Page 75 of The Burning Mountain
A pregnant silence fell once more. The air twisted between them. Carrying the unspoken as well as the spoken—the lacerating regrets, the heartfelt entreaties, and the soul-deep promises.
Veer spoke again, and this time his voice came out lighter, soft and smooth as silk. “People that matter the most?” he asked reflectively. “Am I to count myself in their ranks, then?”
The flame of the lamp wavered in the sudden gust of wind, throwing dancing shadows across his face. His eyes were hidden once again, making it difficult to make out his expression.
“I…” Chandra tried to make her voice work and failed. Of all the things she thought they might talk about, this was the least expected. She got the impression he was embarrassed by her confession when she blurted it out.
“You said you’ve fallen in love with me,” he said and removed any doubt from her mind that he indeed wanted to talk aboutthat.“Is it true?”
Her heart stopped for a few seconds and resumed to beat jerkily, pounding blood through her cheeks until they warmed with the tinge of embarrassment.
“I think it’s time for me to leave.” She got up and moved toward the exit, stopping abruptly when the lamp went out and a sudden darkness enveloped her. The doors to his quarters slammed shut before she was able to take another step.
“I didn’t give you leave to go, Princess,” his voice whispered across her senses. She could hear shades of his old arrogance.Thiswas the Veer she recognized, not the person with a heartfelt apology in his eyes.
In the darkness, every sensation seemed heightened. The feel of the sea breeze on the gooseflesh that pebbled her arms. The sound of his uneven breathing from behind her. The rustle of clothes as they moved. Her own pounding heart. And the heat that came from within—that she recognized finally as desire.
From somewhere, she found a tiny kernel of reason. “Veer, this is ridiculous. That statement was a moment of stupidity on my part, and you obviously don’t feel that way. Let me go. Open those doors.”
“That wasn’t what I asked, Princess.” His whisper ghosted across the nape of her neck, sending her senses into a tizzy. “Is it true?”
“Yes! It is true,” she said, her voice loud in the silence, goaded beyond bearing. What did he want from her? It wasn’t enough she laid herself bare at his feet. Did he want to peer inside andsee what made her tick? “Hard as it is to imagine anyone would ever fall for such a maddening, savage, and obstinate person. And it’s twisting me inside out. Is that what you want to hear?”
She felt herself being turned by the arm. The dark shape of him rose menacingly in front of her, and yet she felt unafraid. “If I am such a maddening, savage, and twisted person, you should have known better than to step inside a lion’s den. But contrary to what people say, I’m not a beast. The doors are open, Princess,” he said. “You are free to go. You just need to find your way toward them.”
Cursing under her breath, she stumbled toward the door, her hands out.
“Why did you come here?” he asked, his voice disembodied in the darkness.
“To apologize.” She batted at something at her waist and then neck, but all she felt was air.
“And nothing else?”
“No.”
“Liar.” The whisper skittered across her skin, setting her nerve endings on fire.
Chandra’s face twisted. “How do you think I’m supposed to feel, Veer? I confessed my love to a man who loathes me.”
“I don’t hate you.” His denial came immediately. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” She felt the barest brush of his fingertips on her face, but when she reached out with her hands, she encountered nothing but emptiness.
“You’re just saying that because you need me. Even if we set aside the fact that I killed your friend, I’m still from Amaravathi and the daughter of your sworn enemy.”
“You can’t think of any reason I might want you?”
She tripped and could have sworn she felt a hand at her arm, stopping her from falling. His touch was featherlight, but she felt every sensation amplified a million times by the darkness thatcocooned them. “Don’t give me desire as a reason,” she said, her voice wobbly, feeling particularly vulnerable today. “It’s easy to blame desire. I know very well the only reason you chose me over my sister is because you wanted to teach me a lesson after all the times I insulted you. Desire had nothing to do with it. You use it like a weapon. To discomfit me, to throw me off…to embarrass me.”
Disoriented and lacking any guide, she slowly made her way until she reached the handle of the doors, shaped like a pair of turtles.
She pushed them open and found herself in a circular room with large windows. Gossamer curtains billowed inward from the insistent sea breeze. Wind loosened the strands of hair at her temples.
A large circular bed dominated the center of the room, liberally covered by pillows and bolsters. Moonlight bathed the chamber, painting everything in muted shades of blue. A dreamy net, suspended from a point high above, fell in cascading folds over the bed.
Her mouth dried seeing the interior. Instead of making her way outside, she had moved farther inside. Into his bedchamber.
She turned around, intending to flee and halted. Veer stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. In the dim moonlight, she saw his eyes glance beyond her, to the bed and then back to her. A muscle clenched in his jaw.
“Do you have any idea, Chandra, what I had to do to bind you to me?” His voice slithered along her overstretched nerves. “What I had to resort to, to make your father agree to our match when he didn’t seem inclined to give up his favorite daughter?” He prowled toward her, menace in every step.
