Page 121 of Tiger's Voyage

“You know, this is the first time I’ve been able to dance with you without worrying that someone’s going to come along and rip you away from me.”

“Hmm … that’s true.”

He took my hand and twirled me in an awkward spin. I giggled as our arms tangled.

“Sorry. I know I’m not the best dancer. It’s just that—”

I lifted my head. “What is it?”

“You just seem to like the fancy kind of dancing. Like the way you danced with Ren. I’ll probably never learn to do that.”

“Kishan, you don’t need to compare yourself to him. I like you for who you are, not because I want a carbon copy.”

“What’s a carbon copy?”

“It’s a … it doesn’t matter. The point is just be yourself. I don’t expect you to change. If you don’t like dancing, that’s fine.”

“Oh, Ilikedancing; I’m just not very good.”

“That’s okay. I’m not that great at it either.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I put my head back on his shoulder and closed my eyes, letting him lead me, guiding my footsteps. I trusted him. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, and I wanted to offer him the same sense of peace he’d given so freely to me. I wanted desperately to not just love him but to bein lovewith him. Little thoughts of being in another man’s arms crept into my mind. I viciously ripped them up and tamped them down. I wanted my only thoughts to be about Kishan. Aboutthisgood man who loved me unconditionally.

Thankfully, he interrupted my thoughts. “Do you know when I first fell for you?”

“No.”

“It was when I watched you tend Ren’s wounds after we fought in the jungle. It was before you knew we were fast healers, and you cried.”

“I remember.”

“It broke my heart that you could cry over animals, over men, as wild and vicious and cursed as we were. You showed such tenderness and concern. I wanted to comfort you. I wanted to make you happy. To stop your tears.”

“You do.”

He grunted. “Do you remember when I came out of the jungle the first time and surprised you?”

“Yes.”

“I’d been watching you. You fascinated me. It was almost like I could tell what you were thinking just based on your expressions.”

“I didn’t think I was that easy to read.”

“You have an open face, a kind one.”

“Thank you.”

A small breeze blew my hair onto my cheek, and Kishan tucked it behind my ear and lightly caressed my neck. “Did you know that you were the first person I’d talked to in more than a hundred years?”

I blinked. “I didn’t know that. You must have been so lonely.”

He looked at me with his deep golden eyes, and I found myself absorbed in the copper flecks. He put his other arm around my waist. “I was. I’d been alone for so long, I felt like I was the last man on Earth. Then when I saw you, it was like a dream. You were an angel who’d come at last to rescue me from my miserable existence. I didn’t even care if I was alive or dead as long as it would bring an end to my isolation. Then, when you left, I thought I could go back to the way I was before. I didn’t really have any hope that you could someday be mine. It was obvious Ren had claimed you for himself. So I ignored the pull. I ignored my feelings. But it didn’t matter. I was drawn to you.

“I returned to the land of the living. I learned to walk on my own two legs again. I learned what it meant to be a man. Then you went away and a secret part of me was happy. My intention was to give you some time and then seek you out. But it didn’t work out that way.”

I nodded but said nothing. I couldn’t help but reflect on that time in Oregon, but I quickly shut the door on those thoughts and snapped back to the present. I smiled at Kishan.