Chapter 28
The Grove
After spinning on the ball of her foot, she stalked over to the remaining columns of the temple and took her time perusing each of the carvings. When she was finally done, she snapped her fingers and finally gave me back control of my body. I was fuming by the time I shifted out of the grit and took human form. I’d tried freeing myself, but somehow, she was blocking me. Angrily, I beat my hands against my black shirt, vainly trying to get the dust off.
“What was all that about?” I shouted, staring her down.
Ignoring my question, she waved a hand, and I was immediately wrapped in a cyclone that sucked away all the dirt like one of Nilima’s vacuum cleaners, only goddess powered.
“Stop it!” I yelled from inside the tunnel of wind. If she heard me, she didn’t bother to respond. When I was released from her brand of helping, I stormed over to her and took hold of her arm, spinning her so she’d look at me. I knew she hated to be manhandled, and now that I knew the reason and saw her startled reaction, I regretted laying hands on her. It was easier to drop my hand than it was to let go of my irritation. “Would you kindly tell me why you trapped me in there?”
“I was punishing you,” she said simply, hands on hips.
“And what, pray tell, have I done to upset you now? You certainly weren’t mad a few minutes ago when you were stroking my ears, so I assume this is a new development.”
Her cheeks turned a becoming shade of pink. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said and stomped over to the temple entrance.
Chasing after her, I said, “I think we need to. In fact, I think we need to set some ground rules.”
“Why do men always think they can steer a woman in the direction they wish simply by creating rules?” she asked.
“Maybe men like rules so they know exactly what to expect. Rules make for an orderly life.”
“Ha! Or-der-ly?” she yelled, shoving my shoulder. “More like or-der. Your kind of order.” She accented each word with a jab of her finger against my chest. “The kind where you can tell me what to do.”
“In case you missed it, I was the one being controlled by you, not the other way around.” I stepped forward, trapping her between my body and the temple wall so she no longer had the ability to poke my chest. Her palm flattened against it, but she didn’t push me back, though I would have let her if she had. “I’m not trying to tell you what to do,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I’m simply trying to understand what I did to cause you to trap me inside a statue for the better part of an hour.”
Ana rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t an hour. It was only a few minutes.”
“It felt like an hour!” My temper was heating up again like it had when we’d first been stuck together in the past. I’d thought all that volatile emotion was behind us. The woman was so infuriating.
Ana barked, “You were fine!”
“I was trapped!”
“If anyone is trapped, it’s me!” she yelled, grabbing my shirt with both fists and jostling me until I nearly stumbled. She was strong. Perhaps stronger than both me and Ren combined. Before I knew it, she’d reversed our positions and slammed my back against the wall. Her grip on my shirt was so tight I heard a small tear. Ana’s eyes were bright with anger and fear and…and something else, something I couldn’t identify.
Raising my hands in the air, palms up, I calmed my voice and said, “You’re not trapped, Ana. See? I’m not holding you. You’re holding me.”
“But I am trapped,” she said with a pleading quality I’d never heard from her before. “I’m a prisoner. The chains of my past…they weigh me down, holding me to a memory of something vile. Then, when I look ahead, the chains of duty stretch before me. Between the two, I feel as if I am being torn in half, everything good in me spilling out in the space between. I don’t know which side will win. Either way, I lose.”
I remembered the broken young woman then, the one who’d begged me to teach her how to defend herself. Immediately, my temper cooled and I reached out to smooth her hair away from her face. “I understand, Ana. This life we’ve given ourselves over to is not an easy one.”
“I don’t want them to win, Sohan—not the cosmos that fashions me for its own purpose and not the master of slaves who used me. I want to find a measure of happiness amidst it all—a pleasant middle ground. Is that too much to expect? Is it?”
“No, Ana. It’s not. So, then tell me what makes you happy. What is it you want?”
“I want to…I want…”
She licked her lips, her expression manic. I nodded my encouragement, but she remained mute. Then determination lit her face and she knotted her fingers in the fabric of my shirt and tugged. Before I knew what was happening, her mouth slammed down over mine. When I tried to back away and extricate myself from her desperate embrace, she cried out and slid her hand behind my head, forcing me to stay.
What are you doing? I asked her, mind to mind, but she had effectively put up a wall between us. I could no more read her than I could see through a stone. I stopped struggling against her as she kissed me again. It was feverish but simple at the same time. Ana’s kisses were a child-like pressing of lip against lip. I didn’t respond to it. Even if I’d wanted to, I was too shocked to understand what she wanted or needed from me. After a long moment, she backed away, her face washed with tears and pain.
