Tiger's Voyage (49 page)

“Soup.”

“Soup? You never eat soup. What’s the special occasion?”

Kishan grinned. “You hand-feeding me is the special occasion. I’m just helpless without you.”

“Uh huh,” I laughed. “I’ll bet. You’re going to milk this for all it’s worth, aren’t you?”

He sat back and put his hands behind his head. “You know it. How often does a guy get to be served by a beautiful girl who feels great empathy for him and would do almost anything to help him feel better?”

“
Almost
being the key word there. And as for beauty, your judgment is impaired.”

He reached for my hand. When I put it in his outstretched one, he tentatively ran his up my arm until he touched my cheek. “You’re always beautiful.”

“Flattery won’t keep me from spilling your dinner into your lap. Fine. I’ll spoon-feed you, but not soup. You need something heartier. How about stew and grilled cheese?”

“Sounds good.”

Nilima winked at me and left as I used the Fruit to make his meal. Between bites of potato, carrot, and roasted lamb, he asked, “Are we under way yet?”

“We’re away from the island, but we haven’t figured out where to go.”

He grunted and sipped from the cup I held for him.

“Did Mr. Kadam come down to talk with you?” I asked.

“Yes. He told me all about the theory that I will be an oracle of some kind. I don’t feel any different though.”

“Hmm. Well, until we know where to go, I guess we’ll just stay where we are.” I set down the empty bowl and dabbed his lip with a napkin.

He took my hand, pulled me onto his lap, and wrapped his arms around me. “I just wanted to tell you, it’s
okay
, Kells.”

“What’s okay?” I mumbled in his shirt.

“We are. I mean, I’m not mad. If I was in Ren’s shoes, I would have tried to kiss you too. It’s not your fault.”

“
Oh
. Well … that’s not exactly—”

“Shh. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to tell me. The important thing is … you’re with me now.”

“I really think we need to talk about what happened at some point.”

“We will, but let’s just focus on Durga’s Necklace for now. Everything’s going to work out okay. I feel it.” He smiled. “Hey, maybe that oracle thing’s starting to work for me.”

“Oh, yeah?” I laughed quietly. “Well, it looks good on you.”

“Thank you.” He ran a hand up my back and kneaded my shoulder.

I let out a pent-up breath and let him rub my shoulders for a while. “Have I told you lately that you’re just too good for me?”

He laughed and said nothing but pressed a kiss on my forehead and stared at the wall with his black eyes. I rested against him and wrapped an arm around his waist.

I spent the rest of the day with Kishan, taking care of him. We walked the deck, I read to him, and even fed him grapes as he teased me about being his harem girl, but we didn’t speak about the green dragon’s island. I also avoided looking into his black eyes because I feared that if he looked closer he would see into my soul and find out that my heart had betrayed him.

I felt immensely guilty over my relationship with both brothers. Ren knew how to push my buttons well enough that I could shove the feelings to the back of my mind, but Kishan was so patient and sweet, the guilt rose up until my heart was swallowed in billows as black as his sightless orbs. That evening I told him the stories of the blind oracles and began to cry quietly, but he just held me and wiped away the tears until I fell asleep.

When I awoke, Ren was carrying me to my own room.

At first, I snuggled against him, felt him press his lips against my cheek, and all was right with the world. Then I became semiconscious. “What are you doing?” I hissed.

“There is
no
need for you to be sleeping in his room. I’ll watch over him tonight, and
you
can sleep in your own bed.”

“Put me down,” I whispered angrily. “You’re not in charge of my life. Kishan happens to be my boyfriend, and he’s sick. If I want to stay in his room, I will.”

“
You … will … not.
”

He kissed me briefly and hard and dropped me on the bed. I started to get up but he turned around, crossed his arms, and gave me a look that made me freeze.

“Kelsey … if you get out of that bed I will have to do something drastic, and you won’t like it. So
don’t
tempt me.”

He shut the door softly behind him, and I threw a pillow at it just to make a point. I stewed for an hour until I was finally able to drift off again, this time with a smile on my face as I imagined using the Scarf to dangle Ren in front of the kraken, but then in my dream
I
became the kraken and wrapped my tentacles around him, pulled him into my eternal purple embrace, and stole away with him to a murky cavern in the depths of the ocean.

