Free Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck

those poems you wrote—they meant nothing to you. When we get home, I fully intend to give back every one of your poems.”
    He stiffened. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, they don’t matter anymore. They might as well be thrown into the fire because that’s the only warmth they’ll ever offer me.”
    “I don’t believe you’d do it.”
    “
Watch
me.”
    I retreated to the tent, grabbed my journal, and quickly leafed through the pages until I found the “Pearl without Price” poem. Running to the fire, I ripped the page from my book and stared at it.
    “
Kelsey.
” My brown eyes met his blue ones. “Don’t.”
    “What difference does it make? The man who wrote this is dead at best, a pretender at worst.”
    “You’re wrong. Just because I don’t remember you now doesn’t mean that what I felt for you before was a lie. I don’t know why or how I did this to myself or why I forgot you. It doesn’t make sense. But I can assure you that I’m not dead. I’m alive and standing right here.”
    I shook my head. Denying his words, I said, “You’re dead to
me
,” and dropped the page. I stared at it as it spun in the air. A tear coursed down my cheek as I watched the corner of the page catch on fire.
    Faster than lightning, Ren grabbed the page out of the fire and crumpled the burning edge in his fist to put out the flame. He was breathing heavily, obviously upset. His hand quickly healed from the burn while I stared mutely at the charred edge of the precious poem.
    “Were you always such a stubborn, blind, obtuse girl?”
    “Are you calling me stupid?”
    “Yes, but in a more poetic way!”
    “Well, here’s a poem for you. Get lost!”
    “I’m already lost! That much should be obvious! Why can’t you see what’s right in front of you?”
    “What am I supposed to see? A tiger who happens to be a prince? A man who happens to hate me so much that he purposefully erased me from his brain with a magic spell? A man who can’t tolerate being in the same room with me for more than a few minutes? A man who can’t stand touching me? Is that what I’m supposed to see? Because if so, then I’ve got a pretty good view!”
    “No, you
hotheaded
girl! What you’re not seeing is this!”
    He grabbed me, yanked me up against his body, and kissed me. It was fiery and passionate. His lips were hot as they melded against mine. I didn’t even have time to react before it was over. He backed away and bent over, clutching the trunk of a tree. He breathed heavily, and his hands shook.
    I folded my arms as I watched him recover. “What exactly were you trying to prove by doing that?”
    “If you have to ask, then obviously I failed in my effort.”
    “Okay, so you kissed me. So what? It doesn’t mean anything.”
    “It
means
everything.”
    “How do you figure?”
    He took a big gulp of air and leaned against the tree. “It means that I’m starting to develop feelings for you, and if I feel them now, the likelihood of me feeling them before is pretty strong.”
    “If that’s true, then remove the block.”
    “I
can’t
. I don’t know what it is or how it got there or what this trigger might be. I was kind of hoping kissing you would do the trick. Apparently, that’s not it.”
    “So …
what
? You thought you could kiss the female frog and turn her into your fairy princess? Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but what you see is what you get!”
    “What on earth would make you think I wouldn’t be interested in what I see?”
    “I really don’t want to hash that out with you again. We’ve been over it before even though you can’t remember. However, in the short-term memory that you
do
possess, you might remember saying that Nilima was beautiful.”
    “Yes. I remember saying that.
So what?
How does saying that she is beautiful mean you’re not?”
    “It’s all in the way you said it. ‘
Too bad I wasn’t in love with Nilima …
she’s
beautiful
.’ Which implies I’m not. Don’t you