Rogue Angel 10 - Serpent's Kiss.pdf

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ROGUE
ANGEL ™
Alex Archer
SERPENT’S
KISS
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Prologue
Kaveripattinam, India
509 B.C.
Sahadeva held the porcelain plate and pretended to examine it as he
scanned the marketplace behind him. His heart, already beating quickly,
nearly exploded when he saw their pursuers.
“They’re still there, Sahadeva.”
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Jyotsna’s whisper barely reached Sahadeva’s ears. He felt her
trembling at his side. The marketplace offered untold terrors for her.
She’d never been in a place so big or so filled with people. Knowing that
they had enemies nearby only made things worse.
Carefully, so he wouldn’t incur the ire of the merchant, Sahadeva
replaced the plate on the stack. The merchant started haggling, but the
attempt lacked passion. Sahadeva’s worn and dirty clothing warned all of
the shopkeepers and traders that he lacked money.
After thanking the man and praising his goods, Sahadeva took
Jyotsna’s hand and led her toward the alley at the shop’s side. He touched
the curved knife in the sash at his waist. He’d never killed a man before.
He didn’t even like slaughtering the goats to put on the family table.
But he knew he would kill the men who pursued them in order to
protect Jyotsna.
She looked like a child next to him. The top of her head barely came
to his shoulder. Even draped in a loose dark-blue sari anyone could see
that she had a woman’s curves. Sahadeva worried her beauty might bring
trouble to them in the city. A plain dupatta covered her head and held her
thick black hair out of her face.
Sahadeva was young and slim. All of his life he’d been a goatherd.
Nearly a year ago, when he’d turned seventeen, he’d run away from home
to join a group of young men who’d decided to take a boat up the Vaigai
River. Legends of gold and silver, of lost fortunes and fantastic monsters,
had beckoned.
When he’d left, Sahadeva had known his father would be angry with
him and his mother would be disappointed. Three days into the journey,
he’d been frightened and doubtful despite the stories of adventure. Nine
days later, just when they’d been about to exhaust their stores and forced
to return home empty-handed, he’d seen Jyotsna and fallen in love with
her.
She’d wanted to see the big world he described. Her father had
denied that to her as he had denied it to all his people. Only the warriors
had ventured outside the cave city to get food. Occasionally they brought
brides and grooms back into their secret village.
Those brides and grooms, he’d discovered, had only been allowed to
live there for a short time. Outsiders were put to death once the children
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were planted. Sahadeva had seen monstrous things among Jyotsna’s
people. There was no sign of anyone who had come from outside their
enclave to live among them.
Jyotsna had captured Sahadeva’s heart. And she had been equally
drawn to him. Unable to bear the thought of his death, she had warned
him of the coming assassinations. Sahadeva talked her into running away
with him, and they fled.
Now all of his friends were dead. Jyotsna’s father’s warriors had
killed them mercilessly. Only luck and his knowledge of the terrain along
the Vaigai had prevented Sahadeva and Jyotsna from getting overtaken.
But those pursuers were here now. Even Kaveripattinam, as large as
it was and open to trade around the world, wasn’t enough to hide them.
Sahadeva strode briskly through the marketplace, past the shops and
hawkers, through the maze of goods and buyers, until he reached the
alley. Voices, whistles, bells and animal bleats sounded all around him.
The buildings flanking the alley blocked some of the heat of the
midmorning sun in the narrow expanse. By noon Sahadeva knew the
stones beneath his callused feet would be blistering.
At the other end of the alley, he a saw the harbor spread out before
him. Tall Roman galleys sat in the ocean. And there were more vessels
from other countries.
Since he’d been a boy and his father had first allowed him to help
drive goats to market, Sahadeva had loved the sea. The sailors with their
stories of foreign lands and exotic sights had filled his head. When he’d
talked to his father about such things, his father had told him to quit
wasting his time dreaming. He’d said a goatherd would never have
enough money to buy a ship, and taking passage on one as a sailor was
nothing short of slavery.
Things change, Father, Sahadeva thought grimly. He approached a
man arranging a cart filled with woven baskets. “Sir,” he said. “I’m
looking for Harshad the jeweler.”
The man stroked his fingers in his long beard then pointed.
“Harshad’s shop is in the next street. On the right.”
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