The Treasure_ A Novel - Iris Johansen [122]
“Maybe I do.” She moistened her lips. “I was terribly afraid when I was running away from Nasim. I thought every minute I was going to die. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live with you and have your children. I wanted to see Thea again. I wanted to live.”
“Nothing is sweeter than life when you’re close to losing it. You could change your mind.”
“I won’t change it. Why are you arguing with me?”
“Because it means too much. It’s too important.”
“You’re just being selfish.” She tried to smile. “You want me to grow old, ugly, and wrinkled and then you can laugh at me.”
“How did you guess?”
She launched herself into his arms and buried her face in his chest. “Give me the potion,” she whispered. “Please, Kadar.”
His arms closed tightly around her. “I can’t,” he said hoarsely. “It’s killing me, but I can’t.”
“I’ll do it anyway. I’ll go to Tarik or Layla and ask them myself.”
“And I’ll tell Tarik that if he gives it to you, I won’t act as guardian for the grail.”
“You told me once we had to be together. You said it was meant to be.”
“Not like this. I can’t force you to—”
“You’re not forcing me.” She pushed away and glared up at him. “Stop being noble. I won’t lose you. Not by your death. Not by mine. We’re going to be together. Yes, I’m frightened. Yes, I can see a mountain of problems. But I won’t let any of them keep me from having you.”
His face was pale and taut. “And I won’t let you hate me later for rushing you into doing this.”
“Rushing? When I can’t even convince you to—” She drew an uneven breath. He wasn’t going to yield. She would have to handle this differently. “Very well, we won’t rush. I’d rather take Eshe now and put the decision behind me, but I can wait. I’m not going to age overnight. You’ll probably find me just as desirable a wife in a fortnight.”
“Possibly.” He smiled faintly. “But a fortnight is still not enough time to make such a choice.”
“The choice is made. I just have to persuade you to forget your scruples. I think we’ll go away by ourselves for a little while. I don’t want you around Tarik. He has far too many scruples of his own.”
“You wanted to return to Montdhu.”
“Not before I take the potion.”
“You’re afraid you’ll change your mind.”
“I won’t change my mind. You’ll change yours. We’ll couple and talk and I’ll be so winsome and captivating that you’ll not be able to resist me.” She took his arm and started back toward camp. “So you might as well forget this stubbornness now and do as I wish.”
“It’s not stubbornness,” he said. “It’s desperation. I couldn’t bear for you to grow to hate me.”
“Do you think me so unfair? Never mind. You’re obviously not thinking clearly. You’ll be much more reasonable when I get you to myself.”
“I shouldn’t go with you.”
“But you will.” She smiled lovingly at him. “Won’t you?”
He sighed. “I greatly fear I will.”
“You’re being very rude,” Tarik said as he watched Kadar lift Selene to the saddle. “Are we to at least know where you’re going?”
“No,” Selene said. “We’ve had enough intrusions. Go back to the villa. We’ll return there when we’re ready.”
“I don’t like this,” Layla said.
“Because you aren’t controlling us,” Selene said. “Don’t worry: In this instance, I’m doing exactly what you would want me to do. But I’ll brook no interference.”
“I still think we should know. What if we need to contact you?”
“Vaden knows where we’ll be. I asked him where we could find a safe, quiet cottage near Rome.”
Selene grimaced. “And we only hope he hasn’t directed us to a hovel like the one where we found him. It would be just like his wicked humor.”
“Vaden,” Tarik repeated thoughtfully.
“Don’t sound so hopeful.” Kadar mounted his own horse. “I told him if he revealed our whereabouts to you I’d cut his throat.”
“I don’t think we deserve this lack of trust,” Tarik said.
“Yes, we do,” Layla said. “Or I do. Stop arguing, Tarik, it will do no good.” She stepped forward and gazed into Selene’s eyes. “Be sure. There’s no going back.”
Selene nodded and turned her horse. The next moment