Lion's Bride (27 page)

“You don’t upset me. I would not permit it.” She stopped directly before him. “But I don’t want you here.”

Christ, he wished he hadn’t been forced to come here. “I’ll leave soon.”

“I want you to go now.”

She was not as composed as she had first appeared. He could see the pulse pounding rapidly in her throat. He had touched that hollow with his lips, felt the life pounding through her.

She tore her gaze away from his face and looked at Kemal. “It would please me to have him leave.”

Kemal frowned uneasily. “I cannot—He is your master. Perhaps you could go to your quarters so that you don’t have to see him. He will leave in the morning.”

“See that he does.” She whirled on her heel and walked away from them.

“I told you that you would upset her.” Kemal stared at him reproachfully. “She has no liking for you.”

“Since when have you cared if a slave liked or disliked you?”

“You must know she is different. One must treat her with consideration.” He smiled slyly. “It didn’t take me long to see why you wanted to make sure this treasure was not stolen from you. You were wise to come to me.”

“Yes, I had to be sure the man who held her was honorable.” He paused before deliberately adding, “Did I choose well, Kemal?”

Kemal flushed. “Do you doubt my honor? I’ve kept faith even though I found I had no need of you. I could have banished my enemies myself.”

“You needed me. I’ve heard you’ve had great success, but even Saladin cannot triumph without help. Why else would he call on you?”

Kemal’s irritation disappeared. “Yes, he does need me. Only I can bring him victory during this dark time.” He turned on his heel. “I have no time for you. I must prepare for my journey.”

Ware watched him cross the courtyard. Merciful God, the pompous cock actually believed his own words, and Ware hadn’t a doubt Thea had been the one to reinforce that belief. A surge of rage and frustration tore through him.

“I’d say Kemal’s loyalty is beginning to waver,” Kadar said. “What are you going to do?”

“Wait. Watch. What would you have me do?” He started across the courtyard toward the women’s quarters. “I have no safe place to take her.”

“You’re going to give her warning?”

“I may strangle her.”

“Oh, you mustn’t do that.” Kadar’s mocking words followed him. “It might ‘upset’ the gentle damsel.”

Thea’s fingers clenched the window fretting as she watched Ware cross the courtyard. He would be here soon, in this room with her. She had known he would pay no attention to her rejection. He always did what he wanted to do.

He looked the same and yet different. He cast the same long shadow on the stones, but there appeared to be less bulk. He was leaner and harder than she had ever seen him, his cheeks hollowed, the bones higher, sharper. But his mouth was the same, with that full, sensuous underlip, and his eyes were the icy blue she remembered glittering beneath straight black brows.

Dear God, she was staring at him with a kind of hunger, she realized with shock. Not desire, but a deep need, as if she were starved for the sight of him. It made no sense when she only wanted him gone.

“You’re shaking,” Selene said from behind her. “Are you afraid of him?”

“No, of course not.” She tore her gaze away. “We’re safe here. Kemal won’t let him harm us.” She forced a smile. “But he’ll probably be unpleasant. Why don’t you go to the garden? I’ll call you when he’s gone.”

“I’ll stay if you like.”

She shook her head. Ware would only send Selene away, and she could not bear any added conflict. “Go on. I can deal with him.”

“If you can stop shaking,” Selene said dryly. “No man would ever make me fear him enough to tremble at his coming.”

She wished it was fear. She hadn’t expected her body to respond in this mindless fashion. Bitterness should have prevented such a betrayal. “I’m only surprised. I’ll be fine.”

Selene gave her a doubtful glance before slowly leaving the room.

She took a deep breath, and then another. She could hear Ware’s quick, heavy steps in the hall. She must not let him see that she was not in control.

“What madness have you been about?” Ware said roughly from behind her.

She turned away from the window to face him. He looked as out of place as a huge, ravenous wolf in this gleaming chamber. He slammed the door and came toward her. “Kemal is preening like a peacock. He thinks he can move the world.”

She was grateful for the harshness of the attack. It banished that insidious weakness as nothing else would have done. “Why blame me?”

“You know why. He thinks that blasted banner has magical powers.”

