Glad you kept reading and my short prologue didn't stop you short/bored ;p

Sorry for short chapters, but busy busy busy...boyfriend+winter prom coming up+school+piano+and writing=short chapters ;P

R&R! They mean the world to me, and are the reason I've continued writing...

~Twihardfan3194.

(Kelsey's POV):

Chapter 1:

I pulled my lips away from Kishan's with a sigh and straightened up from our position on the deck. We had been having a picnic down on the lower decks watching the stars as we waited for our next assignment. Mr. Kadam suspected we wouldn't be docking for a while, and to enjoy our break from everything that had been going on since we had left the blue dragon's kingdom.

I tugged on the end of my braid gently, remembering the many times Ren had done so, and tossed it over my shoulder with more force than necessary. My hair was almost too short now to be braided since I had cut it just past my shoulders a few short days ago.

Kishan looked over my face gently and reached up his hand to cup my cheek. I leaned into his touch, but inside my heart was breaking. I fought the urge to run away and hide as I so often wanted to do with everyone around me. It was almost too much to bear, putting on an act for everybody. I had almost fooled myself, even. Almost.

"Kells, what's wrong?" Kishan asked, meeting my eyes that wandered to my lap and were now starting to fill with humiliating tears. I angrily blinked them away, hating myself for being so vulnerable, so weak. I knew without a doubt Ren could hear me—if he wanted to, if he was listening. In another lifetime, he would have run to my aid if he had heard anything was wrong with me. But that seemed like forever ago—for now he had more important things on his mind involving the curse and forgetting about me these days. I didn't want to blame him for all of this, but I knew that I must. For it was his brain loss that had caused everything between us to lose its connection and go haywire. All of his doing, which I would never fully comprehend the reason for why he what he did.

"Talk to me," he murmured softly, a request. That was the thing with Kishan—he was so kind, so gentle. So considerate of my feelings and sensitive to how I was feeling at the moment. A different man then what he had once been—gentler—and a good man above all. "I need to know what the matter is, iadala."

I sniffed and angrily ran my hand over my cheek, brushing the tears away that had escaped. "Nothing. I'm fine," I lied smoothly, my voice choking up. I had been saying that so much lately, it almost seemed like a natural response. But I knew that I was anything but fine. My insides had been turned to dust and were now blowing away in the breeze into nothingness. I was fading away from life itself with heartbreak and confusion.

"It's Ren," Kishan said softly, mostly to himself as he averted his gaze in realization. "You're unhappy. Is it really that hard to love me?"

I quickly shook my head and picked up his hand. "You know that isn't the reason, Kishan. You've been so good to me—better then I deserve, but…I just can't do this right now. I think it would be better if…if we just put things on hold for a while. Focused on breaking the curse. It would be best…for all of us."

Kishan nodded solemnly, his eyebrows drawing together over bright golden eyes as he processed my words. "Are you sure this is what you want, bialauta?" he questioned, crooking his head to the side as he gazed deeply into my eyes, trying to read the emotion there. I could see he had secretly flinched away from what he saw there, trying to hide it the best he could. But I knew it pained him to see what was there—heartbreak, pain, and confusion. Anger. Vengeance. A lost and withered heart…seeking for the lost love that had abandoned and betrayed her…

He leaned close with his eyes closed and pressed a warm kiss to my forehead, seeing as I needed to be alone. I could smell the fresh and damp smell of rain in the air as Kishan stood up after pulling me close. I averted my gaze and looked heavenward towards the stars above, which were covered by a thick cloud of fog and rainclouds as it began to sprinkle and rain on the blanket around me, crying over my body as it matched the tears that were my own.

"Goodnight, Kelsey," Kishan murmured, disappearing without as much as a backward glance. I could sense the dismay and sorrow in his silent stride as he disappeared to his room in the upper decks.

I was alone. Completely and utterly alone. I pulled my knees up against my chest and cried. I don't know how long I sat there in the rain, but I woke up to find myself warm and dry in my bed, without so much as a sign of a tiger beside me on the large mattress. My heart stabbed at the sight as I crawled out of bed and into the bathroom to shower and to be rid of the horrible emotions and achingly deep pain in the abysmal within my soul.

