“I know.” Tam chuckled. “Mamet Mut may not see what is plain as day, but I do.”
“Good,” Rae said, relieved. “And secondly: How do you knowabout the Horizon?”
“All the weavers know about them. But they don’t allow women to get actively involved with the rebellion, except to pass along messages. Though it seems as though they’ve allowedyouin.”
“I can be quite convincing,” Rae said wryly.
“Everyone’s talking about how you stood up to the nomarch at the shepherd’s farm. I’m guessing that had something to do with it?” Tam said.
Rae shrugged. “Maybe. I also may have picked a fight with Asim.”
Tam laughed, a lovely, tinkling sound. “Did you win?”
“No. But I don’t think that was the point.”
“Two beatings in two days. You really are a glutton for punishment, Rae.”
Rae grinned and looked at the ground. What was it about this woman that made her so shy?
Tam glanced down into her basket of wool and sighed. “I wish they would let me fight too.”
“Really?” Rae asked, surprised. “But you seem so… soft.”
“I can be,” Tam replied sharply.
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean to suggest that you’re weak,” Rae quickly added, the words clumsily tumbling out of her mouth. “You’re just so, you know, elegant. Not a ruffian like me.”
A small smile quirked the corner of Tam’s mouth, and she moved closer. The dusky shadows on her face made her look otherworldly, like something out of a dream. “Is that how you see yourself? As a ruffian?”
Rae shrugged. “Why not? Beauty isn’t a tool available to me, so I have to use what I’ve got.”
Tam regarded her with a look that made Rae’s chest tighten. “Has anyone actually told you that? That you’re not beautiful?Or is that something you tell yourself?”
Rae didn’t trust herself to speak.
“People can be more than one thing, you know,” she said, reaching to touch Rae’s lion amulet. “Like Sekhmet. She can be the killer of men, the bloodthirsty, the mistress of slaughter. But she can also be Bast. The protector. The mother. Goddess of joy and pleasure. She’s both, all at once.”
“And you?” Rae murmured, Tam’s hand still on her chest. “What’s on the other side of your softness?”
“A fierce heart,” Tam replied. She was so close that Rae could taste her breath, which had turned cloudy as the chill of night approached. “A heart that burns.”
Rae covered Tam’s hand with her own and gripped it tightly. She wondered if the weaver could feel how fast her heart was beating, or the heat pouring off her body. She was acutely aware of how alone they were. The privacy felt both tantalizing and disorienting.
She’d never had those feelings for Omari, or any other man, for that matter. She’d nearly resigned herself to the thought that she wasn’t meant for love—until the day she met Tam, and her world turned upside down. Still, it was one thing to long for the beautiful weaver, and entirely another to be alone with her in that forgotten place, with no curious eyes upon them. It was all she could do not to throw open the doors of her heart and let fly everything hidden inside. But still something within her resisted and was afraid.
“I have no doubt that you are all of those things and more,” Rae said. “But that’s exactly why you must not get wrapped up in the rebellion. It’s too dangerous, Tam.”
Tam’s eyes narrowed. “Dangerous? They’re planning something, aren’t they?”
Instead of answering the question, Rae said, “Tam, please.You came to Sakesh to be safe—I want you to stay that way.”
“Oh, so it’s all right for you, but not for me?” Tam argued. “You sound exactly like the men!”
Rae blinked. “I’m sorry, you’re right. If things go well and I prove myself to Asim, I’ll mention your request to him. I make no promises, but—”
“You don’t need to promise,” Tam said, her voice warm with gratitude. “I can wait for the Horizon to come to their senses. But in the meantime, you have to give me something else.”
Rae swallowed, her pulse picking up speed. “What do you want?”