“And what if he does? He came to that belief himself.”

“And you never fostered it.”

“Should I have turned my back and walked away when opportunity came knocking?”

“You’re damn right you should have.” He reached out and grasped her shoulders. “If he believes you bring good fortune, he’ll also blame you when his luck turns. Don’t you know that?”

“Let me go.”

“Listen to me. Tell him any magic the banner might bring is gone.”

She gazed at him defiantly.

“He worships Saladin. If he humiliates himself before his master, he’ll come back and cut your throat.”

“He won’t humiliate himself. There will be no battle. He goes only to meet with Saladin on this journey.”

“And what if Saladin changes his mind and takes him to Acre?”

“I’ll face that possibility when it occurs.”

“You will
not
. As soon as I find a place, you’ll leave El Sunan.”

“And have you take me to still another prison?” Her eyes blazed up at him. “I’ll not leave here until I go as a free woman. You have no power here. Kemal won’t let you take me away.”

“Do you want to die?” He shook her. “Do you want Selene to die?”

“I only want you to leave us alone. I’ll take care of Selene.” She jerked away from him and defiantly lifted her chin. “Go on. Tell Kemal that you’re going to take me away. It may be the prod that will bring me what I want.”

She thought for an instant that he would reach out for her again, but he turned away with a muttered curse and strode toward the door. He was leaving.

Her relief was short-lived. At the door he whirled to face her. “Kadar said he thinks you’re dangling some prize before Kemal. What the hell did you promise him?”

She could refuse to tell him. But why should she waste the effort? she thought impatiently. She wanted him gone from here and he could do nothing to stop her. She smiled at him. “A banner for Saladin. But only on my terms.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Christ.”

The next moment he had slammed the door behind him.

The anger was draining out of her, and she felt as bruised as if she had fallen down a mountain. She would not permit him to do this to her. She had spent the last two years blocking him from her thoughts and memory, and the first time she saw him again, it was as if he had never left.

“Is he gone?” Selene came into the room. “He didn’t hurt you?”

“No, but he was angry. He may try to take us from El Sunan.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I’ll talk to Kemal when he returns from the journey. He should be puffed up by Saladin’s praise and ready to be plucked.” She frowned. “And it would do no harm to make a few preparations. Tomorrow we’ll start packing our embroideries, and next week I’ll send Jasmine and Tasza back to Dundragon.”

“They won’t go.”

“They have to go. It wouldn’t be fair to drag them with us when we’re not certain what we’ll face. We’ll have to convince them that we intend to send for them as soon as we’re settled.” Though heaven knows when that would be, she thought wearily. Another beginning. Sweet Mary, beginnings were hard.

She turned back to the window. Neither Ware nor Kadar were in sight. They had probably gone to sup with Kemal. Tomorrow they would leave El Sunan.

And she must be gone before Ware returned again.

Ware and Kadar rode out of the gates at dawn the next morning.

“You’re very grim,” Kadar said as they rode up the hill. “You’ve spoken scarcely a word since you visited our lovely Thea last night.”

“There wasn’t anything to say.”

“And Kemal was most distant also. I felt my glowing presence wasted on the two of you.”

Ware glanced back at the fortress. The courtyard had been filled with Kemal’s soldiers when they had left, and the gates were still closed. “He’s full of dreams of glory. Thea has promised him a banner for Saladin.”

“My God.”

“My response precisely.”

“Is it not enough she plays her game with Kemal?”

“Evidently not.”

Kadar started to laugh. “What a clever puss.”

“A puss who may be skinned by Kemal at any time. We have to find another place for her.”

“It will be difficult. With Richard on the attack, I doubt if you can find another Saracen who would take in a Christian woman. They’re far more likely to offer her head to Saladin on a silver tray. And you’ve already decided she cannot go to the Franks. What is left?”

“God knows.” His frustration was building more by the moment. “Why does she have to be so stubborn? Doesn’t she know she’s better off where she is?”

“She does not like prisons.” Kadar glanced at him. “You would do the same.”

“I’m a man.”

“She would not regard that as a valid argument.”

“Because she’s a willful, obstinate woman who was put on this earth to plague—”

Drums.

