Page 132 of Tiger's Destiny
Running a few steps, toward the inert form that was once Lokesh, he lifted the spear and thrust it into the sorcerer’s body. Weeping openly, Kishan sunk to his knees.
Durga crawled toward Ren and poured elixir from thekamandalinto his mouth. But the liquid just dribbled out onto the ground. I knew there was no point. The elixir couldn’t revive the dead. She shook him a few times and spoke in her native tongue. Tears filled her eyes as well. An emotion welled in me, and I shoved her arms away from Ren.
“Get your hands off him! You betrayed us. If it weren’t for you he might still be alive.”
“I tried to stay back,” she explained, “Kishan—”
“Don’t you dare blame Kishan for this!” I pointed to Ren then I jabbed my finger angrily into her direction to emphasize my point. “This happened because you were incompetent! I had to come here to this time and do your job. Some goddess you turned out to be. Well, I have news for you. I amdonebeing your chosen one. Do you understand?” I spat.
She brokenly nodded then murmured quietly, “I loved him too, little sister.”
“Love?Love?Howdareyou speak of love! You’ve known him for what . . . a month? He was mine long before you set your eyes on him, and he was mine when he died. The only thing thateverkept us apart in the past or the present was you. You stole his memories just like you stole him here. If it hadn’t been for you, we would still be together. Ren wasnevermeant for you.”
Tears spilled over her lashes. “But I never . . .” she began and then stopped as I turned away, completely uninterested in anything she had to say.
I shook with a righteous tension, fists tightly clenched. In that moment I think I could have killed again. She sat back on her heels and gaped at me, but I ignored her. Instead I picked up one of Ren’s paws and smoothed the fur with my hand, pressing my lips against it.
My many arms got in my way so I wrapped the Divine Scarf around me and asked it to make me Kelsey again. That’s all I’d ever wanted to be—just a girl from Oregon who went to college and had dates with the boy I loved. But that would never happen now.
Tapping the brooch, I whispered instructions and my armor and the plates covering Ren shrank down. When it was done, I flung the shining piece of jewelry, hard, at the ground near Durga’s feet. She seemed shaken, traumatized, but I didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for her. Without a word and with great effort, she picked up the brooch, pulled herself up, and slunk off into the brush.
I scooted closer to Ren and lifted his head onto my lap. Crying, I played with his soft ears and told him that I loved him over and over again. “Please come back,” I sobbed. “I need you.”
I was surrounded by death like in my long-ago dream. Dead soldiers lay scattered across the field. Ashes from the cremated demons stirred in the breeze. My parents, Mr. Kadam, Ren. They were all gone, and I wasn’t sure what else I had to live for.
I held Ren tightly and rocked back and forth. Kishan crouched down next to me, hurt radiating from his eyes. I felt a twinge of guilt, but it was quickly enveloped in my overwhelming anguish. He pulled a strand of hair away from my sticky cheek and tucked it behind my ear.
A movement in the grass caught my eye and a golden head parted the blades, moving toward me. I smiled as I stretched out fingers to touch Fanindra’s golden head. The fire amulet was wound around the snake’s delicate body. I pulled it off, and Fanindra slid over Ren’s back. Her tongue flicked several times as she looked into his glassy eyes.
“Can you heal him?” I asked.
She turned her head to me and left him, gliding over my arm and legs and then resting her head on my thigh.
“I guess that’s a no.”
I held out my left arm and she took the invitation, winding her body up the limb, circling until she was in her favorite position and then she hardened, becoming her jeweled version.
“We wouldn’t have defeated him without you. Thank you,” I said softly and her green eyes glowed for a moment before becoming hardened emeralds. Kishan stood silently at my side, waiting for me. I smoothed the fur on Ren’s brow and pressed a lingering kiss on top on his head.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“We need to leave, Kelsey.”
My hands clenched in Ren’s fur. “I won’t leave him here.”
“I’ll carry him,” he volunteered.
I nodded, tenderly set down Ren’s head, and stood.
Dusting the amulet off and removing the broken chain, I handed it to Kishan.
He cupped it in his hand, touched it with a finger, and mused quietly, “This was the first gift I ever gave you.” Closing his fingers over it, he looked at me and said faintly, “I don’t think it can be fixed.”
Something about the way he said it made my throat tighten, but I pushed that feeling aside and used the Scarf to make a ribbon. When the amulet was tied around my neck once again, I felt better.
“Get the rest of the amulet,” I instructed Kishan.
Lokesh lay on the ground, his two sets of sharpened horns pointing skyward. Ren’s blood still glistened on one of them. Kishan ripped open the top of Lokesh’s robe and tugged the amulet loose. He placed it in my open hand. It was an almost complete circle with a carved tiger in the center.
