20. Rajesh #2
“What is that meant to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Want to hear it in Nihikian?”
Rajesh chuckled. “I don’t want you to strain your brain. You’ve been doing enough of that already.”
Leela’s fists shook at her side. “Are you going to kiss me or not?”
Rajesh studied her, tilting his chin in thought. He wondered if kissing her was the wisest decision right now. Perhaps, he should draw out this moment and seduce her the right way.
It was another reason why the Viperess was inside her—the fear of the unknown.
Leela continued to stand there, as if waiting for him to make the first move.
A small part of him was too stubborn to step forward.
Another part was too scared the Viperess would attack as soon as their lips connected.
What if this was the moment the Viperess had been waiting for?
To wait until he was vulnerable and strike true?
Steady now.
I am.
Your heart says otherwise.
Rajesh had barely registered his heart lodging itself in his mouth and his tongue going dry. He cleared his throat once more and stepped forward. Each step was an aching want, each step a moment of uncertainty.
But she stood there, all hot and sweaty, and suddenly she was all he wanted.
When he was close enough to touch her, he stopped.
Her breath hitched on her lips, her chest rising.
A lingering flowery perfume wafted off her, despite the sweat.
She’d always smelled of the wheat fields back home, her hair tangled with the thin yellow strips.
He’d spent an hour one night pulling wheat sticks from her hair.
Rajesh held her gaze, her warm honey eyes soaking him in like a bee to the bud. He gripped her chin, his thumb stroking her cheek, and she swallowed. Too many thoughts swirled in his mind.
What are you waiting for?
I… this isn’t right.
Do you have cold feet?
The opposite. I shouldn’t be kissing her after everything. Our first kiss should be better.
It’s a kiss.
For once, Rajesh agreed.
Rajesh leaned in, but stopped as Leela’s eyes spun, and within a blink, the Viperess was there. He stepped back as the Viperess lunged for his neck. But Rajesh wasn’t quick enough. She grabbed Rajesh’s throat and flung him across the room.
Air shot around Rajesh, his shirt billowing and his entire body weightless. He crashed against the ground, shoulder cracking somewhere deep, and pain shooting up his spine. He cried out in agony as he grabbed his shoulder, biting his tongue to suppress the warmth now shooting down his arm.
When the world stopped spinning, Rajesh watched as Leela smiled, her eyes still aglow. His tongue rolled into the back of his throat as he waited for her to attack. But she merely stood there, underneath the sunshine, watching him with a small smirk.
“You’ll have to try better than that, lover,” the Viperess projected through Leela.
Without so much as another glance, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Rajesh rubbed his eyes, confused. He met Tanmay’s expression, who was just as confused and was gawking after Leela.
“What the fuck just happened?” Rajesh asked.
Tanmay shook his head. “I have no idea, Captain.”
What was that?
You tell me.
No. She’s your fucking issue too. What was that? Why did she just stand there?
I wish I knew.
Rajesh cursed the Flames and their fucked-up mind games and ran off down the hall. He hoped to find Leela, but she wasn’t down the velvety halls or even in her room.
She can’t have gone far.
When I find her, I… I…
Will what? Try to get yourself killed again?
You said it yourself! To get her out!
And now she knows the game. Play this sensibly or die.
This wouldn’t be happening with you.
Too bad. I am.
You two are as fucked up as the other, you know that? Quit playing these mind games. It’s an endless pit of waiting.
I will not attack until I can understand what she’s planning, because she is. I have no doubt.
Fuck. You.
Rajesh shook his head and stormed all the way to his captain’s quarters, slamming the door behind him.
Why had the Viperess just stood there? What were her intentions? There was a look, and Rajesh knew there was something else going on. There had to be, because why else were these Flames toying with their emotions? To make them squirm? Make him weak?
It was working.
He could barely breathe as he’d looked at her, imagining her lips pressed against his. Fuck, if she wasn’t possessed by something that wanted to kill him, he would have had her. All her amazing edges, built from years of pain he knew too well.
He leaned against the bed and ground his teeth. His entire body was writhing with the want of having her, the need.
Leela. His precious Leela.
He imagined a life with her, back in their village.
He knew, without a doubt, they would have been happy together, perhaps with a child of their own by now.
Sure, the monsters would have still wreaked havoc and maybe he would still have had the Scorpion’s curse, but he just needed a minute to imagine it.
To revel in the bliss of how things could have been.
What’s the point in wishing for things you can’t have? It just leads to heartbreak. Didn’t you say that yourself?
His own words came spinning back to him, and he punched the bedframe. Anger flashed, swarming him and hurtling him into the sandstorm. Sand spun into a two-headed beast, a head at each end. Horns grew. Beady eyes snapped open. Emerald scales glistened against the sun.
An angstent formed and sucked out all his anger.
When Rajesh came to, he was lying on the ground. Arms spread and a tear sliding down his cheek.
Fuck. Fuck it all.
Clenching his fists, he got up and stormed off to find Leela.