

“Do you know where the Snake Temple is?” I say between bites. “You seemed to recognize it last night when Gita said that’s where the Naga were taking Mani.”

He sighs and sits on the end of my bed. “I don’t know exactly,” he says. “I’ve just heard it mentioned in meetings.”

“Mentioned by whom?”

He swallows and fixes his gaze on his plate. “The Raja’s men.”

Hope springs up in my chest. “Then that’s where I’ll go next.”

Deven raises an eyebrow. “To Colapi City?”

“Can you think of a better plan?”

“But they aren’t just going to let you walk into the palace and demand an audience with the Raja,” Deven says.

“Maybe they will if I tell them who I am. Didn’t you say you’ve been gathering information about the Naga for years? I’m sure the Raja would want to hear from someone who’s lived with them as long as I have.”

“But didn’t you say that you hardly know anything? That the Naga never shared details with you?”

“Yes, but I still have information. We know they are preparing to make a human sacrifice in a few days. And maybe I know other things that they would find helpful. It can’t hurt to try.”

Deven doesn’t say anything for a moment. He bites his lip and stares off into the distance, lost in thought. Then he shakes his head and sighs. “It’s not a terrible plan,” he says. “I’ll come with you.”

It’s exactly what I hoped he’d say—I’ll have a much better chance of speaking with the Raja if one of his spies is with me—but I try to keep the joy from showing on my face. I shrug. “If you’re sure that’s what you want.”

He holds my gaze a beat longer than necessary and heat creeps into my cheeks. “I’m sure.”



It will take us at least two full days on foot to get to the Raja’s palace in Colapi City. That will leave us only two days to find Mani—assuming we get the information we need. And I’m not ready to assume anything.