He glanced over his shoulder to see two columns of six soldiers marching through the gates, pounding rhythmically on huge conical-shaped drums. Kemal was clearly exiting his fortress with all pomp.

Ware reined in as he reached the crest of the hill. “I’m surprised Kemal doesn’t have fan bearers waving palm leaves before—Jesus!”

“What’s wrong?” Kadar’s gaze followed his to Kemal’s plump, ornately armored figure riding through the gates. “He does look a trifle ridiculous. How do you suppose he manages to wield a sword bearing all that weight?”

“Not Kemal,” Ware whispered. “The
banner
.”

“That’s right, you haven’t seen it before.” Kadar tilted his head appraisingly as his glance shifted to the flag bearer. “It’s magnificent, isn’t it?”

“No.” It was a nightmare.

“You must not be unfair because you envy Kemal. Thea did fine work. I’ve never seen a more splendid banner.”

Splendid
was not the word for it. The scarlet-and-gold pattern came alive as the first strong beam of sunlight struck it. The muscles of Ware’s stomach clenched as he saw those fierce gold eyes.

“The birds in the four corners are phoenixes rising from the flames, the symbol of rebirth,” Kadar explained. “You can’t see it from here, but there are also tiny butterflies hovering over the flames. Thea says butterflies are the symbol of joy.”

“She told you about the banner?” Ware asked hoarsely.

“I asked her about it after I saw Kemal riding out of El Sunan one day.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, dammit?”

“And have you tell me to steal it? I thought it best not to mention it.”

“What—” He swallowed to ease the tightness of his dry throat. “What did she say about the lions?”

“Nothing. She was even very grudging when she told me about the phoenix.” Kadar gazed at the two standing lions facing forward, backs arched, each with a paw extended in the center of the banner. “Their attitude is very royal, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“It’s an unusual position. Do you suppose they’re supposed to be marching?”

“No.” The column was closer now, and the throbbing of the beating drums resounded in every vein of Ware’s body. A breath of wind caught the banner, and the lions appeared to move. “They’re sitting.”

“I don’t think—”

“They’re sitting.” He jerked his gaze away. “It’s a throne.” He wanted to rage and howl. He wanted to ride down the hill and grab the banner from the flag bearer. He wanted to flee until he reached the ends of the earth. “It’s a lion throne.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen a throne like—” He broke off as Ware wheeled his horse and put it to a gallop. “Ware!”

The wind struck sharply at Ware’s cheeks as his horse’s stride lengthened to a run.

Escape.

Forbidden.

Don’t look at it.

Thea. My God, Thea.

He didn’t rein in until he reached a brook running through a small grove many miles from El Sunan. He got down from his horse, staggered into the trees, and threw up.

He sank down on the ground and leaned back against the trunk of a tree with eyes closed.

It did no good. He could still see the lions.

“I suppose there’s a reason for this.”

Kadar’s voice.

He opened his eyes to see Kadar sitting on his horse a few yards away.

Ware got up and lurched the few feet to the brook. He rinsed out his mouth before splashing water on his face.

Kadar dismounted. “My dear Ware, if this is envy, you really must get it under control. Such extremes are bad for you.”

Ware ignored the gibe. “We have to get that banner from Kemal.”

“Because you want it yourself?”

“I don’t want it. I’d be happy never to see it again.” He moistened his dry lips, trying to close out those blazing golden eyes, the flowing mane. “But we can’t let Kemal keep it.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not safe. Vaden may see it. It’s a miracle he hasn’t seen it already.”

“On the contrary. Kemal has taken the banner only on little skirmishes within his own province. It would have been pure chance for Vaden to have seen it.”

Kadar was right. He wasn’t thinking clearly. Jesus, he was surprised he could think at all. “He’ll see it if Kemal goes into battle with Saladin. All the Knights Templar will see it.”

“And what difference will that make?”

“It’s the lion throne.” Kadar didn’t understand. Why should he? Ware had made sure he knew nothing about the throne. Even now, when he realized he had to tell him, the words were sticking in his throat. Yet he had to have Kadar’s help to get the banner, and he couldn’t expect him to follow blindly.