She dropped her hands from my chest, backing away from me as abruptly as if she’d stepped into a thorny bush, and touched her fingers to her mouth. A dozen emotions churned in her expression, but she brusquely turned away any attempts from me at silent communication.
“Ana,” I began out loud, taking a step toward her.
“No,” she said, shaking her head back and forth and twirling her fingers to immediately dry her tears. “No, Kishan. We will not speak of it.”
Turning on her heel, she left the temple. Letting out a long breath, I followed, running my hands down my shirtfront to straighten the deep wrinkles, and then explored the tear along the side with my finger. Without even looking at me, she waved her hand and the two of us were wrenched away in time and space.
When I came to myself, we were standing knee deep in the snow. I shivered and turned in a circle. We were somewhere high up. Higher than our mountain home. The threads of the scarf circled around both me and Ana at the same time, fashioning a heavy coat, gloves, and thick boots. A vast plain stretched out as far as I could see on one side, and on the other, tall mountain peaks disappeared into the clouds. “Let me guess,” I said. “We’re going to create Shangri-La?”
Ana nodded. “Stand back, Kishan.”
As she raised her hands, I said, “So I’m just Kishan again? Why, Ana? Is it because I didn’t kiss you back?”
“It does not matter.”
“It does.”
“Not as much as accomplishing our work.”
“If you say so, but we will need to talk about this at some point.”
“That point is not today. Besides, do you not want to get out of the snow?”
Inclining my head, I said, “Your wish is my command, Goddess.” Anamika scowled at me and then turned her attention back to the mountain. Before my eyes, two large trees grew, sprouting up from the bank of thick snow and ice. Standing between them, she wove a spell, and the trees glowed with an inner light that threatened to burst through the bark. Sure enough, the bark sloughed off, and the leaves and branches shriveled and were reabsorbed. Intricate carvings appeared on each one.
When she placed her palm against one of the trees, I joined her and we left a handprint behind that slowly faded. The scarf rose in the air and wove a magical, sheer cloth between the two trunks. The snowflakes that swirled softly nearby were caught in the wind Ana created. The threads and the snow-filled wind whipped together in a frenzy, until a cyclone appeared between the two trees. An explosion of light made me cover my eyes, and when it faded, I saw a shimmering screen that stretched between the two posts.
Without looking to see if I’d follow, Ana stepped inside and disappeared. The scarf detached from the sparkling substance and floated over to me. Catching it, I stuffed it into my pocket and charged ahead after her.
She’d already been at work in the few seconds it took me to enter. The vast land of Shangri-La stretched before us, and without her even consulting me beforehand, an entire forest erupted from the ground. Crouching down, she pressed her hands to the newly sprung grass, and a river flowed from her palms. Creating its own channel, it flowed over rocks and pooled in small depressions as it continued its winding path.
The heavy outerwear unspun from our frames and was reabsorbed into the scarf. Ana, now barefooted, began walking, and where her feet touched the ground, flowers of all kinds sprung up. She touched the limb of a tree, and great flocks of birds erupted from the leaves, heading off in all directions. When we passed a familiar hill, I said that there was supposed to be an old boat on the top and that animals of all kinds lived in the knolls around it.
With a barely discernable nod, she fashioned the boat, and animals of all description poured out from the open door, down the ramp, and set off to find new homes. Several of them trailed us as we walked. She stopped before a vast, barren field. Tapping a finger against her lip, she mumbled something about roses. Before my eyes, hundreds of rosebushes stretched out thorny arms and blossomed when she touched them.
Pressing her nose into a full purple rose, she inhaled deeply and smiled. My heart wrenched with sorrow at seeing her in her element. Her roses made her happy. I found myself wishing she’d turn the power of that smile in my direction. That I could make her happy like that instead of inducing her to throttle me. She deserved happiness. Ana worked so hard and helped so many, the least I could do was not argue with her.
Ana cupped the flower in her hand and blew on it softly. The sparkling petals flew away in the wind, and when she lifted her cupped hands, she showed me what remained. There, sitting on her palm, was a lovely little fairy with purple wings.
“Hello,” Ana said.
The creature fluttered her wings, catching the air, and her body rose from Ana’s palm until she was eye to eye with her goddess.
“Yes, you may. Of course,” Ana said, carrying on a one-way conversation. “You have the freedom to do whatever you like,” she added. “Go now. And wake the others.”
