“And…nothing. It was nothing. It won’t happen again. I apologize. There was no reason for me to…”
“To…what?” She came closer, her long stride quickly closing the distance. Uncomfortable, I backed up and kept moving until my back hit a tree.
“To kiss you like that. I didn’t mean it. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“Oh?” She took another step, and if I could have disappeared into the trunk of the tree, I would have. “You didn’t mean it, you say? It felt to me like you meant it.” Ana wrapped her hand around my bicep and leaned into me. Her face was illuminated by a soft light that accented her features, especially her rosy sculpted mouth. My eyes drifted down to her supple lips and she smiled.
Sensing her emotions, which were as close to the surface as my own, I detected a lingering trace of desire there, but it was now hidden behind something else. Fear? Nervousness? Whatever it was, she wasn’t sharing. In dreaming, I’d been open to the woman, to Ana, completely, but upon waking, both of us put up our walls once more.
Still, she used our connection to speak to me. I dreamed too, Sohan, she said in my mind. There is indeed a space for me between the past and the future. I have seen it. And now that I know it is there, my aim is to take it for my own. Would you seek to deprive me of it?
“No, I—”
She interrupted me. You have always said that you are a man who fights for what he wants. Taking a small step closer, her thigh brushed against mine, and all coherent thought flew away like the wish of a fairy. Ana touched her fingertip to my collarbone and traced it slowly down my chest, only stopping when her finger met the fabric of my shirt. I felt every single millimeter of it.
Her eyes were fixed on my chest for a long moment. Then she splayed her hand over my heart. I’ll admit that what I want tortures me in more ways than one. Her voice was a quiet whisper in my mind. Turning her head, as if she could no longer look at me, she dropped her hands to her sides and asked, What is it you want, tiger?
“I want…I want…” I couldn’t think of a blessed thing in the world I wanted. At least, not anything appropriate. Not with her lips only a few inches away from mine. I’d promised Ana that I would be like a brother to her. Like a bosom companion. Not someone who constantly thought of her generous bosom. I closed my eyes, trying to remember the younger version of her. The child who relied on me, but I couldn’t bring her image to mind.
Ana looked up at me, studying my face for a long moment. Her mouth turned down as if disappointed. “Hmph,” Ana said and then flicked my nose with her finger. “Let me know when you figure it out.” She spun quickly and began marching off down the path. “Come, tiger,” she said. “We have work to do.” As I hiked behind her, I tried to look at the birds and the sky and the trees, anything but the sway of her hips or her long, long legs as she walked, but even when I stared at the ground, I thought of her mocking mouth that just begged to be silenced with a kiss.
When we reached the pass between the mountains where Kelsey and I had first spotted the giant tree, I was shocked to see it was already there. “Did you do this earlier?” I asked.
“No,” she said distractedly. Lifting her arms, she fashioned a bubble around us and we floated down to the ground far below. She stared up into the branches deep in thought as we walked. I described the tree and four houses in great detail as we moved along, but it was almost as if she wasn’t hearing me at all.
“Ana,” I said. “Ana, what did I just tell you?”
She waved a hand. “Something about the ravens, I think.”
“What’s bothering you?” I asked.
“It’s this tree.” She stopped and looked up, then snapped her fingers, and a giant leaf detached and twirled over us like a large kite until it settled on the ground nearby. Picking it up, she ran a hand over the leaf and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, they snapped open, an expression of surprise and delight on her face. “How fascinating!” she said.
“What?” I asked, running a hand across the back of my neck and swatting at a bug.
“The tree. It responds to emotion. Come here. Let’s test this out.”
“Test what out?” I groused as I followed her to another tree, a small sapling that grew beneath the branches of its much larger brother.
“Here,” she said. “Turn around and stand right there.”
“Okay,” I replied, folding my arms across my chest. “Now what?”
“Now…you need to kiss me.”
My mouth fell open. “I need to what?” I asked, hoping my mind was playing tricks on me.
“You need to kiss me. Just like you did before.”
“Um, no. That’s not a good idea.”
“Why? Are you afraid I’ll hurt you?”
I snorted. “No. It’s just not the way a brother should act.”
Ana scowled. “You are not my brother.”
“No, I’m not. But if he were here, he would agree with me. It’s a bad idea.”
“Why are you proving difficult? I simply wish to test my theory. All I ask is a simple kiss. You did not object to it before.”
“I didn’t know what I was doing before.” I’d raised my voice and even to my ears I sounded a bit hysterical and nervous. “Look,” I said, trying to figure out a way to avoid doing what she asked, “What are you trying to accomplish here?”
Ana put her hands on her hips, and the part of my brain I was trying to turn off sent me the idea that I could easily do as she asked by grabbing her around the waist and tugging her toward me. I told that part of my brain to shut up and frowned at her.
“That tree,” she said, pointing to the tree behind us while keeping her flinty green eyes trained on me, “was created by us, by our kissing this morning.”
I openly scoffed. “That’s…that’s not possible, Ana.”
“Is it not? The roots go all the way back to the Grove of Dreams. There is a direct link. I can feel it.”
“And you learned all this from a leaf?”
She blew out an impatient breath. “See for yourself,” she said, placing my hands on top of the leaf. “Can you feel it?”
Quickly, I snatched my hand away. I felt it, all right. The quivering leaf trembled like Ana’s limbs had when I stroked them.
Ana went on, “The tiny green veins of the leaf pound against my palm like your heartbeat did against my hand. The roots tickle my toes, asking for more nourishment. The creaks of the branches are wistful. The wind teases me with the memory. I am the goddess of growing things as well. This is my realm. It makes sense that the land responds to me in this manner.” With each statement, she inched closer.
I swallowed and tried to think of a way to reject what she was saying. “So…you’re saying you just want to test this theory. Just a simple kiss and you’ll know.”
Arching a delicate brow, Ana answered, “Yes. I will know.”
Sucking in a lip, I said, “Okay then.” I let out a breath like a man going to the guillotine and placed my hands on her shoulders, barely touching her with my fingertips. “Then let’s do it.”
She frowned and said, “Open your thoughts to the sapling behind you. See if you can sense it as I do.”
Leaning forward, I hesitated long enough to see Ana close her eyes and lift her mouth closer. I pressed my mouth against hers as chastely as I could and then pulled back. I couldn’t help but notice her body shuddered.
She slapped my arm. “What was that?” she demanded.
“A kiss. Just like you asked.”
Pacing as she considered, Ana mumbled, “That was nothing like the kisses you gave me before.”
“No, but that’s all I’m willing to do right now.”
“Kishan—” she began.
My old name lit a fire in me. I yelled, “I told you not to call me that!”
“How about if I call you buffoon, you thick-headed tiger?”
Behind us the little tree shook, and now that I was paying attention, I felt it responding to us. The small leaves curled up on the branches and the color dulled.