"Good morning, Mr. Kadam," I said, walking into the library as I spotted him sitting at a far table, leaning over a book deep in thought. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ren sitting on the couch a few feet from him, quietly strumming his guitar—something he hadn't done since we had arrived on the yacht. I swallowed the lump in my throat, in shock of seeing him after the longest time, and moved over to sit next to Mr. Kadam, feeling Ren's intense gaze on me. I shrank in my seat and ignored his presence, choosing to sit on the couch on the other side of Mr. Kadam where Ren could see me. Although it pained me to see him out of the corner of my eye, it also comforted me to know that he was watching so closely in his own private way. And it confused me. If I hadn't known him so well, I wouldn't have thought he was watching me at all.

"Good morning, Miss Kelsey. You're up bright and early this morning. Did the rain keep you up at all?"

"Am I?" I asked quizzically, glancing out the back window of the room. The sun was just barely rising in the west and I blinked a few times. I knew I couldn't look as good as I sounded, which was all an act I had been putting on for the last two weeks. I rubbed my hands over my cheeks, feeling the soft arches pressed into the skin underneath my eyes.

"You look tired," he noted, which was so unlike Mr. Kadam. Usually he kept opinions about another's appearance to himself, but today he seemed to be lost in thought over his research.

I shrugged abnormally. "I…had a nightmare. No big deal," I said in dismissal as I felt Ren's eyes flash up to my face. I slowly glanced up and met his eyes for four long seconds before Kishan entered the room, acting as though nothing had happened between us last night as he sat down on the chair across from Ren. Having us all spread out from one another felt wrong. I shook the thought and gently smiled halfheartedly towards Kishan once I could tear my eyes away from Ren's cobalt ones.

"Morning, Kelsey," Kishan greeted me, warmly and with a gentleman like manner.

I smiled and nodded, feeling like an idiot for such formality. "Good morning, Kishan."

I automatically looked down, feeling the warmth of Ren's small gaze on me and then Kishan. What had he thought of our exchange? I mentally shook myself. It didn't matter. More than likely he didn't care what was happening between Kishan and I. He was out of my life now—whether I liked it or not.

"Miss Kelsey, there is a bag for you up in your room. Nilima dropped it by your door last night while you were sleeping. There should be a pair of shoes up there too to go with it." Mr. Kadam smiled warmly, taking a drink from his honey tea as it steamed around his nose and he threw me a wink.

That one caught me off guard. Taken aback I said, "A bag? What for? I thought we weren't docking for at least another couple of days—" I stopped, intimidated to speak again once Ren's guitar playing had stopped and the room was silent except for the sound of Mr. Kadam's voice.

"There has been a change of plans," Mr. Kadam informed me, standing up from his chair to stretch his legs. "There will be a party in the city we are passing by. There will be food, dancing and a pool lounging area. Will you come?" he asked me, noting my mood. Even if he didn't have the added bonus of tiger hearing, he had to have heard my crying last night. Anybody on the entire ship could have.

I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face. "Of course."

"Wonderful! We should be arriving at around eight. See you soon, Miss Kelsey," he nodded, exiting the room as he gathered a handful of stacked papers and folded them into his arms.

I looked towards the two brothers and reached down to brush my anklet, feeling tense and nervous. I had never felt this way before around the two, and this frightened me. What was happening in our relationship and where would we end up if we felt this way around one another while we were trying to break the curse? I figured it was time to get past the awkwardness early in the game before we got any further to where we needed to be.

I fidgeted nervously with the bell anklet, my legs pulled up against my chest as I gazed at the piece of golden jewelry. It had been a gift from Ren so long ago—another lifetime when he was mine and I was his. The curse had now gotten in the way of everything, tryly taking away my possibilities and future, as well. This was no longer just Ren and Kishan's curse—it was mine too.