With that, the fairy fluttered over the rosebushes, touching her feet down on top of every blossom. One by one the blossoms opened and a new fairy was born. They stretched delicate limbs and yawned, and then I heard a soft chirrup as they flew for the first time. Soon the first was joined by another fairy and another, until so many flitted in the air that the sunlight sparkled on their dazzling, diaphanous wings.
“They’re beautiful,” I said as we continued to the Silvanae village.
“You would know,” Ana muttered.
“What was that?” I asked, confused.
“Nothing.”
I blew out a frustrated breath, my determination to make her happy fading. I decided she was just in a really bad mood, and with my luck, I’d have to wait a century or two for her to snap out of it. I sighed and followed her, giving her a good head start.
When we reached the area where the village was supposed to be, she stopped and closed her eyes. It was almost as if she sensed what belonged there. She hummed softly and as she did, the earth shook and a great wind blew. The ground split and immense trees sprung up and unfurled their leaves. When they had grown to about half the size I remembered, Ana walked up to the first one and sang softly.
A branch lowered, and tucked inside the leafy twigs was a young Silvanae baby. Ana took him from the fallen branch and tickled his toes while he cooed. My heart skipped. She was so natural with him, so unexpectedly sweet. It made me think of her soft spot for all lost children and I regretted teasing her about it before. Gently, she set the baby down on a carpet of grass that sprang up, thick and verdant. It formed what was almost a cradle for the child.
Down the line of trees she went, retrieving a newborn from each one. Lifting her palm to her lips, she kissed it and blew, and immediately, she was surrounded by fairies. They listened carefully to her instructions and then swarmed off until each grassy cradle was encompassed by their fluttering forms.
She told the young babies and their fairy nursemaids a story like a mother would to a child at bedtime. She spoke of a man named Noe, who came to their land with a boat full of animals. Of a goddess and her consort who created their beautiful home. Then Ana talked about a man and a woman who would someday come to their lands and how they were to help and guide them. When she was finished, we continued onward, leaving the babies behind.
“Do you really think the tiny fairies can care for the babies?” I asked.
“They produce a growth elixir from blue flowers that flourish by the river. The Silvanae will be full grown by the time we return.”
“Oh.” After another minute, I asked, “Who told you the story of the ark and the animals?”
“Who do you think?”
Of course it was Kadam. She stopped in her tracks when she came upon a squawking red bird. It danced next to a newly fashioned nest filled with open-mouthed, chirping young. Holding out a finger, Ana beckoned to the bird and it flew down to her offered perch. After a moment of indiscernible cheeping, Ana answered, “I’ll see what I can do.” She reached inside the nest, carefully nudging aside the gangly chicks, and removed an unhatched egg. Ana tucked it into her pocket and we went ahead.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“You don’t recognize it?”
“What, the egg?”
“The birds. This one is the hatchling. The one I’m going to raise.”
Now that she said it, I could see the similarities between the mother and the red bird Kadam had given me. I shook my head, wondering at her ability to wrap her mind around the disparities in time. As we walked, she warmed the egg with her hands and whispered to it softly. It shimmered and disappeared. I didn’t bother to ask her what she did with it.
When we arrived at the cavern where we’d found the omphalos stone, Ana created the bees and the stone easily enough as well as the chemical smoke created when her fire-warmed hands pressed against it but there was no way to imbue the stone with the ability to see into the future. We puzzled over it for a while, Ana trying different things, but nothing worked.
I was leaning over the stone looking into its depths when Ana took hold of my dangling necklace and pulled. Her eyes narrowed as she considered the small piece of the truth stone I always kept with me.
“How many shards of this do you possess?” she asked.
“A few. Why?”
“May I have this one?”
I nodded and she reached up around my neck to untie the cord. Her curvaceous body, which was currently enveloped by only a thin summer dress, was suddenly pressed up against me, and my hands naturally went to her waist to steady her. Ana’s warm breath tickled my neck and her floral scent surrounded me. My breath hitched, though I willed myself not to react, and she suddenly froze.
Inch by painful inch, she pulled away, her hands dropping the cord at my neck and slipping down to grip my shoulders. The two of us stood there unmoving, the fringe of her long lashes hiding her eyes. I cleared my throat, about to say something to try to diffuse the tension that shouldn’t have been there, when she looked up. Her green eyes locked onto mine and I couldn’t breathe, let alone form a coherent thought. Every inch of my skin prickled with awareness of her.
