Kalb was no exception.There was something abstractly majestic about him during those rare moments when he actually sat still, as he was a slender dog with a graceful arch to his breast and a long-haired tail that waved behind him like a flag—but everything else about the beast was pure chaos.He chased everything that moved, regardless of whether that meant darting in front of a moving tram or into a sewer.He was obsessed with food and respected absolutely no boundaries when it came to getting it into his mouth.Ellie had seen him pull an entire pheasant off a table in a moment of distraction.He once ate through the side of a canvas bag of rice.
Even now, the dog had gone conspicuously still as it eyed the breakfast plates set out on the coffee table.
Ellie realized that his mouth was far wetter than even the sight of leftover scrambled eggs ought to have justified.
“Please tell me he wasn’t drinking out of the commode,” she pleaded.
“He’d never do something like that,” Adam assured her without looking.“Would you, buddy?”
Kalb would absolutely do something like that.
In addition to chasing anything that moved and snatching food off the counter at every opportunity, Kalb was also afflicted with a startling lack of awareness of his own substantial size.When standing on his hind legs, the dog was roughly Ellie’s height.He weighed a solid three stone.None of that stopped him from jumping on people when he got excited or thinking that he fit onto laps.Whenever Adam sat down for more than thirty seconds—which was admittedly not often—Kalb tried to sneak onto the man’s thighs.He would start by setting his face on Adam’s leg, then add a paw, and before Ellie quite knew what had happened, the dog would have slid entirely up onto Adam’s body to start licking his ear.
Adam did not discourage this behavior in the slightest.
Kalb occasionally tried to do the same with Ellie, opening his negotiations by setting his head on Ellie’s lap and gazing up at her with hopeful brown eyes.Ellie responded to this with the most discouraging looks she could muster.In response, the dog would press himself mournfully to the floor by her boots, whining like a badly tuned motor.
The beast moved his commode-dampened mouth toward Ellie’s skirt.She was only saved when Adam casually tossed the dog a piece of toast from the table.
Kalb snatched the bread from the air with astonishing nimbleness.
“Good boy,” Adam said, rubbing the dog between the ears as it panted blissfully.
He rose to fetch himself a cup of coffee from the urn.On his way back, he paused to lean over Ellie’s shoulder and examine her book.She could smell shaving soap and a whiff of something rich and hot that was unmistakably and enticingly Adam.
“Any good?”he asked lightly.
The natural rumble of his voice so close to her ear sent a shivering little thrill through her.
The Ramayana was a Hindu epic ascribed to the great sage Valmiki, who played a minor role in the tale himself.It told the story of Lord Rama, a prince of the kingdom of Kosala, from his birth and marriage to his exile and ensuing adventures.The most famous of those was his quest to rescue his wife, Sita, after her abduction by the demon king Ravana.
The story read like a thrilling adventure novel, even across the roughly two thousand years since its composition.Ellie could easily see why it was such a popular and compelling tale—though she did have her own issues with the narrative, largely around the more dubious choices Rama made regarding his treatment of his wife.
“Rama’s army is crossing the sea to Lanka.”The breathless quality of Ellie’s reply might have had more to do with Adam’s proximity than the book.
“Huh,” Adam commented thoughtfully.
The hand resting on her chair moved subtly, knuckles brushing secretly against the fine hairs at the back of Ellie’s neck.
Ellie held tighter to the pages as a shiver moved across her skin at his touch.“I believe he’s about to engage in his final epic battle with the demon king Ravana.”
“Bet that’ll be fun.”
One of his fingers glided along the sensitive skin by the lobe of her ear.Ellie fought the urge to either pull him down into the chair with her or throw her book at him.
Neil looked up from his own reading with a frown.“Was our carriage just uncoupled?”
Ellie had barely registered the jolt, consumed as she was with the effort of not hauling Adam down to her by his braces.She welcomed the distraction now, glancing out the window at the sign for their current station.“Khurda Road,” she read aloud.
Constance spoke up with an air of casual concern—though her eyes glinted mischievously.“Did you need us to open the glass, Ellie?You are looking a bit flushed.”
Ellie shot her a glare, which Constance answered with an unapologetic grin.
Adam withdrew his dangerous hand, frowning thoughtfully.“Khurda Road’s just south of Bhubaneshwar.I thought we were supposed to change lines back at Visakhapatnam.”
Of course, Adam had already stuffed the geography of this region of India into his head.The thought filled Ellie with a rosy glow of admiration.Adam often made self-deprecating remarks about his lack of scholarly inclinations, but he had an absolute knack when it came to maps and directions.
He glanced over at Padma, his brow arched with a note of wry suspicion.
