Page 4 of Tiger's Destiny
Curtain falls, I thought and collapsed onto my bed, completely drained, and wondering how on earth I was going to get myself out of this latest mess.
2
ascension
The next day, Lokesh became even bolder, and I was mentally exhausted from the constant high-stakes verbal dance. I suffered no delusions. Even if he let me live long enough to bear a child, I knew I wouldn’t be around to raise it.
I was released from my room throughout the day but never without a guard or Lokesh himself by my side. The place was a fortress, its decorations sparse. There were no pictures, and the minimal furniture was heavy and expensive looking. Most importantly, there didn’t seem to be any doors leading outside.
As we walked, he limited himself to bruising squeezes and pinches. Every time Lokesh grabbed my arm or pulled me too close, I closed my eyes, thought of how Lokesh tortured Ren and broke his fingers in the Baiga camp, and told myself I was lucky.
To distract him, I showed off more of my “powers.” I made a replica of the amulet with the Scarf, refilled a glass with water with the Pearl Necklace, and produced a magnificent, gold-trimmed coat. Lokesh was gleeful at first, but soon tired of the display. It was clear he was growing impatient.
As we dined that evening, I thought longingly of the Golden Fruit and wished Lokesh hadn’t taken it from me. Mr. Kadam’s delicious crêpes sprung to mind . . . and to my surprise, a plateful of berried crepes with whipped cream appeared before us.
I scanned the sitting room quickly, looking for possible hiding places.The Golden Fruit must be close by!
Lokesh jumped from his seat. “This is another one of your powers?”
“Yes,” I replied, looking up to meet his gaze. “I can create any food or drink you wish.”
It happened so fast; I was completely unprepared for it. Lokesh slapped me hard across the face and jerked my chin toward him, wrenching my neck painfully in the process.
“You should have told me of this before. Never lie to me again,” he threatened.
A tear dropped onto my cheek. I grit my teeth and shook with rage. I thought of all the things I could do to him, but none of them would be lethal. They would only anger him further.
My cheek burned and itched where he’d slapped it, but I refused to rub it or acknowledge the pain. I tried to change the subject, to distract him from his anger. Thinking that a man such as Lokesh would love nothing more than to talk about himself, I relaxed back in my chair, sipped my water, and said, “Tell me about your past. If we are to have a son, I’d like him to know his heritage. I already know he’d be half American.”
“A fact I’d prefer to eradicate from my mind.”
“Then tell me more aboutyourbackground. Aren’t you proud enough of your own history to pass it on?”
His face became mottled red again and he spoke between clenched teeth. “No one will judge me or my progeny and find them lacking.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Alright. Then tell me.”
Lokesh considered me for a moment and then sat back in his chair and began. “I was born the eldest illegitimate son of the Shu emperor during the time of the Three Kingdoms. My mother was an Indian slave girl who was captured in a caravan in the year 250 CE. She was beautiful so the emperor took her for himself. She died by her own hand a year after my birth.”
“An emperor?”
“Yes.” Lokesh smiled naughtily. “Our son will have royal blood.”
“What was it like? Growing up the son of an emperor, I mean?”
He snorted, “My father, in an uncharacteristic act of human kindness, took me under his wing and taught me what it meant to have power. He said that a truly powerful man listens only to himself because he can trust no other, takes what he wants because no one will hand it to him freely, and uses weapons others fear to wield. I watched his example carefully over the years and learned his lessons very well. He carried a piece of the amulet and taught me of the power it had.”
I blinked and lowered my fork, the delicious crêpes forgotten, as Lokesh continued.
“He told me I would only be able to wield its power if he died without a proper heir. From the moment I learned of the amulet’s existence, I lusted after it and thought of nothing else.
“When I was just a boy, war came to our empire and for the first time we were on the losing end. Desperate, my father tried some last minute bargaining and offered to take a barbarian leader’s teenage daughter as his bride. He hoped that this would save his empire. I was disgusted by this. He’d become weak, fearful. He was not the man who inspired fear in others any longer.
“His barbarian bride bore him a son and as the boy grew, I was dismissed from my father’s side. No longer did he confide in me. No longer did I have a claim to the empire. I vowed then that I would take the lives of my half brother and father. I was ten.
“When my brother was seven and I seventeen, I took him out hunting. Dismissing the guards, we rode out following the tracks of a stag. It was an easy thing to push him from his horse. I rode back and forth over his body using his own horse until he was quite dead. Then I killed his horse, and took his broken body back to my father.
“I told the emperor that the horse had thrown my younger brother and then went wild, trampling him until he was dead. Reassuring him, I said that the beast was now dead by my own hand. The fact that he believed my lies was a testament to how weak he’d become.
