Lips Touch: Three Times by Lips Touch; Three Times Page A

alone; my only influence has been when, and who deserved more time before the Fire. I have bought years for children,
and there was no currency but trade. A dirty soul for a clean one, one to one,
that's the way it works. But the day of your christening, Vasudev offered up
twenty-two children for free. Of course they weren't really free.
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    Their price was the curse. It was a risk, and now it has proven a
very bad bargain indeed."
    "This is all a fine education for the young lady, I'm
sure," Vasudev interrupted. "But it's time she was getting out of
here. Missy? Estella needs some peace so she can finally die?
    "Not quite yet," Estella said, producing a flask from
within the folds of her shawl and holding it out to Anamique. "Child,
quickly, drink this," she said.
    Vasudev gasped. "No! You can't!" he sputtered.
    Anamique looked back and forth between them, uncertain. Then
Estella whispered, "It's not too late to save him," and Anamique took
the flask and drank. It tasted of spice and herbs and burned going down and she
felt it spreading through her in a way that made her aware of her moving blood
and all its pathways.
    Vasudev hopped around in an agitated dance, crying out, "You
can't! Yama will never sanction this!"
    "A life for a life," Estella said. "That's how it
works." Ill as she was, skin taut over her fine bones, she still looked
like some kind of goddess, the brilliant filaments of her hair riding the
drafts of heat that pulsed through the passage. Her eyes were hard and clear
and insistent. She repeated, "A life for a life," then added,
"Mine for his."
    Anamique stared at her. Pranjivan's shadow clung to its mistress.
The demon growled, "No! It won't do! Stop this nonsense at once!"
    With grave intensity Estella looked into Anamique's eyes and said,
"Speak, child, and send my soul to the Fire. Follow, and I'll find your soldier
for you. You can lead him out. Speak now," she said urgently, pleading.
"Say anything. Say his name. Please?
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    James, Anamique thought, holding his name on the tip of her tongue like
the seed of an entire life that might, from that moment forward, grow entwined
with her own like a lovely vine. But she couldn't say his name, not now. She
wouldn't use it as a murder weapon. Estella's face was hopeful, pleading.
Anamique wouldn't say James's name, but she had another idea. She exhaled
slowly and then took a deep breath. And for the second time in her life, she
let her voice out of its cage.
    She sang.
    When Estella heard her voice, in the moment just before her eyes
rolled back in their sockets, she was transfigured by a look of joy. Then she
collapsed. Pranjivan's shadow caught her and gathered her up.
    Anamique had to blink. The shadow held the body in its arms, but
Estella's soul still stood before her, weightless and joyous. Free. For a long
moment she stood and listened as Anamique's voice soared, then she beckoned and
turned and started toward the Fire on light, silent feet. She dove into the
flames and the long tendrils of her gun-metal gray hair were the last to
disappear. Gleaming like lit fuses, they wavered and snapped as the flames
enfolded her completely.
    Still singing, heart racing, Anamique followed.
    Into the Fire.
    It drew her in. It raged around her. She felt heat, but it didn't
burn her. She felt as hard as a diamond. Distinct. She went on singing.
    Behind her in the black tunnel, Vasudev was again stunned into a
stupor by the sound of her voice. His eyes lost focus and his mouth fell slack,
slaver stringing between his pointed teeth. Pranjivan's
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    shadow still held Estella's frail old body in its arms. It glided
slowly into the Fire behind Anamique, and unlike the stuff of souls, which may
subsist within the inferno for ages untold, shadow and skin were of earthly
make and were instantly incinerated, leaving nothing behind, not even ash.
    In the Fire, Anamique's eyes were open and she saw countless souls
drifting all around her, souls like alchemist's metal being