by C. J. Anaya
I couldn’t help but smile at his light-hearted remark.
“I’m not just a chick. I’m an intelligent, independent woman who’s not easily swayed by a pretty face.” I am so swayed by that pretty face. “And if you intend to court me rather than hand me a cherry blossom and be done with it then you’re going to have to figure out how to worm you way into my affections. Good luck with that.”
Tie’s lighthearted mood seemed to dampen with my comment. The ice in his eyes returned, and a dangerous glint stealthily crept into them.
“I think I may have just the thing to start off this courting challenge,” he said.
Before I could get a grip on his mood swing, Tie slowly produced from behind his back, a flower. It was completely black to the point of looking charcoal. It seemed to pulsate with its own life-like energy, and even though I knew I had nothing to fear from Tie, I was afraid of this. Despite the danger I sensed, I wanted to reach out and examine its dark beauty. I hesitantly reached my hand forward to touch it, but then I pulled back. Tie managed to look disappointed and relieved all at the same time. He was so confusing. I just couldn’t read him, but this was Tie’s game, and I wasn’t about to slip up.
“What’s that supposed to be?” I tried to sound disinterested. I failed miserably.
“This is supposed to be a flower.” His response was like acid on my nerves. I felt anger and hatred building in his gaze. It made me nervous so I tried saying something flippant.
“You’re giving me a dead flower? You’ve really never had to work at this, have you?”
“For the record, this flower isn’t dead. It’s a very rare bloom called the Black Cherry Blossom. Women are all about tokens and symbols when they begin falling in love with someone. Isn’t giving a rare flower to the woman I’m courting a kind of symbol of how rare our love might be also?”
“I thought you said you weren’t going to use a cherry blossom.”
“If you want to make your own choices then go ahead and do so. You can accept the blossom and discover if you’re independent enough to withstand its power, or you can let me court you, and we’ll see what happens.” A desperate glint in his eye clued me in to the fact that this decision I was about to make was monumentally important to him and possibly dangerous for both of us.
This had moved far beyond some ridiculous challenge. Did he really want me to choose Victor over him and compromise his precious prophecy? To what end? Why would he want me when he came solely to unite me with Victor? I ignored the intensity of the moment and tried on one of those bored looks that Tie managed so well. As if I couldn’t be bothered enough to care about whatever was happening here.
“Do you see me swooning?” I folded my arms over my chest. “Nothing says romance like a burnt flower.”
“Make a decision, Hope. I’m giving you the opportunity to choose your own path.”
Tie’s eyes flashed one confusing emotion after another, and even though he was the one offering me such a rare and special flower, I got the distinct impression that he was silently pleading for me to refuse it.
Taking that flower would be giving him a leg up on this weird little challenge we’d struck with one another, and I had no way of knowing what kind of affect it might have on me. I didn’t want to be under its influence, but I didn’t want to give up this challenge either.
I needed to be the one setting the conditions, and I needed to make sure they were the kind of conditions that would ensure me a win. Before he had time to anticipate me, I batted the blossom away with the back of my hand and got right in his face.
He looked to the floor where the flower had landed and then watched as it disappeared. I could have sworn I heard him let out a sigh of relief.
“You seem to think one kiss from Victor was all it took to get me to fall for him,” I said pointing my finger in his chest.
“Do you deny you were into it?”
“All I’m saying is this: If you really want to prove something here, don’t hand me a withered old flower and expect me to beg for an engagement ring. Put your money where your mouth is and kiss me.” Daring Tie to kiss me wasn’t necessarily the brightest idea I’d ever had nor was it my normal MO. Nope. This move had Angie written all over it. However, it was a condition I could easily set without the least hope of him taking me up on it. In the back of my mind I still clung to the idea that someone like Tie would never be interested in someone like me. He just wanted to get under Victor’s skin. There was no way he planned on kissing me unless his intended audience was present.
And so I dared him to kiss me. Yep.
Taking in Tie’s expression made me think my impulsive condition had actually been a good one. He had not been expecting this. His calm façade slipped, his eyes darting to my lips and pausing there before taking in my serious expression and weighing it against my words. I decided to press my advantage and enjoy it as much as possible.
“Uh oh. Are we out of practice, Tie? So busy finding love for other people we don’t remember how to do it for ourselves?” It was ruthless teasing, but I wasn’t about to apologize for it. “Better luck next time.”
I turned around and headed for my bed wearing my own smug little smile. I’d been right all along. He wouldn’t touch me without his oldest enemy present.
Before I’d taken two steps, I felt his arms surround me, clutching me to him in a tight embrace. I might have attempted to struggle, but I was too stunned by the sensation of his warm, moist lips slowly kissing the tender side of my neck. I should have put up some kind of resistance, but my body refused to cooperate with me.
What was happening? This hadn’t been the plan at all!