“I…I couldn’t take it off,” she said, her words soft.
My mind went in a totally different direction, and she cocked her head as if listening to my thoughts. Immediately, I shielded them and backed away quickly enough to cause her to stumble. “Yeah, I’ll, uh, take care of that myself.” Reaching up, I yanked the cord from my neck and tossed it to her. “Let me know if that works. I’ll wait for you outside.”
When I exited the cave, I ran a hand through my hair. What is wrong with me? I thought. She wasn’t being suggestive. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Sure, Ana had just thrown herself awkwardly at me in the temple, but she didn’t mean anything by it, did she? More than likely, she was just upset.
A thought occurred to me and my blood froze. Or she believed I was upset and she wanted to appease me. I slapped a hand on my forehead. Of course. The sadistic man who’d bought her, the man I’d killed, would have demanded physical affection to appease his anger. It was probably a conditioned response.
My hands tightened into fists. Did she really believe I would use her in such a way? What an idiot I was. I had to rein in my temper around her, otherwise, she’d throw herself at me to appease my masculine needs. Disgusted with myself, I turned to head back into the cave to apologize, when she came out.
“It’s done,” she said, dusting off her hands. “I tried it and it worked. The stone showed me something interesting. I—”
“You don’t need to do that,” I spurted.
Her bow-shaped mouth turned down in a frown. “Do what?” she asked.
“You don’t…you don’t owe me anything, Ana. Favors I mean.”
“Favors?”
I willed the words to come, but they were twisted and jumbled inside me like pieces of a puzzle I couldn’t make fit. I’d do more damage if I didn’t go about this carefully. Kicking my soft boots in the dirt, I attempted to explain. “Ana, I want to apologize.”
“For what?”
“For…for holding you like that. For getting angry.”
She barked a laugh. “You are always angry. Irritated at the very least. This is not new.”
“No, I know. But I’m not going to be. Not anymore. Not now that I know how you react.”
Folding her arms across her chest, she said, “You do not like the way I react?”
“No. I mean, you don’t have to. I don’t expect that. It’s not…it’s not the way a man should treat a woman.”
Ana sighed. “Will you say what you will and cease bumbling about? It wears on my patience to listen to you sawing back and forth about things that make no sense.”
“There. You see?” I said, pointing a finger at her. “That’s what I’m talking about. I’m trying to be understanding here. I don’t think I’m that hard to get along with, but then you have to go and throw things back in my face, and it’s all I can do to be a nice guy.”
“Yes, I know. You are next going to tell me all about how you got along with Kelsey famously.”
“I did get along with Kelsey. She was easy compared to you.”
“Fine! Then if she makes you happy, you should just go back to her time and leave me alone. I don’t need your help and I certainly don’t want you feeling trapped by my side.”
Turning, she headed off through the trees and I scrambled to follow. “Ana, wait. Ana, please stop. I’m sorry. Believe it or not, I was trying to apologize.”
She spun quickly and stalked toward me. Stopping a few inches away from me, her body tense with anger and her jewel-like eyes steely, she said, “Then say what you will, Kishan, and get it over with.”
“First of all, you need to know that I don’t feel trapped. At least, not anymore. I want to be here, helping you. Second, Kelsey, is a part of my past. An important one, yes, but I have accepted that she’s with my brother. She’s happy with him. I won’t interfere with that.”
“And third?” she mumbled quietly. The wrath had gone out of her. She’d deflated like a balloon.
“Third? I don’t like you calling me Kishan. I much prefer Sohan.”
Her lip twitched. “Would you prefer instead Prince Sohan the Great?”
“Don’t get me distracted. I haven’t even gotten to the most important part.”
“And that is?”
I held out my hands. She glanced down, pursed her lips, and finally placed her hands in mine.
“The last point is…no matter how angry I get or how frustrated I am, I would never, ever treat you like the man who abused you.”
She opened her mouth to speak and I shook her hands lightly.
“Let me finish. I don’t expect anything from you, Ana. You don’t have to rub my shoulders, kiss me, or even hug me. In fact, I am perfectly content to serve as your tiger for the rest of my existence. You can consider me a protector, like your brother. I know what you’ve been through and I won’t be the one to cause you more pain. Please believe this, Ana, trust me when I say that I will never, ever lay my hands on you in that way.”
