“I passed through the city again on my return, hoping its fortunes might have changed. But when I arrived, I found the city under siege. Creatures made of flame and snarling wolves were terrorizing the people. Commanding them was an asura with the head of a bull and fire running over his limbs. I had soldiers with me, soldiers who were not tired out by days of fighting, and they were able to cut their way through the hordes. They built the walls while I met with the city’s leaders. I felt I had a duty to help them. I asked if they wished for my protection.”
“But what does an asura want with a city?” Asuras were the enemies of the gods. They rarely bothered themselves with human constructions, with mortal concerns.
Ravana looked away. “You will not like it—but he wishes to go to Ayodhya. I have to believe it is because he wishes to challenge Rama. In that, at least, I might sympathize.”
He spoke softly, placatingly, but it did not dull the offense of his words. “What do you have against Rama?” I asked sharply. “Are you still upset about the swayamvara?”
“No, not at—”
I rose to my feet, annoyed at the whims of men. “Then explain why I should not take my son and leave. I thought you were better than this.”
“Your son came with you?” he asked. “Which son?”
I turned toward the door, not bothering to answer.
“Wait, Kaikeyi!” he cried. “Sita is my daughter.”
That stilled me. I could not have possibly heard right. “What?”
“Sita. She is my daughter. I did not realize it until I saw her that day, at the swayamvara. If I had known, well—the moment I recognized her, I dropped the bow.”
There was truly nothing I could say. I stood there, staring blankly at him, my mind failing to comprehend his words.
“Please,” he said. “You have to believe me.”
“Your daughter died,” I said, my voice cold. It felt as though I were speaking from a distance. How dare he lie to me this way. Was he simply mad? Had the loss of his daughter and then his wife driven him to this outlandish story? “You told me this yourself.”
He hung his head. “I thought so too, I swear it. But then I saw her, and—she was unmistakable. She was born with the silver hair, the flower-shaped birthmark.”
Slowly, I was starting to come back to myself. I was aware of my heart beat returning to normal. “You could not have seen that from such a distance,” I protested.
“You know I am not fully human,” he said. “It is a blessing and a curse.”
His earnestness was making me believe him—but no. This had to be a falsehood. “You said your daughter died,” I repeated.
Ravana tipped his face up toward the window. The light cast strange shadows over his face. “We took her to the gardens because she liked being among the roses. I had taken her out of her carrier so she could better look at everything, and Mandodari called me to observe a strange pattern of birds. Sita could not walk or even crawl, so I laid her on the ground. The moment I did so, an almighty cracking sound issued from the dirt, and the earth split in two. I lunged for her, but she had already fallen in. I tried to throw myself in after her, but Mandodari wrapped her arms around me and pulled me back from the abyss. When I took a step away from the fault, it knit itself back together.”
“But you… but… How could such a thing happen?” I whispered.
“We thought it a punishment from the gods,” he said dully. “At first, we believed that if we repented fully, they would give her back to us. But then moons passed, and years, and we realized she was gone. No matter what we did, no matter how many pilgrimages I made, the gods would not look favorably on us again.”
I slipped into the Binding Plane, though he clearly believed in this story so deeply that our bond would show no evidence of deceit.
On the other hand, evidence existed that Ravana spoke truly. Sita was unmistakable, to be sure, but worse than that, I knew she had been discovered inside the earth itself. Sita had told me she and her father guarded that secret jealously. I did not see how Ravana could have uncovered that.
“Swear it to me, that you speak truly.”
“I swear to Lord Shiva that Sita is my daughter. If I lie, may he cut me with a thousand knives and feed me to beasts.”
I sank back onto the divan and closed my eyes, trying to force my mind into some semblance of order. For a moment, it had felt like the world was tilting beneath me. “Why are you telling me this now?”