Page 178 of Tiger's Dream
When she shook her head, I explained. “It took me a long time to escape. More than it did for Kells. The moment she thought of Ren, she broke free. In my case, I relished losing myself in the spell of the sirens. It’s an intoxicating charm they use and the only way to diffuse it is to think of the one you love. The strange thing is, Kells was not the girl I thought of when I got away, though I believed it was her at the time.”
“Then how did you manage to flee their embrace?” Ana asked.
“I heard the whisper of a goddess.” Ana pulled back and I smiled, cupping her cheek. “At the time, I thought the goddess Durga was taking pity on me, but now I know differently.”
She swallowed, her eyes bright. “It was me?”
“I realize now, it’s always been you. You’ve walked with me all my life, Ana. How could I be enchanted by the kiss of a mere mermaid when I’ve been embraced by a goddess?”
“So, it is a goddess who haunts your dreams then?” she asked softly.
“The goddess is a part of you, Ana, and I won’t deny I find her breathtaking, but I don’t dream of the eight-armed goddess Durga. My dreams are filled with a dark-haired girl who hunts the forest alongside me. One who challenges me at every turn. The grove showed me this girl twice and neither time was she a goddess. She’s the one I can’t seem to stop thinking about.”
Trailing my thumbs over her still-wet cheeks, I kissed her. I’d intended to keep it sweet and brief but Ana wouldn’t let me go. Her mouth molded softly to mine and I could taste the salt of her tears. It was real and heady and utterly unlike the forgettable kiss of the mermaid. A spell of a different kind wove around us. The water rippled around our bodies in our private lagoon with a sumptuous pull and push that was not unlike the give-and-take of our kiss.
Drawing away, though it was one of the last things I wanted to do, I asked, “Can you forgive me, Ana?”
She blinked languidly. It was a stroke to my ego to note she’d been just as affected by our kiss as I had been. Tilting her head, she kissed my cheek softly. “Does that gesture mean forgiveness as well as missing someone?” she asked.
“It can be,” I said, and took her hand, touching my lips to her fingers. I glanced down at the lake. It now shimmered with light. Every trace of the green toxicity was gone, and it had transformed into the Ocean of Milk that I knew. “Well, that’s interesting,” I said.
Ana looked around. “It hums with power. Healing power,” she added.
“It does.” I rubbed my jaw and gave her a look.
“Why do you glance at me in that way?” Ana asked.
“I’m just wondering what would happen if I did more than kiss you. Would it set off a volcano? Move the moon out of its orbit?”
Ana furrowed her brow, taking my comment seriously. “Hmm, yes. At some point, I would like to practice kissing you for much longer than two minutes. We had better counsel with Kadam.”
“What? No!”
“Does the idea of our bodily contact embarrass you?”
“No, it doesn’t embarrass—”
“Yes, it does.”
“Stop reading my mind.”
“Your thoughts are painfully clear, even if our minds are still closed to one another. There is much you would like to do with me that you haven’t yet done. And as for me—”
“Okay, let’s just stop right there. Can we make a note to revisit this conversation later?”
She sighed. “Very well.”
Now then,” I said, desperate to change the subject, “what are we going to do about our mermaid?”
We swam back across the lake. The water soothed and healed now instead of stealing our vitality. When we got to land, Anamika used her power to quickly dry us and fashioned new clothing. At the fountain, Ana paced briefly and then snapped her fingers, warming it. The mermaid’s frozen skin slowly warmed and she shivered violently, but Ana took no pity on the girl. She glared down at the siren with all the fury of a warrior goddess. “You tricked us,” she said, pointing her finger menacingly. “As such, you will be punished.”
“It’s not like he didn’t like it,” the mermaid said, twirling her finger in the water. The mermaid didn’t get that it was absolutely the wrong thing to say. “I was just having a bit of fun,” she continued. “I didn’t know he belonged to you.”
I glanced at Ana. If she was taken aback by that statement, she didn’t show it.Do I belong to Anamika then?Does she want that? I’d told her that I wouldn’t dally with her affections but was that true for her as well? I’d never been one to doubt myself regarding women, but I didn’t exactly have a good track record. Maybe she just wanted a strong arm to lean on once in a while or a willing partner she could trust, one who could satisfy her curiosity about what goes on between a man and a woman.
If that was the case, it wasn’t enough. I’d seen what the future could hold for me and I wanted every aspect of it. I’d always wanted it, in fact, and had spent the better part of my time in its pursuit. That dream was a major part of the reason I had such a difficult time letting Kelsey go.
But that was then.