Instead of pushing away from him, I couldn’t help but tilt my head to the side as he continued his slow assault down the length of my neck toward my shoulder. He grabbed my waist and turned me roughly to face him. His eyes were stormy with a need I couldn’t even begin to understand. He cupped the sides of my face in his hands and crushed my lips to his. A soft moan escaped my mouth. My reaction to him was explosive. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held him as tightly as he held me.
His kisses were aggressive and demanding, filling up every lonely space I hadn’t known existed. It was all so familiar and peaceful and turbulent and crazy. I could actually feel something powerful happening between us—something building that hadn’t been there with Victor.
Then an amazing thing happened. Our life forces connected to one another, and my mind witnessed beautiful warm tones of yellow, gold and orange. They invited me in, beckoning me to stay, to never part from them again. I searched his heart, looking for the old ache that had been there previously, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. It seemed to have vanished along with any trace of the pain he’d been holding onto. Instead, what I could feel him holding onto was me. Tie’s spirit held me close and claimed me for his own. I didn’t put up a fight. I didn’t want to fight it anymore. I just wanted to stay warm and loved and happy.
As I accepted this connection with all of my heart he broke away from me abruptly, severing the joining of our spirits in the process. It was surprisingly painful. Neither one of us spoke for several seconds. I think we were both surprised by what those kisses revealed.
He looked like someone had taken his whole world and turned it upside down. He began pacing the room back and forth. He stop to look at me for one brief second, and in that second I saw fear, disbelief, worry, and even love pouring out of his piercing blue eyes. He finally stopped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders hard.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen. Hachiman believed your death and rebirth would reset circumstances surrounding your soul mate. Victor and I have both been trying to determine if Hachiman was right.”
“Tie, what are you talking about? What’s so impossible about the idea of us kissing?”
He gave me a frightened look and shook me as he spoke. “Tell me…” he stopped talking. He looked like he was swallowing back a slew of unfamiliar emotions. �
�Tell me I’m not the only one who felt that, Hope. Tell me I’m not the only one who saw that.” He was sounding more and more desperate.
I’d known for some time that I had feelings for Tie, but I wasn’t expecting his kisses to reveal to me how strong they were. It was like everything had been magnified and now there really was no way to deny exactly how I felt about him.
“Do you mean the connection we made? The colors we created together?”
He let go of me, running his hands through his hair.
“Amazing. You did feel it. It wasn’t just me. This is real. This is really happening.” He looked like he didn’t know whether to be ecstatic or completely freaked out.
“Of course, I felt it. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
I stepped toward him, afraid he was trying to put distance between us. I didn’t want him to distance himself from me ever again, but he held up his hands warding me off.
“You never felt this with Victor?” He looked like he was afraid to hear the answer. “I saw you two kissing outside earlier.” He had a hard time looking at me when he said that. “Your life force didn’t connect with his?”
“Absolutely not. You’re the only person I’ve ever connected to like that. The colors were just as amazing and wonderful as they were the first time I connected to you.”
Tie lowered his hands looking dumbfounded.
“This has happened before?”
“Two times before, actually. Once at the nurse’s station and a second time when I was healing you from that stab wound.”
Tie crossed over to me in one long stride and wrapped his arms around me.
“That can’t be true. I didn’t notice it before. Why didn’t I see it?”
“Maybe you weren’t ready to.”
“What?”
“Tie, your heart was pretty damaged even before that sword did a number on it.”
“What do you mean it was damaged?”
“There was an injury there. Something dark and hateful you were still holding onto. It was preventing me from healing you completely. The last few times I’ve connected with you I’ve managed to chip away at it, but I think when we kissed our life forces were able to correct it together. It isn’t there anymore.”
He put his hand to his heart and held perfectly still.
“You’re right. It isn’t there anymore, and it was supposed to be permanent. Everything’s changing so fast, and I have no idea what to do about it. I have no idea what to tell Victor, but his reaction will not be good. He and Ms. Mori may not allow me anywhere near you until they find a way to correct it.” He let out a defiant laugh and hugged me close to him. “But there is no way to correct it. You’re mine, now. I know it’s wrong to be happy about this. I promised myself I would let you go when the time came, but I never have to. I never want to. You’re mine, Hope. Always.”
I belonged to Tie? He actually wanted this to happen?
I leaned back to look at him. I intended to ask as many questions as I could fit into one breath. Obviously, everything he’d just rattled off made absolutely no sense to me, but the joy on his face was so mesmerizing to watch. He looked so radiant and happy. I simply stared at him for just a few more moments, enjoying the happiness enshrouding his features. And how did I feel about the idea that Tie and I were somehow bound to one another forever? A warm feeling of contentment spread throughout my entire being. The rightness of his words and my own easy acceptance of it was absolutely crazy, yet there was no denying what either of us felt.
“Why is this so significant, and why was your heart supposed to be damaged permanently? I’m so sick of having absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” I moved from him and placed my hands on my hips and tapping my foot in frustration. “So help me, Tie, you’re going to answer my questions, and you’re going to answer them now because if you don’t I’ll do something absolutely deplorable.”
