with the scent of you surrounding me. I ached for you, Kells. No matter how much Kishan thrashed me, it couldn’t diminish the pain of losing you. I’d dream of you and reach out to touch you, but you were always just out of reach. Kadam kept telling me it was for the best and that I had things to learn before I could come to Oregon. He was probably right, but I didn’t want to hear it.”
“But if you wanted to be with me then . . . why didn’t you call?”
“I wanted to. It tortured me to hear your voice every week when you called Kadam. I waited nearby each time, hoping that you would ask to speak to me, but you never did. I didn’t want to pressure you. I wanted to respect your wishes. I wanted it to be your decision.”
How ironic. There were so many times I wanted to ask for him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“You listened in on our phone conversations?”
“Yes. I have excellent hearing, remember?”
“Right. So what . . . changed? Why come here now?”
Ren laughed sardonically. “It’s Kishan’s doing. We were sparring one day, and he was beating me as usual. By that point, I didn’t even compete much with him anymore. I wanted him to hurt me. It helped. Suddenly, he stopped. He walked around me and looked me up and down. I stood there and waited for him to resume the fight. Then he pulled back his fist and punched me as hard as he could.
“I just stood there and took it, not even bothering to defend myself. Next, he punched me as hard as he could in the gut. I recovered and stood in front of him again, not even caring. He growled and shouted in my face.”
“What did he say?”
“A lot of things, most of which I’d rather not repeat. The gist of it was that I needed to snap out of it and that if I was so miserable . . . why didn’t I get up and do something about it?”
“Oh.”
“He mocked me, saying that the mighty Prince of the Mujulaain Empire, the High Protector of the People, the champion at the Battle of the Hundred Horses, the heir to the throne, was felled by a young girl. He said there was nothing more pathetic than a cowering tiger licking his wounds.
“At that point, I didn’t care what he said. Nothing fazed me until he told me that our parents would be ashamed. That they raised a coward. That’s when I made a decision.”
“The decision to come here.”
“Yes. I decided that I needed to be near you. I decided that, even if all you wanted was friendship, I would be happier here than I was in India without you.”
Ren got up, knelt at my feet, and took my hand. “I decided to find you, throw myself at your feet, and beg you to have mercy on me. I’ll accept whatever you choose. Honestly, Kelsey. Just please don’t ask me to live apart from you again. Because . . . I can’t.”
How could I remain unyielding? Ren’s words penetrated the flimsy barriers around my heart. I’d meant to set up a barbed wire fence, but the barbs had marshmallow tips. He slipped right through my defenses. Ren touched his forehead to my hand, and my marshmallow heart melted.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugged him, and whispered in his ear, “A prince of India should never have to get down on his knees and beg for anything. Alright. You can stay.”
He sighed and hugged me close.
I grinned wryly. “After all, I wouldn’t want PETA to come after me for tiger abuse.”
He laughed softly. “Wait right here,” he said and walked out the door that connected both our houses. He came back in with a package tied with a red ribbon.
The box was long, thin, and black. I cracked it open and saw a bracelet. The thin chain had a white-gold oval locket. Inside were two pictures: Ren, the prince, and Ren, the tiger.
I smiled. “You knew I’d want to remember the tiger too.”
Ren clasped the locket to my wrist and sighed. “Yes, even though I’m slightly jealous of him. He gets to spend much more time with you than I do.”
“Hmm. Well, not as much as he used to. I miss him.”
He grimaced. “Believe me, you’ll get to see plenty of him in the coming weeks.”