Lion's Bride

  “If I don’t return, you’ll take Thea and Selene to Damascus and arrange passage to Scotland. I look to you to protect her.” Ware tightened the cinch. “Pay no attention if she protests. She’ll be safer there.”

  “It’s difficult not to pay attention when Thea protests.” He watched Ware strap a water skin and packet of rations to the saddle. “I was surprised she had agreed to go with you. Selene was right, Thea must be truly enslaved by your charms.”

  Ware winced. “Don’t mention enslavement. I fear I’ll suffer the rest of my life for El Sunan.” He stepped away from the horse. “How will you distract Kemal?”

  “The camp will still be awake, so I cannot rely on action. I’ll have to depend on fear.” He smiled. “Fear can be a terrible weapon. Sinan uses it almost as frequently as poison.”

  Ware fixed him with a probing stare. “We heard footsteps last night. I told Thea it was probably a guard, but I know your step well. You went to Kemal’s camp.”

  “Did I?”

  “I want your promise you’ll not go again while I’m gone. The risk is too great.”

  “The risk grew less with every visit.”

  “You cannot kill all of them.”

  He shrugged. “I won’t give you my promise. I’ll do what is necessary to protect us while you’re gone.” He grimaced. “Even if I break my vow to Selene.”

  It was the second time he had mentioned Selene. “What does Selene have to do with this? She’s only a child.”

  Kadar chuckled. “Ah, but she’s a child who owns me. And I know my duty far better than you in such a situation.”

  “She saved your life?”

  “No, something far more valuable.” Kadar’s gaze went beyond Ware’s shoulder. “Here is Thea to bid you good-bye. I’ll leave you alone. I must go make arrangements for our ‘distraction.’”

  Ware turned and watched Thea striding toward him, bold, fair, purposeful. “I would have gone back to say farewell.”

  “She’s not one to wait.”

  No, she wasn’t. She would always grasp the moment and make it her own. As she had made him her own, thank God. Last night still seemed a miracle to him. He forced himself to look away from her and returned to the odd comment Kadar had made regarding Selene. “But what could be more valuable than the saving of a life?”

  Kadar smiled over his shoulder. “Why, a soul, my friend. What else?”

  IT WAS NEARLY MIDNIGHT when Kadar rode into the courtyard.

  Thea’s gaze desperately searched his face, but the shadows made it impossible to read. “He got through?”

  She went limp with relief when Kadar nodded.

  He lifted a brow. “Did you expect anything else?”

  “You’re sure he’s safely away?”

  “I assure you, they didn’t even realize he’d slipped past them. They were too terrified by the drums.” He got down from his horse. “It was most enjoyable to see Kemal dashing about trying to pour some backbone into them.”

  “You have a strange idea of enjoyment.”

  “That’s been brought to my attention. Let me escort you back to your chamber. You should not be here. I told you it wasn’t safe for you to wander freely in this fortress.” He took her arm and strolled with her toward the steps. “Truly, Kemal will not harm Ware.”

  “I notice you don’t mention Vaden.”

  “There’s been no sign of Vaden. Perhaps he died at Acre.”

  Thea couldn’t believe Vaden was no longer a threat. He had been too long a part of Ware’s life. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, don’t worry about something you can do nothing about. Ware will have to confront Vaden at some time.”

  And by creating the banner she had made sure that time would come sooner, Thea thought. It made no difference that the design’s resemblance to the lion throne had been unintentional; the effect was the same. “It’s my fault.”

  “Nonsense. You know that’s ridiculous. The Knights Templar had marked Ware for death long before you came.”

  “But the banner will serve to remind them of the urgency of killing him,” she said bitterly. “You cannot deny that truth.”

  “No, the banner has certainly stirred a hornet’s nest.”

  “And will continue to do so as long as it exists.” Kemal had almost killed Ware and would not now be camped in the foothills waiting to pounce if his courage hadn’t been bolstered by his belief in the banner. “It must be destroyed.”

