I touched my finger to her chin and smiled. “I would give you anything you asked for, Anamika Kalinga.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Then will you stay?”
“I will always be with you Ana. Even if you can’t see me.”
She seemed to accept that answer, and I left her there with her thoughts, hoping that Phet would indeed be able to guide her. She was so vulnerable, so fragile. Being with her and knowing what had happened to her had gone a long way to help me understand the woman she’d become. As I walked back to the house, I found I was looking forward to reconnecting with the adult Anamika. Perhaps now we wouldn’t fight so much. Maybe we could find a way to be comfortable around each other.
After returning to my room, I gathered my things, and as I did, a golden head peeked out from beneath my pillow. “There you are,” I said as I gathered up the snake in my hands. She wrapped around my wrist, and when I opened my bag, she ducked her head inside and the rest of her soon followed. I said my good-byes to Ana’s parents, and Phet offered to walk with me down the path to the edge of the estate.
Once we were clear of the house, he straightened his stooped back and changed to his normal form. “Best get back to her now, son,” he said.
“What will happen?”
“You mean with Anamika?”
I nodded.
“Her parents will come around eventually, but I’ll have to train her and Sunil in secret for a number of years. By the time their parents realize how skilled they really are, they will be well on their way to becoming warriors. Sunil will stay by his sister every day, taking upon himself the task of being her personal guard. He blames himself for what happened to her.
“In fact, the only reason he left for the future at all was because he believed it would do her a disservice to stay. The memories of harming his sister while under Lokesh’s thrall were very strong. Too strong for him to ignore. The last thing he ever wanted to do is hurt her.”
“You’ve seen his future?” I asked.
“Yes.” Kadam as Phet smiled. “They are very happy together.”
“Nilima and Sunil, you mean?”
He smiled, his face serene. “It’s what I want for all of you, you know. Her too.”
I wasn’t sure if he was still talking about Nilima or if his thoughts had drifted elsewhere, but I thought it better not to ask.
“Go now.” He gave me a brief nudge. “I have a lot of work to do.”
“How did you do it?” I asked. “You taught them for years. When did you have the time?”
A weary expression stole across his face. “Time is my greatest ally, Kishan. It is also my greatest enemy. You will learn this for yourself, I’m afraid.” He clapped my shoulder. “But there is much more to come for you before that. I’ll see you again soon.”
The small piece of truth stone that hung from a leather tie at my neck warmed. “See you soon,” I said.
He turned and headed back to the home, and I watched him physically change from a tall and straight man to a stooped and wizened wizard. When he was gone, I sucked in a deep breath and allowed the connection to Anamika to bloom in my chest. Awareness of her shot out from my heart and filled my frame with a piercing light. “I’m coming,” I said softly.
As I clutched the amulet solidly in my hand, I thought about the little girl I was leaving behind. The goddess had been trapped inside a broken, vulnerable young woman. The Anamika I knew had gone to great lengths to hide that little girl, locking her deep within. Maybe now, she’d open that part of herself up to me. Maybe, when I looked in her eyes, she’d let me see that piece of her, long forgotten.
In a whirl of energy, time and space folded around me, and soon I was looking up at our familiar mountain. Heading home, I smiled, feeling like I knew Anamika now in every way it was possible to know her.
I was wrong.
Chapter 24
Poolside Confession
As I walked back to our home, I pondered our reunion. I felt excited and yet hesitant to see her at the same time. In fact, I hadn’t been so nervous since my first date with Kelsey. It wasn’t like Ana and I were going on a date, but what we’d been through together had changed me or changed us or changed our relationship. Hadn’t it?
It felt like it had.
Opening a new door at the base of our mountain, in roughly the same place the old one had been, I keyed it to my handprint, making a mental note to add Ana’s later. Stepping inside, I carefully closed it behind me. My tiger eyesight kicked in, and without a lamp, I ascended the long sets of stairs leading up to our shared home. Running a hand through my too long hair and feeling the bristly whiskers on my cheek, I thought maybe I should stop by my room first and make myself presentable.
I told myself that it was just a sign of respect to clean myself up before I saw her. I wasn’t procrastinating. At least, I told myself I wasn’t. After a quick bath, I tore through the few boxes and containers on the table in my otherwise stark room, looking for a pair of shears. When my hair was shorter and as well styled as I could make it without the benefit of the products Kelsey’s time afforded, I stared at myself in the mirror.
Though I was now clean-shaven and back to my old immortalish self, my eyes looked old. I’d lost some weight in the past few months, not having the appetite of a tiger while I was stuck in Ana’s adolescent years, but my chest and arms were still strong and thick with muscle. I traced some familiar battle scars on my torso. Long ago they’d faded and been worn smooth. They were remnants of my time as a mortal.
Since then, I’d never added to them; the healing power of the tiger had always repaired any damage I suffered. But now there were a few new marks. Scars that spoke of my time in the past. Wounds made while saving Ana. As I touched one on the back of my hand, I considered the imperfection worth it. No matter what happened in the future, I knew it would always serve as a reminder of my vow to remain at her side and serve her.
Even as I dressed in a loose-fitting tunic and a pair of trousers, I could feel her pull. She was aware of my return and content to wait, but her call was something I couldn’t ignore. Anamika was a like a magnet, and the closer we were to one another the stronger the urge was to be near her. The connection between us had always felt like a shackle but now it had changed. Now it felt like a promise.
Following the pull, I headed toward the throne room but was surprised to find that she wasn’t there. I considered checking her bedroom, but when I closed my eyes, I knew exactly where she was and headed to her garden instead. When my feet touched the grass, I was tempted to change into tiger form. We’d always gotten along better when I was a tiger. But that was the coward’s route. The least I could do was give her the chance to berate me for my failure, person to person.
Truthfully, I’d failed her in more ways than one. The shard of truth stone hanging around my neck warmed, and I knew it was confirming my thoughts. My steps wavered when I saw her. She was clipping her roses, her long hair brushing her waist. The back of my throat burned as my greeting died on my tongue. I knew I’d left the young version of her in the past, and yet I still saw her in Ana’s familiar gestures.
I found myself unable to move. Did she blame me? How could she not? My fortitude became weak, my muscles watery. Heartache stole through me, thick and viscous. How could I have allowed that evil man to touch her? How could I have walked away from the girl begging me to teach her to fight? The memories of what I’d done and the choices I’d made ran through my mind again as they did far too often. How could she ever forgive me?