Page 136 of Tiger's Quest
I gasped in shock and tears filled my eyes. “Oh, Ren! What did he do to you?”
Ren’s face was swollen and purple. Blood trickled out of the sides of his mouth, and a deep gash ran from his forehead down to his cheek. I reached out a finger and touched his temple gently.
“He didn’t get the information he wanted from you and decided to take out his anger on me.”
“I’m so . . . so . . . sorry.” My tears splashed his hand.
“Priyatama, don’t cry.” He pressed his hand to my cheek. I turned and kissed his palm.
“I can’t bear to see you like this. We’re coming for you. Please,please, hold on a little longer.”
He lowered his gaze as if ashamed. “I don’t think I can.”
“Don’t say that!Neversay that! I’m coming. I know what to do. I know how to rescue you. You have to stay alive. No matter what! Ren, promise me!”
Ren sighed painfully. “He’s too close, Kells. Every second Lokesh has me you’re at risk. You are his obsession. Every waking moment, he tries to extract information about you from my mind. He won’t stop. He won’t give up. He’s . . . he’s going to break me. Soon. If it was just the physical torture, I think I could endure it, but he’s using dark magic. He’s tricking me. Causing hallucinations. And I’m just so . . .tired.”
My voice shook, “Thentellhim. Tell him what he wants to know, and maybe he’ll leave you alone.”
“I willnevertell him,prema.”
I sobbed, “Ren. I can’t lose you.”
“I’m always with you. My thoughts are of you.” He captured a lock of my hair and brought it to his lips. He inhaled deeply. “All the time.”
“Don’t give up! Not when we’re so close!”
His eyes shifted. “There is an option I could consider.”
“What is it? What option?”
“Durga,” he paused, “has offered her protection, but she asks a heavy price. It’s not worth it.”
“Anything is worth your life! Take it! Don’t think twice about it. You can trust Durga. Do it! Whatever the price is, it doesn’t matter as long as you survive.”
“But,Kelsey.”
“Shh.” I pressed a fingertip lightly against his swollen lips. “Do what you have to in order to survive. Okay?”
He let out a ragged breath and looked at me with bright, desperate eyes. “You must go. He might return at any time.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“And I don’t want you to leave. But you need to.”
Resigned, I turned to leave.
“Wait, Kelsey. Before you go . . . will you kiss me?”
I put my hand through the bars and lightly touched his face. “I don’t want to cause you more pain.”
“It doesn’t matter.Please. Kiss me before you go.”
He knelt in front of me, gasping as he put weight on his knee, and then gently put shaking hands through the bars and drew me closer. His hands slid up to cup my cheeks, and our lips met through the bars of his cage. His kiss was warm and soft and too brief. I tasted the salt of my tears. When he drew back, he gave me a sweet, crooked smile through cracked lips. He winced as he withdrew his hands. It was then that I noticed that several of his fingers were broken.
I began crying anew. Ren wiped a tear from my cheek with his thumb and quoted a poem by Richard Lovelace.
When Love with unconfined wings