  Kadar shook his head. “Not unless you burn it in full view of Kemal and the Knights Templar. If it disappears, they’d merely think you’d secreted it away. It would become legend and therefore infinitely more valuable.”

  She had not thought about that possibility, she realized in exasperation. “There must be some solution. After we leave this land, we won’t need to fear Kemal. Maybe if I sent the banner to the Knights Templar for them to destroy, it would ease their pursuit.”

  “Before you make any more plans to destroy it, may I remind you that you no longer have possession of the banner?”

  “Then I must get it back. I’ll not have Ware put in more danger by a banner I created.”

  “Am I to assume that I’m to be involved in this retrieval?” He shook his head. “Did you think I’d not considered stealing the banner and pricking the bubble of Kemal’s courage? The banner is kept in a chest in Kemal’s tent, and the tent is very well guarded. You’ll have to wait for Ware to return with his army.”

  “Ware will not go to battle Kemal while he still has the banner.” The words tumbled unbidden and without thought from her lips.

  “Ah, I see.” Kadar smiled. “You believe the banner does have power.”

  “I didn’t say that. Of course it doesn’t. I should know. I made it. It’s just that—” She stopped as she realized the words were coming jerkily. She steadied her voice. “Maybe Kemal will fight fiercer if he has the banner. I’ll not take the chance.”

  “And I’ll not take the chance of losing my head or leaving you and Selene unprotected for the sake of a scrap of silk. We’ll wait for Ware.”

  “I didn’t ask you to go after it. The banner is my responsibility. I may need your help, but I’m the one who will go to Kemal.”

  Kadar muttered an exclamation. “And then Ware will cut my throat, instead of leaving it to Kemal. What do you intend to do? Just walk in and ask him for it?”

  “You need not be sarcastic.” She paused before saying with effort, “If Kemal must die, I’ll do it.”

  “Easily said, not easily done. Taking a life diminishes the taker.”

  She gave him a cool glance. “You’ve killed and you do not appear diminished.”

  “Because I’m extraordinary?” He raised a brow. “But then how do you know what heights I’d reached before I was diminished?”

  She ignored his mockery. “I won’t kill unless it becomes necessary, but I won’t let Kemal face Ware again.”

  “Ware could squash him without effort. If he hadn’t been weakened and off guard, Kemal would never have got near him.” Kadar studied her expression. “It’s not Kemal but the banner you fear, isn’t it?”

  “I told you the banner has no power.” They had reached her chamber and she quickly opened the door. “Will you know when Ware approaches?”

  He nodded. “Sinan knows when a camel sneezes as far away as Damascus.”

  “And you’ll go to Kemal’s camp to help Ware. I’ll go with you. Just before Ware attacks should be a good opportunity to go to Kemal’s tent. When the sentry sounds the alert, the guards at his tent will be distracted by the uproar.”

  “And Kemal will be awake and reaching for his sword…and the banner,” Kadar said. “It’s not a good plan. Let Ware defeat Kemal, and the banner will be easy to pluck from—”

  “Let me know when you hear of Ware’s approach,” Thea interrupted. She had made her decision. “I’ll be waiting.”

  “I have no doubt.” Kadar sighed as he turned away. “I’ll go tell Selen
e all is well. Will you sup with us?”

  Thea nodded impatiently. She did not want to be alone. “I’ll join you after I refresh myself.” She entered the chamber and closed the door.

  The chamber echoed with emptiness. Ware was gone.

  She sank back against the door, fighting off an overwhelming sense of panic. Ware would return. God would surely not have brought them through all these trials if He had meant to tear them apart. The God who had saved Ware would not let him die now. It would make no sense.

  Keep busy. She moved quickly to the washbasin and poured water from the pitcher into the bowl. Keep busy doing what? She had no embroidery, and Kadar would confine her more here than she’d been at El Sunan. She would find something. She would probably spend much of her time watching Kadar and have Selene watch him also. She knew he would not tell her when Ware was coming. Like all men, he’d choose protectiveness over fairness. He didn’t understand why she couldn’t let Ware fight this battle for her.