I gazed out the open window that was closest to the ocean, letting the ocean mist and breeze breathe over me, blowing my loose hair so it tickled the bottom of my neck and caused me to shiver gently. The night wind reminded me much of a night Ren and I would have spent on the veranda back in India.

I hardly felt the couch shift when someone sat next to me about a foot away. I looked up, startled, expecting to see Kishan sitting next to me, but Kishan had left the room. I stared up awestruck into a beautiful pare of intense cobalt eyes as Ren looked down at me. I couldn't read his expression, but at least there was no sign of hate there in his gorgeous features as he peered down at me in a way that was unfamiliar to my soul. Never had I seen him look at me this way before, but I couldn't decide whether or not I liked it. A sudden wave of warmth and peace washed over me, as well as betrayal and frustration.

"Cold?" his musical and foreign voice spoke softly, causing me to jump as my anklet loudly rang in the vacant room. I would recognize that voice anywhere, do anything just to hear that sweet voice spoken out loud to warm my thoughts and cause my insides to melt like the pathetic human-being I was. Or just to hear him say my name like the way he used to, with so much love and admiration.

"No," I murmured, unable to admit to Ren just how much I missed him. That no matter what I did, he continuously shoved his way into my thoughts and idled there for hours at a time. Or the fact that I had almost zapped Kishan's head clear off today in lack of focus and concentration during training, earning a scowl.

That no matter how much I pushed him back, he was still eternally a part of me in every possible way.

I felt his presence like the blaze of a nearby fire—almost unbearable, scorching me down to the pit of my vulnerable, love-sick soul. Ren's hand lightly brushed my shoulder—intentionally or accidentally, I would never know—leaving electricity in its wake as he leaned over me to set his guitar to the side, stealing me breath as the familiar smell of sandalwood and waterfalls overwhelmed me.

No matter how hard I tried, the sparks radiated down my chest and to my aching, withered heart. How I wished I had the ability to disappear instead!

"You've been playing with this anklet for a while," Ren spoke, startling me once again. This was probably the most he had said to me since we rescued him from the murderous hands of Lokesh.

I shrugged and removed my hand from the anklet, stretching my legs out in front of me. "Let's just say it was a gift from a very good…friend." I flinched at the word, my eyes welling up with tears again, forcing me to look the other way. I tucked my hair behind one ear and bit my lip, hating the feeling of being caught so susceptible and pathetic in front of the one I loved.

Ren took a deep breath, undoubtedly aware of the story of how I got the piece of jewelry. I had overheard Kishan and Ren talking right outside my door last night as I restlessly lay in bed, listening to their conversation—or more importantly the tune and flow of Ren's voice. Kishan had been ranting to Ren yet again about the pain he was causing me and that it was not fair for Ren to treat me so horribly after I risked my life to free him, blah, blah, blah. And then I had heard Ren ask an unexpected question about the anklet I constantly fidgeted throughout our studies and sit-down sessions with Wes and Mr. Kadam.

"Only an idiot would forget something so special that he gave to his own girlfriend," Kishan said with what I can only guess his world-famous roll of his pirate-gold eyes.

I hadn't heard the rest of the conversation after that as I lay in bed, part of me a little upset at Kishan's horrible behavior towards his injured brother, and the other part pained to know that Ren had no memory of absolutely anything. Not even the bell anklet he had given me to awaken Durga in the beginning of our missions in breaking the curse.

"I know," Ren said softly, hesitantly reaching a hand towards me before pulling away with a sigh. "Kishan told me."

I smiled halfheartedly and finally met his cobalt eyes, shining as always, but missing so much of the man I once knew to heart. I fought back the urge to run my hands over the strong features of his face, the face I had come so well to know masking the man that no longer existed underneath in his soul.

I swallowed hard wiped away a stray tear, trying to get my act together before straightening up. If there was anything I wanted to say to Ren now, then I had better act fast. For I wasn't sure if I would have a moment like this for a while. I had better make good use of my time.

Sorry for the cliffhanger...I know how you all LOVE those :p R&R! Thanks :)