Page 152 of Tiger's Dream
The crowd cheered raucously. My stomach sank. I had a very bad feeling. The last time I’d been here, the twin gods had captured a girl and given her a test to see if she was an incarnation of their beloved Lawala. Then they set their eyes on Kelsey. We’d barely escaped with our lives. I shook out my arms and cracked my neck. If they’d done something similar to Ana, I’d kill them. They weren’t dealing with the same tiger they fought in the past.
I started moving through the crowd, bumping some of them as I did. Though they couldn’t see me, several of the rakshasa stopped and lifted their noses in the air. I snapped my fingers to mask my scent, and the few that started trailing me stopped and looked around as if confused. I’d just made my way to the base of the temple when a rumbling shook the ground. Was it a volcano?
The wall on the far end of the temple cracked open, and one of the long-haired gods above shouted, “Behold, your queen!” Four men, two Bodha and two rakshasa, their bodies bare except for a small sarong tied about their waists, carried a litter strewn with fire flowers. Their arms bulged with muscle as they carried about the woman who lay on top.
She was hunched over, her face hidden and her palms splayed out so her fingers touched the end of the woven bed. The bare skin of her back was painted with glowing tattoos, and her blue-black hair was untamed and wild though it was braided with lengths of flowers, feathers, and leaves. It hung over the sides, and the people who knelt as she passed reached up to touch it with their fingertips.
When the men came to a stop before Shala and Wyea, the twin gods raised their arms to hush the crowd. “We’ve kept her face hidden from you though all of you have heard her voice and responded to her call. She is our savior. Sent by the ancients who have gifted us with a new home. And now she has descended to this plane to serve and live among us. Meet our love. Our Lawala newly sprung.”
The woman didn’t move. The honey tone of her skin shone in the light of the temple with the same sheen of heat that dampened my own skin. I sucked in a breath and waited along with the crowd.
One of the gods, the sharp-eyed one known as Shala, looked down, his mouth a hard line that covered the gleaming white teeth of his politician’s smile from a moment before. “Dear one,” he said, his tone dripping with a false patience, “rise and greet your people.”
Groaning, the woman’s fingers dug into the fibers of the litter. The man above twitched his fingers, manipulating her like a puppet. Her arms shook as she lifted her body. As the crowd cheered, she swayed drunkenly, her emerald eyes bleary and unfocused.
Ana!
The men turned her in a circle so everyone could gaze upon the goddess.
What have they done to her? I was going to kill them all. Every last one of them.
Shoving people aside, I moved toward her, taking in her scanty outfit. The skirt of leaves barely covered her backside, let alone her long legs. And the ivory, cambric halter she wore on top left nothing to the imagination.
When I got closer, I noticed the ruddiness of her complexion, the lifelessness of her normally sinewy limbs. Had they poisoned her? I didn’t know what was wrong with Ana but there was no doubt they’d done something. Deciding it best to hold back and watch in case they had drugged her and I needed an antidote, I stayed close but remained invisible. I tried to reassure her by speaking to her mind, but if she heard me, she didn’t acknowledge it.
“Tonight, we will woo her and she will choose between us. Your queen will be wed come morning! We invite you to keep vigil and toast to our happiness. Until tomorrow!”
The crowd joined the gods in a toast, and the two men disappeared overhead while I quietly followed the guardsmen who carried Ana as they headed back into the temple.
Ana slumped back down on her bed as the people tossed beads, flowers, and feathers on her bower for luck. Once we were back inside, the men shuffled her down various passageways and into a large room I recognized. “Set her down there,” Wyea commanded, and after the men did, he dismissed them.
Shala rolled her over, repositioning her with her hands at her sides while his brother straightened her legs, his hands caressing them as he did.
My own limbs shook with the need to kill.How dare they touch her!
She slept on during that process though she moaned.
“Lawala,” one of the men said. “It is time to wake and choose. We beg you not to make us suffer any longer.”
Scrunching her face as if in pain, Ana shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “Please.”
“We must allow her to fully wake, brother. How can she pick one of us if she is not in her right mind?”
“I’ve told you before,” the other one said, his square face growing dark, “if we let her gain her full senses, she will escape. She almost left us once before when she tricked you. You’re far too soft.”
“She didn’t mean it,” his brother insisted. “Besides, you know how her words warm me. Her breath in my ear enflames my soul. She blows a kiss and it generates enough energy to summon our people here and bring new life. Ever since we heeded her call and came to this realm, I have needed to use all my power to generate heat enough for us to survive. With her bonded to us, our abilities will be limitless.”
“I’ll admit, I’ve grown weary here as well,” the other said and sighed. “I, too, long for the day when we can trust her, but we cannot. Do you not remember how she deceived us in the beginning? She promised that if we left first, forging a path, then she would follow. We’ve been waiting eons, brother, centuries, for her to join us. I will not allow her to make fools of us once again.”
“She is different this time. Can you not sense it? She loves us still. I know. Why else would she have beckoned us to this place?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps we can learn to trust her. Over time.” The brother touched Ana’s face and mine grew hot. “Very well,” he said. “We will not administer the sleeping draught tonight. She will awaken naturally within a few hours. Perhaps then she will confess her purpose in drawing us here and rouse herself enough to choose.” He looked up at his brother. “One thing is certain, Wyea, within the span of a few hours, she will be a bride.”
Bending over her, he lifted Ana’s hand to his mouth and touched his lips to it briefly. He massaged her fingers and said, “Sleep now, my dear one, and tomorrow we will sanctify the dawn by adorning our bridal chamber in the vivid hues of desire.”
I leaned back against the wall and folded my arms across my chest, livid at their audacity. Ren would have appreciated that poetic statement a lot more than I did. Then again, he might not have liked it so much if the Flaming Lord had put moves like that on Kelsey and drugged her while he was at it.
The one brother stood while the second approached Ana and smoothed back her hair, kissing her forehead. “The memories we will make, sweeting, will light a fire in Bodha such as has never seen before. If you choose me, our joining will be so powerful it will melt the blue ice that caps this lovely planet. Sleep now, while I go prepare our bower.”
