Tiger Eye Read Online Free PDF Page A

do anything of your own free will?”
    “No,” he said, anger returning to his face. “And you know that, having read the inscription on my chest and the box.”
    Dela gaped at him, wondering who, exactly, was the insane one in this room. She looked at his scars, and nothing was intelligible.
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said slowly. “I can’t read those words. They look like gibberish to me.”
    Hari narrowed his eyes. “That is impossible. Even illiterate simpletons can read the script. That is part of the curse.”
    Dela clenched her jaw. “I am getting sick of arguing with you about things I don’t understand. I won’t deny that you’re real, or that you came out of that box, but defying the laws of physics will only get you so far. You tell me something, Hari—something I can use. Who the hell are you, and why are you here?”
    The last came out as a shout, and Hari raised his eyebrows.
    “You truly cannot read the inscription?” he asked cautiously.
    “I truly cannot,” Dela snapped.
    “But you summoned me.”
    “Trust me, it was an accident.”
    His confusion bordered on pathetic; Dela wondered if she looked that shell-shocked, and imagined after today it might take plastic surgery to return her face to its original expression.
    Hari sat on the bed, the springs groaning perilously beneath him, and closed his eyes.
    “You ask me who I am. I am a slave. Your slave, until the day you die.” He opened his eyes, and his words, combined with his defiant glare, stole Dela’s breath away. “The inscription states the terms of my enslavement, the words you must speak to command me—just as hundreds of men and women before you have so done.”
    Horror crowded with comprehension, and she shook her head. She did not want to know the words. She did not—but there was a look in Hari’s eyes, a promise and a threat, and for the first time, she felt like begging.
    “Don’t tell me,” Dela said, throat tight. “Please, don’t tell me.”
    “‘Thou shalt,’” he spat, standing, fists curled tight against his thighs. “‘Thou shalt’ are the words you must speak to own my actions. I cannot flee from you. I cannot harm you. My body and skills are yours, and yours alone.” His voice rang like a deep bell, tolling anger, anguish.
    Dela had never heard anything more hateful in her entire life.
    “Why?” she cried. “Why did you tell me? You could have kept it a secret so you would be safe.”
    A bitter smile tugged on Hari’s lips. “How do you know I have not lied?”
    “Because you’re not a liar,” she said sadly, her mind still resonant with his spirit.
    His smile died. “You wanted to know who I am and why I am here. I have told you. Use me as you will.”
    The idea was appalling, but beneath Dela’s disgust, clarity filled her. She spoke before she could stop herself.
    “This is why you hate me,” she said. “Because I am supposed to be your master.”
    Hari tilted his head, and the old disdain crept back into his eyes. Dela gritted her teeth; she detested his scorn. She preferred clean cold rage.
    “Don’t look at me like that,” she said. “You don’t know me well enough.”
    “You will be like the others,” Hari said. “You will use me like a plaything until the day you die, or until you tire and send me back into the box.”
    “So you can see the future now?” she asked. “Remarkable. A man of many talents.”
    A low growl emerged from Hari’s throat. “Do not mock me.”
    “Why not?” Dela asked softly. “Isn’t that what you expect, the reason you’ve given me the keys to your slavery? Hard to break a man of his habits, and you seem plenty used to pain.”
    Hari’s mouth twisted. “Give me something to do. Issue a command.”
    “Like what?” Dela hugged her waist, partly to hold the towel more securely against her body, but also because she needed to touch something familiar and real. “You asked if I needed you to kill anyone. Is