After I shook off the effects of my dream the next morning, I checked on Kishan. Quietly, I peeked in and saw Ren ordering his breakfast. He handed the plate to Kishan with a fork, told him where everything was, and then sat back and picked up a book of poetry. I opened the door wider, and they both looked up—Kishan moving his face toward the sound of the door.

Kishan sat up and patted the spot on the bed next to him. “Kelsey? Want to help me out with breakfast?”

“You were eating just fine before she came in. She’s not a nurse, and you’re not an invalid,” Ren spat out.

I glared. “Stop being a jerk. If he wants me to help him, I will.”

“No. If he
needs
help,
I’ll
do it!”

Ren yanked the plate of food away from Kishan and started shoving forkfuls of eggs into his brother’s mouth.

“Hey! She’s a lot more gentle,” he choked out between bites. “And she doesn’t spill cold, wet stuff into my lap!” Kishan picked up something and mashed it between his fingers. “What is it?”

I laughed despite my anger with Ren. “It’s fruit. Looks like pineapple.”

“Oh.” Kishan scooped up the pieces and flicked them toward Ren, who smacked his brother upside the head in retaliation. “Did you sleep well?”

I smirked at Ren before answering. “Yes. I dreamed I fed Ren to the kraken.”

A grinning Kishan said, “Good.”

Then Ren shoved a giant forkful of fruit into Kishan’s mouth, and he started coughing.

“Now look what you’ve done,” I accused. I approached Kishan, sat next to him, and smoothed back his mussed hair. Kishan stopped coughing, reached out for my hand and kissed it warmly.

“There’s my girl. I missed you,
bilauta
. Did you sleep better in your own bed?”

“Well, actually—”

“Here,” Ren growled and shoved the plate back into Kishan’s hands. “Finish it yourself. Kelsey and I need to talk about something. We’ll be right back.”

Ren grabbed my hand before I could protest and yanked me through the hall to the stairs and down to the staff deck. Then he stopped and grabbed my shoulders.

“Kelsey, if you don’t tell him it’s over, I will. I’m going insane watching you fawn all over him.”

“Alagan Dhiren! Don’t you have any sympathy for him at all? Can’t you understand how hard this is? You think you can just snap your fingers and make the past few months disappear? Well, you can’t. I realize that this situation is uncomfortable. It’s not easy on any of us. I need time to sort through my feelings and decide what to do.”

“What do you mean decide? You think this is like choosing which shoes to wear? You don’t
decide
who you love, you just do.”

“And what if I love you both? Did you ever think of that?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “
Do
you?”

“Of course I love both of you.”

“No, you don’t. It’s not the same,
iadala
.” He sighed unhappily, turned, and ran a hand through his hair. “Kelsey. You’re driving me crazy. I never should have picked that trigger.”

“What? What trigger? What are you talking about?”

Conflicted, he tore his gaze from me, walked over to the staff dining table, and sat down. He put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands and then confessed, “Durga let me pick the trigger. The thing that would happen to help me get my memory back.”

I pulled out the chair across from him and slowly sat down. “What did you do?”

“I needed to pick something that would guarantee you were safe. I couldn’t just pick seeing you at the house, for example, or even meeting with Phet. I racked my brain trying to come up with something, and the image of Kishan stealing a kiss from you on the beach kept flashing through my mind. I knew he’d try to do it again, and I figured that if I was around to see him kiss you, and he felt comfortable doing it, that you would likely be out of danger. So the trigger was a kiss. Who knew he would wait so long.”

My mouth fell open in astonishment. “You bet your memory on Kishan’s kissing me?”

“Yes.”

“Wait a minute. Kishan kissed me before the ship. He kissed me in Shangri-la. Why didn’t it work then?”

“Because I was still a captive, which was part of the stipulation. I had to be free
and
see you kiss. Wait a minute—when did he kiss you in Shangri-la, and why is this the first time I’m hearing about it?”

I waved my hand in the air. “It doesn’t matter. What
does
matter is, you’re an idiot.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re
not
welcome. You’re an
idiot
because I made Kishan promise
not
to kiss me. He promised me he wouldn’t until he knew you and I were over. He didn’t touch me for months because of that promise.” My mouth fell open. “
You
didn’t
trust
me.”

