Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [112]
“Is that what Sinan reminds you of? A serpent?”
He shrugged. “In his deadliness, perhaps. But one can kill a snake. I’ve often wondered if—” He shrugged. “Pay no attention to me. I was ill when I stayed at Maysef, Sinan’s fortress. The fever made me imagine strange things.”
“And when should we arrive at this serpent’s mountain?”
“We’ll arrive at the Nosairi foothills by tomorrow evening,” Ware said. “I’m surprised you gave me no argument about going to Maysef.”
“Of course I gave you no argument. You wouldn’t take us into a serpent’s pit if there was anything else to do. I don’t see why you persist in thinking me lacking in reason.”
“You’re a woman. I’m not accustomed to women who think at all.”
Thea bristled with irritation. “Perhaps you were too busy taking their bodies to notice if they did or not.”
“That could be true.” He paused. “But my mother was not like you. She sang sweet songs and laughed and always bowed her head to my father’s will. I saw no signs of thinking in her.”
“I’m not like your mother. Nor would I want to be.”
“I didn’t say I wanted you to be like her. I merely told you that I wasn’t used to women who think.” He thought for a while. “I believe if you did not think, I’d miss it in you.”
“Astonishing.”
“But I wouldn’t miss that stinging tongue,” he said with an edge to his voice. “I’m not your enemy. You’ve no cause to cut me.”
He was wrong. She had every cause to keep him at a distance. “I treat you like an enemy because you’ve behaved like an enemy. You’ve taken two years of my life.”
“And given two years of service to keep you safe.”
“You expect me to be grateful?”
“No,” he said wearily. “I knew when I took you to El Sunan that you wouldn’t forgive me.”
“Very wise. I will not.” She looked down into the fire. “And when we’re free of danger from Kemal, we will part. I’ll not let you put me in another prison.”
“Kemal is the smallest danger you’re facing. The Templars will never stop hunting you now.” He broke out with sudden violence, “Christ in heaven, nobody but Vaden knew you were a danger. Why did you have to tell them?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told no one anything. How could I?”
“The banner. The lion throne. How did you know?”
She stared at him in bewilderment. “Know what?”
He studied her expression. “My God, you don’t know,” he said wonderingly. “I thought Kadar might be right, that I’d somehow told you without being aware of it. But you don’t know about the lion throne.”
“Of course I do. I created the pattern and stitched the banner.”
“And you realized it was a throne?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing could be clearer.”
“It wasn’t clear to Kadar. Was it clear to Selene?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. We didn’t discuss it. I suppose she knew it was a throne.”
“Ask her. I’ll wager she didn’t.”
“What difference does it make?”
“I don’t know.” He shuddered. “But it does make a difference. You could see it and they couldn’t. Maybe it was my fault. Maybe it was something I did.”
To her amazement she saw that his face was pale in the firelight. “You’re talking nonsense. I stitched a lion throne and it’s your fault?”
“It wasn’t any throne, it was the throne.” He paused. “It was the throne I saw in the caves below the Temple. It was her throne.”
“Her?”
He opened his lips to speak and then shook his head. “You know too much already. I cannot—”
She felt a sudden burst of rage. “Oh, no, you won’t do that to me. You say that these Templars are now going to hunt me down and kill me no matter what I do. You’ve wrapped me in silence and treated me as if I had no mind of my own. You’re going to answer all my questions. I will know the reason why this is happening to me.”
“It’s best that I—”
“This is my life. You’ve stolen two years of it. I’ll not let you steal my right to make decisions for myself ever again.”
He gazed at her a moment longer before shifting his gaze back to the fire. “Ask your questions.”
“Whose throne was it that you saw?”
“Asherah.”
“And who