Page 80 of Tiger's Destiny
Wyea chided, “Only the mirror can tell.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m already Bodha, see?” I pointed to my jeweled forehead. “I already passed your mirror test thing, and it didn’t pick me.”
Shala touched my nose softly and smiled. “We would know if you were truly Bodha.”
He snapped his fingers, and a tiny flame burned at his fingertips. It shot toward my body, and my Bodha disguise melted into my normal appearance. My brown hair was braided. I even wore my regular clothes down to my favorite pair of sneakers.
I sputtered, “Fine. You caught me. I’m not Bodha, but I didn’t come here through a volcano like your other girls either.”
Thankfully, Ren and Kishan stirred and sprang to their feet. But the Lords of the Flame completely ignored them.
“It matters not in the least how you came to be here,” Wyea declared.
“And you are still a maiden, otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to enter the inner chamber of the temple,” Shala said. “This means you are eligible for the test.”
I blushed furiously and glanced briefly from Ren to Kishan to see if they’d overheard.Of course they did.Ren and Kishan both grinned until they saw each other’s smiles. As they crept closer, their bodies tensed. I could tell they were ready to pounce at any moment.
Before I knew it, I had taken the place of the other girl from only a moment ago. Servants were bringing me delicious things to eat. The broken mirror was gone, and the statue of Lawala had mysteriously been rebuilt. The Lords of the Flame sat by my side, falling over themselves as they fawned over me.
I craned my neck to see what Ren and Kishan were up to. Shala saw me looking for them and with a wave of his hand put up clear glass walls around us. I could no longer hear them, though I could see them call out to me. It was the exact opposite of Sunset’s crystal cage. Instead of being on the outside, now I was on the inside with a pair of twins I could hardly tell apart, and the two of them couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves.
I pushed aside their hands and said, “Look, I already have more male attention than I know what to do with and though I’m flattered that you might think I’m your chosen one, I’m not interested.”
Shala peered at Ren and Kishan. “Are they distracting you, my love? We can dispense with your young men easily enough.” He lifted his hand, and I quickly covered it with my own.
“No, they aren’t a distraction. Please don’t hurt them.”
He kissed my fingers. “As you wish.”
“We desire only to please you,” added Wyea.
“Yeah, I got that from watching your other date. You want to please me until you discover I’m not Lawala. Then you’ll have temper tantrums and the skies will darken and all the light will leech out of the city while you two feel sorry for yourselves.”
“These dark feelings do not last,” Wyea explained. “And you will remain ours whether you are Lawala or not.”
“What do you mean, ‘remain yours’?”
“You will become one of our concubines until you are too old to please us. Then you will join the citizens of light.”
I snorted. “Like I said, I’m not interested.”
“Do not worry,” Shala quickly added, “you will not age rapidly. You will be ours for centuries.”
“Okay. See, I’m planning on living happily ever after with one ofthem,” I said, gesturing to Ren and Kishan. “You could learn a thing or two about women from them. You see, neither of them would simply set me aside when I became old. Also, neither would have a harem on the side. What you’re offering simply doesn’t compare.”
“But we can provide whatever you desire. Tell us what you wish for, and we will give it to you,” said Wyea.
“Fine. What I wish for is a man who lovesme—not a man who enslaves me so he can fill his lonely days with a warm body while he pines for another. What I desire is true love, and I don’t think that you can offer me that. You don’t even know what it means. If you truly loved this woman, Lawala, you would keep the memory of her in your hearts and not use other women in a sad attempt to find her. I don’t think she would have wanted that.”
Wyea gripped my wrist and twisted it painfully. “You dare to assume what Lawala thought and felt?”
“I’ve been loved by two brothers as well. That puts me in a unique position to understand your girlfriend, doesn’t it?” I rebuked abrasively.
Shala took my elbow and turned me sharply toward him. His face was dark and angry.
I laughed roughly. “Guess the honeymoon is over, huh?”
He threatened, “You will take the test whether you wish to or not, my sweet, and you will learn to respect us and our power.”