He wrapped his arms around me again and rested his chin on my forehead.
“You’re incapable of deplorable acts.”
“I swear I’ll sic Angie on you.”
His laughter made my heart feel lighter than ever.
“Connecting to someone like that hardly ever happens because most people don’t use their life force the way we do. That’s why I have the job that I have. I have to help people recognize who their soul mates are, and that’s what the cherry blossoms are for. They open eyes and seal souls together. You and I don’t need a cherry blossom to have our eyes opened. We already understand ourselves and our spirits. We can recognize the connection and the colors we make together.”
“Just to clarify here. You’re saying we’re…”
“Soul mates,” he finished. Then he looked scared.
“Kiss me again, Hope. I need to know this wasn’t just some cruel joke or strange fluke or…”
I didn’t let him finish his sentence. If he wanted me to kiss him, I was more than happy to oblige. I didn’t attack his lips. I wanted to enjoy the moment for what it was. A tender moment between two people who were just starting to discover something wonderful happening between them. I didn’t know what this meant for us in the future, but I fully believed in what was happening to us right now.
The energy I felt before began building again, and our connection was even more explosive than it’d been the first time. The warmth I experienced took hold of every cell in my body. I was awash in a quiet storm of colors, each one wrapping around my spirit and completing parts of me that hadn’t been whole in literally hundreds of years. My mind expanded and then opened. I felt memories from my previous life begin to rise to the surface, but before I could reach out and take hold of them my connection to Tie was severed again.
I pulled back and looked at him questioningly, but his focus was on something else I turned around, and there, standing behind me was a totally enraged Victor.
“Tie? What’s going on?” Victor asked.
Tie made eye contact with me, but his whole demeanor changed right before me. His lips lifted into a cold sneer and his eyebrows rose condescendingly.
“Our little healer had a bit of a nightmare. She was thrashing around so much I was afraid she might do some damage to the bed frame or possibly herself. I thought I’d wake her up by giving her something pleasant to dream about.”
“And the only thing you could think of was molesting the girl I’m supposed to marry?” Victor’s voice echoed off the bedroom walls.
Tie took a side step and came up from behind me, planting himself between me and Victor while giving my hand an encouraging squeeze in the process. It was that minimal hand contact that let me know he wasn’t messing with me. He was trying to protect me. From Victor?
“I figured it was the most enjoyable way of convincing her that there is no bogeyman,” he said in that lazy voice of his. “Then I can kill two birds with one stone by checking her response to me.”
“There may be no bogeyman, but I think a killer cat that is capable of turning itself into Mr. Fairmont is a hell of a lot scarier,” said Angie from the corner of the room. I turned to her in surprise, realizing she didn’t appear a bit sleepy.
From the smirk on her face I could tell she hadn’t been sleeping for quite some time.
Fabulous.
Chapter Nineteen
Angie’s comment distracted Tie and myself enough that we didn’t notice Victor sliding in between us until it was too late. He immediately swept my small frame behind him.
“Thanks for all your help, but I think I can take things from here,” Victor said with forced civility.
I stared at Victor’s back and tried to get my breathing under control, but all I saw was red. I couldn’t believe he’d just swept me behind him like I was some helpless child with little control and little choice. I was getting ready to vocalize my complete and total annoyance when I heard Tie’s voice rise up out of the silence.
“You’re right. I probably should have let her thrash about and wake up the rest of the ho
usehold.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
I peeked around Victor. Tie wore his usual cool facade, but there was definitely something slightly off about it this time. To me it appeared as if he was barely in control of himself. Like maybe he couldn’t bear seeing me standing behind Victor instead of in his arms.
In a way I was relieved. When Victor had barged in on us I’d been afraid Tie had somehow orchestrated all of that just so Victor would see us together. If Tie really had planned to use me to get to Victor he wouldn’t have covered for both of us like that, would he? He had to have felt that kiss straight to his core…just like I had. I could still feel it.
I waited for him to get possessive or even break down and tell Victor the truth. Heck, I was getting ready to tell him the truth. He needed to know what had happened between Tie and myself. We had just shared something that changed everything about our current predicament.
“Victor, I think we need to straighten some things out here between all three of us,” I began.
“Sorry, but I’m entirely too sleepy to sit here and attempt to make nice with either one of you,” Tie butted in anxiously.
“Tie,” I tried again.
“I think Hope is merely suggesting that we end this contention between us,” interrupted Victor.
I tried to catch Tie’s eye so he would understand my intent, but he refused to look at me. Instead, his focus was on Victor. Correction. His venomous glare of unconcealed hatred was focused on Victor.
“You’re here for a specific purpose, and I need to know you can fulfill your purpose as objectively as possible despite your feelings toward me.”
A heavy pressure began building behind my eyelids.
“I’ve already told you I can handle it,” Tie said. “I know exactly what I’m here for.” That last part seemed painful for him to get out.
