The man said, “I have a wedding present for you, my dear.” He opened a parcel and showed the contents to the girl. She stretched out her fingertips to touch the piece of fabric he held. Tears coursed down her face. The emperor continued with a mocking voice, “An interesting incident occurred last night. It seems a plow horse entered the palace grounds wearing this very scarf. He made enough noise that the guards took him away and locked him in the stables. This morning, to our surprise, we found not a horse but the silk maker in the stall. We asked him what magic he’d used and why he’d come. He won’t speak. He refuses to share his reason for infiltrating my palace in the middle of the night.”
I took a step forward, intending to confront the man openly, but Ana touched my arm and did that soothing thing. She curled her hand around my bicep to hold me in place, and when I turned to question her, I was surprised to see her mouth drawn in a tight line and her face so pale.
As the girl’s shoulders shook, the dastardly man continued, “I can only assume that he came to assassinate me. How fortunate you are that your husband-to-be is safe.”
The girl clenched her fists and cried, “He didn’t come to assassinate you!”
I grimaced. The girl was totally without guile. She couldn’t see that the man was baiting her.
“Didn’t he? Are you sure? You do know him better than anyone else here. Perhaps he came here for a completely different reason. Why do you think he came, my dear?”
Don’t answer, I thought. Just be quiet. Sadly, the girl couldn’t seem to keep her mouth shut. In a way, she and the silk maker were perfect for each other.
The girl fumbled to fashion a story. “I…I’m sure he was only bringing me more thread. Perhaps he was set upon by a warlock and he needed some help.”
This pathetic back-and-forth went on for a while, and I was hoping the guy would finish soon so we could grab the girl and get out and reunite her with her silk maker. But then, he took her to the balcony. Was he going to throw her over?
I heard the snap of a whip and my blood went cold. The emperor shoved the scarf he held into the girl’s face. His own face was purple with rage. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize your handiwork, my dear?” he said. “You have bestowed your favor on this man.”
The girl begged for the life of the young man but I knew it was futile. I looked over at Ana, who seemed traumatized by the whole spectacle. “Maybe we should go save the boy first,” I said.
She shook her head numbly. I looked up and locked eyes with the emperor. He was a canny one. My voice had been low enough that he shouldn’t have heard me, and yet he scanned the room suspiciously before finally turning back to the girl and humiliating her further by making her deny the young man.
Of course, she did, though it would accomplish nothing. I edged closer and looked out over the balcony. The young man was visibly shaken by her renunciation and I rolled my eyes. If ever a couple deserved each other, it was these two. How could he think that she didn’t love him? And what was more, how had he turned back into a man?
I gave Ana a pointed look and she shook her head again just as the emperor said, “That’s all I needed to hear.” Then he shouted, “Put him out of his misery!”
All the soldiers below lifted their bows. I growled and dashed toward the balcony, ready to leap in the path of the arrows before they reached their target, but when I touched the stone, my body froze in place. I could move my head but nothing else.
Turning to Ana, I saw her approach me, tears filling her eyes. Time had stopped. The girl had her hands pressed to her mouth, and the emperor was leaning over the balcony, his eyes lit with dangerous fire. “What have you done?” I mumbled.
“We are not meant to save him,” she said.
“You would force this choice upon me?” I asked. “Upon them?”
Anamika didn’t need to answer, for I saw the determination in her eyes. The fragile thing that had been building between us broke and shattered into painful shards. She turned away from me and time moved again. That is, for everyone and everything except me. From my frozen position on the balcony, I watched as the lovesick young man was struck by dozens of arrows. I gritted my teeth as I listened to the smug emperor say to the girl, “Remember this lesson, little bird. I will not be made a cuckold. Now…compose yourself for our wedding.”
As Anamika used the scarf to disguise herself, I stared at her, feeling the sting of betrayal. I wondered why she’d hide her intentions from me. Hadn’t I earned her trust? If she’d only taken the time to explain, maybe I would have gone along with her plan.
Ana crouched down and touched the sobbing girl. She murmured condolences and muttered some platitude about her silk maker always being with her when she looked at the stitches on the sad gift she’d given him. I shook my head in disgust. Ana and the woman disappeared, leaving me alone, invisible, and frozen in place. I watched the soldiers remove the body of the poor man below.
How could she be so cold? I thought. We could have saved the man. Easily. We had the power. I never believed in destiny the way Kadam had or, apparently, Ana did. I still wasn’t so certain I’d found mine. That this life I was living was my purpose. The only reason I was going along with Kadam’s list was because nothing was set in stone, nothing we’d done couldn’t be undone. Nothing I’d been asked to do so far went against the grain. Maybe that was going to change now.
My blood pounded hot in the veins of my neck. I was boiling mad. Nothing I’d read on the list said, Let The Boy Die. Ana had deliberately chosen not to save him. Why? I wondered over and over again. She was a warrior, granted, but she abhorred senseless death, and this one qualified.
The emperor returned and flew into a rage. Servants and soldiers scrambled, looking everywhere for the girl. All the while, I silently seethed at what Anamika had done. When she returned, she snapped her fingers and my body relaxed. I could move again. Across the tile floor, I stared at her, not trusting myself to speak. The room was now empty but every inch of it was bursting with unsaid things. The air between us was hot and vaporous. All it would take was one spark to blow us apart.
She seemed to understand my mood and, without saying so much as a word, flicked out her arm and whipped the Rope of Fire until she created a portal. It cracked and spat sparks as if sensing the tension. When I still didn’t move, she raised an eyebrow. Something inside me snapped, and I took three bold steps forward, grabbed her around the waist, and lifted her off her feet.
Ana struggled against me but I shook her lightly and just said, “Don’t.”
She stilled and wrapped her arms around my neck. I shifted her in my arms and leapt through the breach.
Chapter 14
Intruder Alert
We landed in our time on the grass of our mountain home. I set her down and then turned away abruptly, stalking toward the doors. The young boy she’d sent ahead burst out just as I was entering. He backed away from me when he saw my face as did the older servant. Xing-Xing took off at a run, skirting me widely, to greet his goddess, while I entered the hall and slammed the door loudly behind me.
By the time I got to my room, the one I seldom used, I paced angrily, and then, not feeling my emotions wane, I headed down the long stairs to the secret passageway that led outside. I leapt down the stairs several at a time, and when I got to the bottom, I recklessly left the passageway entrance open and immediately switched to a tiger.
I raced to the forest, heedless of anyone who saw me, and tore through the trees. Finding a rotting stump, I tore at it with my claws and teeth until it lay in mangled clumps all around me. Still unappeased, I chased a herd of animals, snapping and swiping at their legs, not trying to take one down but just trying to cause as much chaos as I could.
When my breath came in great gasps and my tongue hung out of my mouth from panting, I walked deeper into the forest until I found a dark hollow near a stream. I drank deeply, letting the frigid water cool the blood pounding in my head, and then crawled into the hollow and curled up, putting my head on my paws.