I lowered my head to look into her face, hoping she would see my earnestness. Again, a myriad of emotions played beneath the surface but she kept them hidden from me. Squeezing her hands, I said, “Do you understand, Ana?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice dull and low, “I understand.”
“Good.” I blew out a breath and gave her what I hoped was a brotherly sort of smile. “Now, what’s next on our list? The four houses?”
“No,” she answered distractedly. “Yes.” She shook her head and stepped away. “I mean, can we do it tomorrow? I feel weary.”
Concerned, I touched her shoulder. “Of course, I mean, yes, you’ve been using a great deal of your power. You must be exhausted. We should get some sleep. Do you want to go home?”
“No. Our work here is unfinished. Perhaps we can sleep here?”
“Yeah.” I ran a hand through my hair and turned in a circle, considering. An idea sprang to mind. “I, um, I know a place. Maybe you’d like to try the Grove of Dreams? I slept there once with Kelsey.” I winced right after I said it, knowing it might still be a sore spot, but she just nodded uninterestedly.
I led her to the site and groaned when I remembered that we were creating everything. “Do you trust me to handle this one?” I asked.
She waved a hand and wandered over to pluck some flowers.
“Okay, here goes,” I said, and pulled from the powers of the goddess, accessing it through our connection. Using the earth piece of the amulet, I created the bower, and then, with the scarf, I fashioned a grand hanging bed that was strung between the trees like a large hammock. Flowers and vines grew to fill the gaps in the trees for privacy.
When I was done, she ran a hand over the mattress. “It looks comfortable,” she said. “Perhaps I should create one in my garden.”
“I’d be happy to make one for you.”
Seeing Ana surrounded by the flowers and greenery she loved made my heart burn warmly. The scarf wound around her body as she walked around the bed to the far side, trailing her fingers over the silken sheets. It made her a sleeping gown of gossamer, as soft and supple as satin. It was the color of a dove’s wing, and it clung to her form in a way I tried to ignore but couldn’t. A short train trailed along behind her and the tie holding her hair disappeared. Her long tresses tumbled down her back in glossy waves. When she turned, I swallowed.
“You, um, you look lovely, Ana.” She did. Anamika was as breathtaking as a fairy princess tucked away in her flowery garden. I’d never seen anything so entrancing in all my long life. Nothing could compare to the beauty of the goddess. If any other man had been there in my place, he would have fallen at her feet, basking in the warmth of her presence and waiting for the moment she graced him with a smile. My breath caught and I found I was waiting for it too, but the upturn of her mouth never came.
She looked down at herself. “Oh?” Halfheartedly, she plucked at her lacey bell sleeves. Her body shone with its own light; the truth stone around her neck gleamed at the truth in my words. The glow radiated around her, making the grove appear magical as the blushing sunset of the utopia she’d created gave way to twilight.
“Yes. You’re every inch the goddess.”
Stiffening, she said politely, “Thank you.” Moving to the head of the bed, she ran a hand over a pillow and patted it lightly. “So, you and Kelsey slept here?” she asked. “Together?”
“Yes. It was platonic,” I quickly explained. “The Grove of Dreams has a certain magic. It made both of us dream of things that would happen in the future.”
Ana drew her bottom lip between her teeth. “You mean like the omphalos stone?”
“Yeah, I guess so, now that I think about it.”
“Do you have another shard of the stone?”
I shook my head. “Not here. Back at home I do.”
Ana closed her eyes, and when she opened them, a small piece of the stone lay in her palm.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
She simply shrugged, blew on it, and the stone embedded itself in the headboard of the bed that had been fashioned from entwined branches. “Shall we?” she asked, throwing back one side of the fluffy bedding.
“Uh. Not sure that’s a great idea,” I said, rubbing my neck with the back of my hand.
“Nonsense,” she said. “You are like my brother, are you not?”
“Yes. Right. It’s just…”
Ana looked at me directly. “You need to rest as much as I do. With my tiger guardian at my side, nothing will bring me harm. Is that not correct?”
“It is, but…”
“No more words tonight, Sohan. Take your rest.”
She pulled back the bedding, and, resigned, I sunk down next to her, turning my back to the lovely girl and scooting as close to the edge as I could. “Sleep well, Ana,” I said gruffly.
“You as well, my tiger.”
Her soft words floated in the air above us and settled over me like snow. I didn’t know if I was just that tired or if she’d woven her own brand of a sleeping spell. Regardless, within the span of a few seconds, I fell deeply asleep and into an all-too-familiar dream.