Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [120]
He swallowed it.
She stiffened, afraid to believe it.
She placed another spoonful on his tongue and held her breath.
He swallowed that bite also.
The tears she had refused to shed overflowed and ran down her cheeks.
Not with a crash of thunder but with an act so small, it was almost imperceptible in the pattern of life.
A miracle.
WARE OPENED HIS EYES just before dawn.
“Safe?” he whispered. “Are—you—safe?”
“Quite safe.” She tried to steady her voice. In another moment she would be weeping, she realized with panic. She instinctively sought a way to prevent that indignity. “Through no help from you. First, you rush forward and try to get yourself killed, and then you delay us by remaining out of your senses for days.”
“Should have—left without me.”
“Yes, we should have.” She patted his head with a damp cloth. “But Kadar was too fond of you to abandon you.”
“Kadar.” He tried to turn his head and then flinched. “Where is—”
“Don’t move. Do you wish to do yourself more injury? Close your eyes and go back to sleep. Everything is fine.”
His lids closed. “I seem to be able—to do nothing else. Sweet Jesus, my head…hurts.”
“Perhaps that will teach you not to blunder forward and place yourself needlessly in harm’s way.”
“Ungrateful…woman. I did not blunder…”
He was asleep. But he would wake. She knew he would wake.
She knelt there, drinking in his face as if she had not stared at it these many days. The faintest flush colored his cheeks, and his breathing was light and even.
She lay down beside him, not touching but close enough to be aware if he stirred.
She was deeply asleep in less than a moment.
“Where is Kadar?” Ware asked.
She fought her way out of the webs of sleep and lifted herself on one elbow to look down at him.
His voice was stronger and his eyes bright and alert. A surge of joy brought her fully awake. “You’re better. I’ll go get you something to eat.”
“I have it here.” Selene was beside them, handing her a bowl. “I thought you two would never wake.” She studied Ware. “I believe you may live, after all.”
“Your enthusiasm heartens me,” Ware said.
“You betrayed us. I’m not like Thea. I don’t forgive easily.” She turned on her heel and strode away from them.
“Then she’s very like you.” Ware grimaced. “No one forgives less freely than you.”
“You’re right. I’ll never forgive you for taking me to El Sunan. Open your mouth.”
“I can feed myself.”
“Open your mouth.”
He reluctantly obeyed her. “I feel like a babe.”
She scooped another spoonful into his mouth. “Then eat and grow strong. Do you think I like doing this?” She did not mind. She would not have minded anything now that he had come back to her.
“Where is Kadar?”
She could no longer evade the question. “He went to seek help from Sinan.”
“How long ago?”
“Four days.”
He muttered a curse and tried to sit up. She pushed him down. “What do you intend to do? Go riding after him when you can scarcely move? If he had been murdered by the assassins, would they not have been here in this camp by now? There’s been no sign of anyone since you were felled.”
“Kemal?”
She shook her head. “No one.”
He looked down at the bits of meat in the bowl of stew. “How have you lived?”
“Selene set traps for small game and kept watch.” She spooned the last bite into his mouth and sat back on her heels. “Are you dizzy?”
He shook his head. “And my head aches only a trifle. I could ride right now.”
“In two days we will see.”
He glared at her. “Now.”
She glared back at him. “Kadar said we should wait here for him, and I’ll not have my work ruined after all the bother I’ve taken with you. Try to get up, and I’ll tie your legs to this tree we’re under. Now, go back to sleep.”
“You couldn’t do it. I’m not so weak a woman could best me.”
“You’re so weak, a caterpillar could best you.” She could see he was not convinced, and fear rushed through her. “We’ll strike a compromise. Tomorrow, if you’re better, we’ll see if you can sit a horse.”
“Of course I can sit a horse. I’ve ridden fifty miles with a