  Dear God, she wished she could. The thought of going to Kemal’s tent for the banner sent a chill through her.

  But the thought of Kemal retaining control of the banner when he faced Ware again terrified her more. The terror might be without reason, but she could not hold it at bay. This love was too new and fragile; she could not take any risks with it.

  Golden eyes searing her with their power.

  She swiftly blocked the vision as she bent over the washbowl and dipped her hands into the water. She was mad enough to risk her life to retrieve the banner; she would not addle her mind by dwelling on it.

  Golden eyes…

  “Kadar’s gone. He just left.” Selene stood in the doorway of Thea’s chamber, a pale shadow in the darkness. “I think Ware must be coming. A messenger came to the door a short time ago.”

  Only five days had passed since Ware had left, but Thea had known the message would come soon. She jumped from the bed. “Your clothes?”

  “I brought them.” She sat on the bed and watched disapprovingly as Thea hurriedly dressed in Selene’s boyish garb, donned the cloak, and tucked her hair under the turban. “I should be the one to go. You’ll bungle it and Kemal will kill you. You’re not good at things like this.”

  Who was good? Thea wondered desperately. Who could creep into a tent and steal from a man who wanted to kill you? Kadar, perhaps, but he had already told her that not waiting for Ware would be foolish. “I’ll be careful.”

  “Let me go with you.”

  “We’ve already talked about this. You have to stay. Sinan will know when I leave the fortress. As long as one of us stays here, he’ll know that we’ll return. We don’t want him to interfere when the battle starts.” She moved toward the door. “Lock yourself in your room until I come back.”

  “Wait.” Selene held out a glittering object. “You should have this.”

  A dagger. Slender, shimmering, strangely beautiful in its deadliness.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “Kadar. He left it on the bedside table. That’s why I know Lord Ware has come. He wouldn’t go into battle without leaving me a way to defend myself in case he didn’t return.” She said fiercely, “And he knows I would use it. Will you?”

  Thea stared at the dagger with repulsion. Then she drew a deep breath, snatched the weapon, and thrust it into her waistband. “Yes.”

  She whirled and ran from the room.

  Moments later she was riding through the gates and down the mountain. She could see the pinpoints of Kemal’s campfires in the foothills below. Dear God, what if Ware reached Kemal before she did? She spurred her horse to a gallop.

  She reined in a good distance from the camp, slipped from the saddle, and tied her horse to a tree.

  She tilted her head, listening. Surely she would hear the hoofbeats of Ware’s approaching army. Nothing. She still had time.

  She ran down the hill, her gaze fixed on the large tent at the south of the camp. It was lit within, but she could see no movement. Did Kemal sleep with a lantern burning to protect him? It wouldn’t surprise her, since his men were being killed one by one under his nose. She stopped to catch her breath as she drew near the clearing.

  Two guards in front of the tent. Two in the rear.

  But the side facing her was unguarded. Her hand tightened on the hilt of the dagger. She prayed that she had to use it only to slit an opening in the tent.

  She dropped to the ground and started crawling slowly out of the underbrush toward the tent.

  Golden eyes, waiting…

  Only a few feet more.

  She froze. One of the guards had spoken.

  No threat. They were laughing, talking casually.

  She started crawling again.

  She reached the tent and drew a deep breath. Her heart was beating so hard, it was shaking her entire body.

  No, she realized in panic. It was the vibration shaking her. She couldn’t hear the hoofbeats yet, but she could feel them. Ware was coming.

  But he was not there yet. Just a few minutes more.

  She sliced through the fabric of the tent.

  Don’t let them hear it.

  Please.

  She carefully drew back the torn flap and looked inside. The lantern hanging in the center of the tent provided little light; most of the tent was in shadows.

  Kemal was lying on cushions facing her only a few yards away.

  Shock made her go rigid. Was he awake?

  He didn’t move or call out. He must be asleep.

  Her glance flicked around the tent. There it was.

