and my promise to Karma, my mind’s stalling and so are my feet—but only until Lanying’s men stride in. With their broad shoulders and burly frames, their very presence erases my hesitation at once. My eyes glide to their side. If needed, they won’t hesitate to swing the daunting long knifes hanging from their hips, for sure.
“We’re only going to see today,” Lanying says. “Making sure we’ve got the right snakes and sniff out their lair.” Her words clear the last lingering trace of qualm. Sure, this sounds sensible.
With Palmo nowhere to be found, I leave a quick notice with Jomo and step out into the streets of Lhasa, in the wake of Lanying and her guards.
As soon as the gate closes behind me, I pull my hood over my eyes. A brisk dust swirls on the late afternoon wind, powdering the roads with fine grains of shale, caking my face with a sheer veil of grime. The orange sun is already fading in specks of ivory and amber, submerging the town in the long-drawn shadows of a sluggish sunset. A faint thunder claps in the humid distance, an ominous foreboding. I draw my elbows to my side.
My eyes fixed on Lanying’s heels, I follow close, skidding through the town’s center. The low hum of prayer swells in the winding backstreets; we must be close to the main temple. A look up confirms my suspicion; we’re at the rear end of the shrine, a crisscross of frayed prayer banners topping its scaled stucco walls.
“She’s in here, that serpent of a woman,” Lanying says, and points at the narrowest of alleys with only one tiny door cut into the darkened wall. “It’s not the best of inns.” She grins. “But I’ve got it covered.” With the flick of her hand, she orders the guard to stay put on the corner. “Stay close.” She turns into the alley, pulling me along by my sleeve.
“Wait!” I freeze as my thoughts speed ahead of me, halting at the doorway of the inn. My pulse surges, a muffled rush ringing in my ears. “What are you doing?” My voice lowers to a hiss. “You can’t just go in.”
She looks back, a frown drawing on her forehead. “Of course we can.” She shrugs. “I know the place, trust me.”
With a determined stride, she heads for the door, leaving me no choice but to hasten behind her to the inn’s obscure entrance.
“No windows.” I hold my breath as her knuckles rattle on the hardened door. She smirks.
“What is this place?” My eyes shoot from the bolted door across the dim wall and back as I try to rein in my erratic thoughts. Without warning, a sunken grinding resounds from the iron latches, and the door creaks open. A low rumble of hushed rumors and subdued laughter floats ahead of the penetrating vapors of spirits and spiced grub. My feet won’t move. Everything in my body screams to run, but Lanying’s already in, the tail of her coat a waver to trail behind. I clench my fists and duck for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A strong hand grips around my elbow and pulls me against the coarse plastered wall. Another hand clasps hard at the belt of my coat. Darkness surrounds me as my hood falls over my eyes. A surge of adrenaline tenses every muscle in my body, and I gulp a big breath.
It takes me only a split moment to realize. Karma!
I heave, my heart hammers against my ribs. With a jolt, I pull my hood back and tear myself away from his taut grip.
“You promised.” His sneer bites right through me, and my shoulders shrug under the crushing weight of his justified rebuke. My mind’s spinning. He’s right, but there’s no time. My eyes fly to the blackened entrance.
“Lanying!” With a desperate turn, I grab the lapel of his coat and face him. Under his bleak stare brews a thunder green.
“Please,” I say. “She’s in there.” My words falter as my feet stumble towards the door.
“And you’re not.” His fingers delve into my upper arm, and his voice smolders with the onset of an outburst, ready to ignite.
“Leave it!” With a shriek, Lanying appears at the doorway, motioning her rushing guard to a halt. “You’re good, sister?” She bares her teeth and bounces her fierce gaze from me to Karma and back.
“Don’t,” Karma says, his voice so unnervingly calm it draws a quiver through my spine. “Get away from her.” He hauls me in. “Now.” His arm gouges around my middle, and his fingers harden into the soft parts of my spine.
Lanying jumps to my side and anchors her hands at her side. Her feet wide apart, her heels dug in—she’s ready to lash out.
“Please,” I say and recoil at the outrage on both their faces, the raw resentment laying so bare between the two of them. “She’s only trying to help.” I raise my voice in vain.
“Leave it, sister.” Lanying spits her words at our feet. “He’ll never get it.” She takes a step back and raises her hand at her guard. “You know where to find me.” She throws me a curt nod and storms off, her guard trailing in the dust of her heels.
I blink as my mind speeds down the alley. Where’s she off to?
“Don’t even try…” Karma raises his hand, and his arm relaxes in the curve of my waist. From the corner of my eye, I spot the heavy door. Without a faint creak, it shuts again, its heavy ledges a silent security for whomever resides inside. A thick lump nestles in the back of my throat and I cast my eyes down. What now?
His hand tight around the back of my arm, he steers me out of the deserted alley onto the main street, where the rush of pilgrims pushes us on to the temple.
“Honestly, Nordun.” He halts at the gate, and I draw my back into the grid of steel. “What were you thinking, going after her like that?”
I look up, and his seething anger looms over me. He knows. My thoughts scatter. He knows I was after the ngakpa’s wife. He knows she’s in there.
“I’m sorry,” I say, but my words are hollow. He shakes his head.
“I wish you were.” His voice has softened but still carries an alarming edge. “You’re too stubborn for your own good.” His hand draws over his face.
“I can’t help it.” Tears rim my burning eyelids and his face blurs in front of me. I clench my fist in front of my mouth. “I just can’t.”
“Damn it, Nordun.” He clasps the back of my neck and pulls me in. “You’ve got to stop it right now, or you’re going to get yourself killed.”
His chest rises with a heavy sigh, and I bury my heated face into the coarse wool of his chuba. I know he’s right, but I can’t stop. His hands cradle my face, and his lips press a desperate kiss onto mine.
I can’t stop, and he knows it.