“I didn’t trust
him
. And just how many kisses are we talking about here? Because if they were anything like the one I saw, I’m going to have the Scarf sew his lips together.”

“For your information, he stole a couple of kisses in Shangri-la, and kissed me at the pool before we rescued you, which made me cry by the way, and that’s when I made him promise. I waited for you. Even when you got back and didn’t remember me and couldn’t touch me, I waited for you. I didn’t even
approach
Kishan until you started flaunting bimbos in front of me. I was loyal to you, Ren. I
loved
you.”

“You
still
love me.”

I groaned. “Why couldn’t you have picked something
else
for a trigger, like getting home safely or eating my cookies again?”

“I had no idea he would keep his hands off you. I assumed he’d try kissing you at every opportunity.”

“He did until I made him promise not to. This is ridiculous. I feel like we’re stuck in a Shakespeare play. He loved her, she loved him, he forgot her, and then she loved the other guy.”

“So is it a comedy or a tragedy?”

“I have no idea.”

“I’m hoping for comedy.” He took my hands in his. “I love you, Kells, and I
know
that you love me. I feel sorry for Kishan but
not
sorry enough to let him have you. I’m not going to walk away.”

I glanced up at his handsome face. “I need time.”

He sighed unhappily. “Every minute we’re apart feels like a lifetime. I can’t watch you be with him, Kelsey. It tears me apart inside.”

I let out a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the deal. Give me some space, and I’ll ask the same of Kishan. That will have to be good enough for both of you. We have two more dragons and the Seventh Pagoda to go through, and we really can’t afford any more distractions right now.”

Ren sat back and studied my face for a moment. “Alright. I’ll tolerate him. As long as he’s
hands off
.”

“That means you keep
your
hands off too.”

He gave me a hot look. “Fine.” He smiled. “But you’ll miss me.”

“Did I ever tell you that you have an arrogant streak a mile wide?”

He got up and walked around to my side of the table, pulled me to my feet, and kissed me softly, a drowning, luxurious, knee-buckling kiss, and then took a step back. “That’s just a little something to remember me by.”

He left, and I pressed my hand against the wall to steady myself.
Holy Hannah, that man is dangerous.
I tried to shake off my reaction to him before I headed upstairs, but my rebellious thoughts kept dwelling on Ren.

When I regained the use of my legs, I sought out Kishan. I finally found him on the sundeck, standing at the bow.

“There you are.”

He didn’t respond.

“Kishan?” I touched his shoulder. “Kishan? How did you get out here all by yourself? Did Ren bring you?” He stared straight ahead out over the ocean.

I shook his arm. “Kishan? Talk to me. Are you okay? What’s going on?”

He turned his head slowly, eerily, like a zombie from a horror film. His face was devoid of expression. Orange flames burned in his black eyes. “A storm is coming,” he said in a low voice not his own. “I will prepare the way. Go. Warn the others.”

We both looked ahead at the sea, and I saw the sky had turned gray. Dark clouds were rolling in, and waves were cresting against the boat. A stiff wind blew over my skin. It was cold and smelled like rain.

“I’ll be right back,” I assured him. “Don’t go anywhere.”

He didn’t react to my comment. I turned around and ran up the stairs.

“Ren! Mr. Kadam!” I barreled into the wheelhouse and met Ren’s chest with my face.

He grabbed my shoulders. “What is it? What happened?”

Between breaths, I panted, “It’s Kishan. He’s in oracle mode. He’s standing at the bow and saying a storm is coming. I think he’s going to guide us through it.”

“Alright, you help Nilima. I’ll go check on him.”

Ren left as Mr. Kadam emerged from the back room. “A storm, is it?”

I was explaining what had happened to Kishan when Ren returned. “Kishan’s not there. He’s missing. I’m going to sniff him out. Stay here. I mean it.”

“I get the message. Go find him already.”

Mr. Kadam moved to the controls and began pushing buttons. I walked to the window. If the sea looked foreboding before, it was worse now. The gray clouds had turned black and were violently pushing and shoving each other back and forth like giant sumo wrestlers smacking and thundering together. Rain fell in fat drops and hit the window with the noise of a thousand drums. The waves pushed the ship back and forth angrily.