  The carved chest bound elaborately in brass. She had seen Kemal take the banner out of that chest many times.

  She braced herself and slowly wriggled through the opening. She lay beside Kemal.

  The vibration was heavier, shaking the pillows on which Kemal lay.

  He would wake, she thought in agony.

  He was moving. He suddenly rolled on top of her!

  The impact made her drop the dagger. She struggled desperately, fighting against his weight, finally squirming out from under him. On her feet, she reached for the dagger and glared down at him.

  Kemal was dead.

  Rigid with shock, she stared into the sightless eyes.

  A ripple of blood was seeping from the wound in his chest. Blood everywhere. On him, on her.

  She could feel the sticky dampness on her face and hands.

  She shuddered, unable to look away from those dead eyes.

  Kadar?

  A shout outside the tent broke the spell. Ware had been sighted. If she was found here when they came to summon Kemal, she would be butchered. She ran to the carved chest and threw open the lid.

  No banner.

  It had to be here. She knelt and rummaged desperately beneath the armor. The banner was gone.

  Another shout.

  Kadar must have taken it. There was no other explanation.

  The clash of sword on sword.

  She could not stay here. She dashed toward the slit she had made in the tent wall.

  “Aiii!”

  She glanced over her shoulder. One of Kemal’s guards stood in the doorway of the tent.

  She stopped, frozen.

  She expected him to rush her, sword drawn.

  He stood staring at her with the same horror as she stared at him.

  She suddenly realized how terrifying she must look covered in Kemal’s blood.

  “Assassin,” he screamed. He turned and ran from the tent. “Devil murderer!”

  He thought she was one of Sinan’s followers. Kadar had clearly done his work of terror well if the guard preferred to face Ware’s soldiers than to face her.

  But that didn’t mean the next soldier who came into the tent would be as cowardly. She dived through the slit in the wall of the tent and wriggled outside.

  A horseman thundered toward her.

  She rolled to one side and barely escaped the horse’s hooves.

  By the saints, if she wasn?
??t killed by Kemal’s men, she would be lucky not to be killed by Ware’s soldiers.

  The encampment was a melee of fighting men. Moonlight shimmered on drawn swords.

  “For God’s sake, put that dagger away.”

  Ware!

  He leaned down and gathered her up on his horse. “Are you hurt?”

  Ware. Strong and blessedly safe.

  “You’re covered in blood. Answer me.”

  “I’m not hurt.”

  He rode his horse to the edge of the encampment. “I’m going to kill Kadar.” He tore the turban from her head and her hair tumbled free. “Don’t put it back on. Being a woman may be your only protection. Hide behind that rock and don’t let anyone see you with a weapon in your hand.”

  He wheeled his horse and went back into the fray.

  Her hands clenched at her sides as she watched the battle. It was terrible to be forced to stand on the sidelines and feel so helpless. A woman should be taught the same skills as warriors.

  However, Ware did not seem to need her help. Kemal’s followers were outnumbered and outfought. It was only a short time later that Kemal’s men capitulated.

  Ware rode toward her. “Will you never obey me? Would it have hurt you to hide?”

  “Kemal is dead.”

  “You’re sure?”

  She nodded. “I saw him. And the banner is gone. I think Kadar did it. Where is he?”

  He gestured. “I caught sight of him on the other side of the camp as I rode in.”

  She started in the direction he’d indicated. “I have to go ask him if—”

  “Oh, no.” He scooped her up and set her before him. “I won’t have you running around in an armed camp. We’ll let him find us.”

  “But I need to know—” She stopped and leaned back against him. No urgency existed now, and it was good to be held like this. “I’ll ask him later.”

  “And I have questions to ask of you,” he said grimly. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came for the banner.”

  “My God.”

  “And I’ll hear no harsh words from you. You didn’t ask my permission when you risked your life. I did what I thought necessary. Now, finish what you have to do here and take me back to Maysef. I didn’t like leaving Selene alone in that place.” She lowered her voice. “And I would be alone with you so that I can express my affection without the witness of an entire army.”