Tiger Wings

Chapter 15

The house was silent. It seemed that everybody was out or still asleep, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Tevra breathed a sigh of relief, but it didn't stop her from tiptoeing through the halls. She was on a mission to get food from the kitchen for herself and Quinn. Quinn told her to ask the servants, but she couldn't stand being cooped up for so long. She couldn't believe a little trip to the kitchen would do any harm.

She was wrong. She hadn't made it to the kitchen yet when an arm caught her by the waist and someone's hand covered her eyes. "Guess who."

It didn't even take a second. "Klyde!" It came out as almost a hiss.

"How could you possibly know that already," he said playfully, turning her around while keeping her eyes shut. "Wait. I'll give you a hint." She felt his lips linger on hers.

Her hands instantly came between them, pushing against his chest. Part of her had thought nothing would change with last night, part of her had. She hadn't thought it would change so much, though. "Klyde!" Now it was an exclamation of shock, even partially breathless.

"Not what I was hoping for, but it will have to do." Klyde took his hand off her eyes. "Of course, next time, I won't settle for anything less than 'my love.'"

Tevra's eyes were wide. "What happened to you?"

"You, tiger. I met you, fell in love with you." Klyde tilted his head as if it would have been the natural way of things. His right arm joined his left, seeming to feel quite comfortable around her.

Her mouth parted in consternation. "You... you what?"

Klyde watched her a moment. "I feel as if I'm the only one who remembers last night," he said finally. "We went through this."

"You said you got carried away, I... I understand that. You never said anything about love!" Her hands were around her back, pulling his hands apart.

His expression was somewhere between thinking she was joking and not understanding how she couldn't be. "Love is words to you," he asked.

"No." Tevra took a step back. "It's... it's..."

"Actions," he suggested. "I thought my actions were clear."

"It's not just that either. It's... there's just no way... there hasn't been enough time..." She realized she was rambling, but she didn't know how to stop.

"You don't feel the same way as I do," Klyde said plainly.

She didn't know if that's what she meant, but her head was spinning. "No." It was the easiest thing to say, it would get her away as quickly as possible.

Klyde stared at her. Then he said, "Fine," and walked away.

Tevra stared after him, just as taken aback by his departure as his arrival. It only took a moment for her to recover and she rushed back upstairs and burst into Quinn's room. "Quinn!" she wailed upon her entrance, on the verge of breaking down.

Quinn looked terrified and hurt all at once. "Oh what happened, Tev?" she asked in a melted voice.

"It's horrible, just horrible!" She fell into the chair and then jumped to her feet again, a hand against her mouth. "Oh, I think I'm going to be sick."

"What happened?" Quinn demanded in wonder.

Tevra spun toward her sister. "He told me he loved me!"

"What! Just now? Klyde?"

"Yes!" Tevra was pacing now, back and forth across the chamber.

"Oh!" Then Quinn shrilled out a laugh and clapped her hands happily. "That's marvelous! Were you in the kitchen? Where's the food?"