“Look, what you’re wearing, it’s…it’s inappropriate.”
Anamika glanced down at her body and frowned. “But there are many women in the party who are dressed in the same fashion.”
“Yes. Well…maybe that’s true.” Had it been? If there had been a woman dressed like that, I would have noticed. At least I think I would have.
“It is true. I copied a woman’s dress exactly. Only the color is different,” she said.
“Yeah?” I rubbed a hand over my cheek. “Look, even if you’re right, you’re too…too…” I waved my hand in the direction of her body, swooshing it in circles to indicate her hair. “And your face is too…” I slumped. “Ana, you just can’t wear dresses like that.”
“Why not?” she pushed, bracing her fists on her hips.
I groaned and closed my eyes.
“Is the color…unattractive?”
“No, the color is… It’s fine,” I said. “It’s very…” I paused and my eyes drifted to her full lips. “Attractive,” I finished.
“Then tell me what is wrong with it so that I can correct it in the future,” she said quietly. “I need to learn.”
Her innocent comment undid me and I was able to regain my self-assurance. This was why she needed me. I was her guide in a world she didn’t understand. “Ana, you are a very beautiful woman. Surely you know this.”
“I,” she stammered, taking a step back, suddenly hesitant. “I am a goddess.”
“Yes, but you’re also a woman. You were a beautiful woman before you were a goddess.”
“But I am disguised here. They do not know me.”
“These people might not see the goddess Durga when they look upon you, but they will see a goddess all the same.” I cupped her shoulder with my palm and squeezed reassuringly, giving her a brotherly smile. “In this time, as in many other centuries, there are some who see beauty and desire to possess it, even if the beauty does not wish to be possessed. Do you understand?”
She cocked her head to study me. “So you wish for me to be old and ugly like you,” she said and then gasped. “Is there a woman here who desires to possess you? Show me where she is and I will tell her you are not hers for possessing!”
“No, Ana. There’s no one here who desires me.”
Her frown turned into a half smile. “I suppose not. No woman wants to spoon-feed her enfeebled mate.”
The corners of my mouth lifted, and I was about to refute her remark when her eyes widened and she gasped. I turned and cursed under my breath when I saw Nilima on the arm of Sunil. He escorted her to the elevator and pushed a button. Nilima made some remark about how he’d finally learned how to push buttons, and was securing a section of her dark hair behind her ear, when his eyes lit.
Narrowing the distance between them, Sunil slid his hand around the curve of her neck and lowered his mouth to hers, tentatively at first, and then he pulled her against him, angling his lips more fully against hers. Nilima’s arms slipped around his waist, and neither of them noticed when the elevator dinged, opened, and then closed again.
“Sunil,” Anamika mumbled brokenly, and before she could step around me and approach her brother, I wrapped her in my arms and made us invisible. With her luscious curves pressed tightly against my body, I swept us away in time, her tears wetting my shirt.
Chapter 9
Fasting and Famine
When we rematerialized in what I’d come to think of as our time, Anamika wrenched her body away from me so violently that she stumbled and nearly fell. I frowned. Surely I hadn’t hurt her. Ana’s chest heaved, her eyes were bright, and she stared at me as if I were a stranger—a stranger who’d betrayed her.
“Who was she?” Anamika demanded. “Tell me, Kishan. Did you know of this…this relationship?”
“I… No. I didn’t know Sunil and Nilima were falling in love.”
“Nilima?” She spat the name. “Who is that girl?”
Holding up a hand and quieting my demeanor, I said, “You’d like her, Ana. She’s my…my sister in a way. Nilima is Kadam’s great-great-granddaughter. I’m not sure how many generations removed she is, but she knows our secret. I trust her. You should too.”
“And how can I do that?” she said, her lips quivering. “You never even mentioned her. Kadam didn’t either.”
“I’m sorry. I suppose neither of us thought the two of you would have occasion to meet.”
“Does she even care for him?”
“She must. Nilima doesn’t date many men. She doesn’t let them get close. Obviously, that wasn’t true regarding Sunil. I watched them at the reception. They danced together like a planet and its moon.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “You don’t know planets,” I mumbled, then continued, explaining, “They chase one another like birds in the spring.”
She folded her arms across her chest and scoffed. “Sunil has never behaved like a springtime bird and he refuses to dance.”
“He dances now,” I said. “That’s what love does. It muddies a man’s thinking.”
“Then what does it do to women?”
“It does the same to women.”
“Well, I would never lower myself to such a display.”
“You might not mind it so much. It would have to be the right person, of course.”
My shoulders tensed for a moment as I considered what kind of a man would capture Ana’s interest. I’d have to make sure he was worthy of such a girl. She was entirely too trusting and naive to be allowed to make that sort of decision on her own. I racked my brain, trying to remember any stories of Durga that might have alluded to her taking a mate, but I wasn’t as much of a scholar as Kadam. Besides, I wasn’t entirely certain that Anamika the girl and the stories of Durga were the same. Ana was a very real flesh-and-blood girl. She was so unlike any of the stories I’d learned as a boy.
The very real flesh-and-blood girl interrupted my thoughts. “So this kissing is supposed to indicate their affection for one another?”
“That’s usually how it works,” I said with a mild laugh.
“I am not as certain as you are regarding such a thing.”
I could hear the hurt echoing in her voice. She trembled standing there. I was at a loss. This was affecting her much more than I thought it should. Despite my reservations, I decided to use my link to her to find out what was really wrong. Gently, I opened my mind to hers to show her my memories of Nilima, thinking that if she saw Nilima and understood her, she might learn to accept Sunil’s regard for the girl.
Instead of the peaceful comradery we typically shared, I was bombarded the moment I made the connection. The riot of Ana’s emotions nearly staggered me. I’d never known the goddess to be so out of control. On the edge. Her mind was stormy with dark, fearful thoughts and feelings. That she wasn’t hiding them from me was proof of how much seeing her brother had affected her.
I started with the easiest ones first, figuring I’d wade into the deep end later. On the surface, Ana hated her separation from Sunil. This much I already knew. She longed to know what he was doing or if he was even happy. More than anything, she wished to have her brother at her side. He comforted her in a way I never seemed able to. Getting close to her was problematic, not that I’d given it much of an effort. I winced when I realized how much she needed someone to confide in.
Gradually, she realized what I was doing and shut away her own thoughts, but she still dared to look into mine, seeking out Nilima. I showed her how brave and strong Nilima was. How she’d taken care of all of us and run a company virtually on her own. I showed her a time when Nilima lectured me on feeling sorry for myself and told me that if I didn’t get my tiger self up off the floor and head outside, she was going to string me up by the tail and beat me like a rug. I focused on the hours and hours Nilima had spent at my side, patiently teaching me about the modern world.