"I don't want Antonio."
"Because he's my man? You'll take him anyway. Don't worry, I'll have him stay out of sight as much as possible. But I won't start this journey without a guard to stand watch." She glanced over her shoulder. "Nasim is no fool. He will be moving."
SIENBARA
"Genoa," Balkir said. "Tarik has a ship there. We've questioned everyone in the castle and village. It has to be Genoa."
"It's too obvious." Nasim frowned. "Too easy. Tarik is a deceptive man."
"Should I return and try again?"
"Fool. What if it is Genoa? Should we let them sail halfway to Scotland before we're able to overtake them?"
"But you said that--"
"We try Genoa." He frowned. "The woman may have departed here before Tarik and Kadar. It could be that they sought to confuse me by going in different directions. Now, that's a ploy worthy of Kadar and Tarik."
"Then we leave Sienbara at once?"
He nodded curtly as he mounted his horse. "At once."
"Not again," Layla sighed as she fell to her knees on the ground beside Selene. "This is the third time since we started our journey. When does this morning illness end? It's most distasteful."
"I can't help it." She threw up again. "And you're without wits, woman, to think that I can. I'd wager you threw up many times in the House of Death."
"Only once. The beating I received for showing emotion made me hesitate to give in to weakness again."
"Well, I'm not sorry for you." But she was, and it only made her angrier. "Go back to your pallet and leave me alone."
"You'd only keep me awake with your retching here in the bushes." She made a face. "And it annoys me to have Haroun look at me with those big reproachful eyes. You've not seen fit to tell him of your affliction, and he thinks me a cruel and unnatural woman to ignore you."
"I don't care. He's right. You are a cruel and unnatural woman."
"Here." Layla thrust a damp cloth into her hand. "Bathe your own forehead, since you're not happy with my tending."
"Tending?"
"I'm trying. Don't I twiddle my thumbs, letting you sleep the morning away after you wake me at dawn with this nonsense?"
"It's not nonsense. Many women have this affliction when they're with child. And I never asked you to--"
"Shh, I know." She gently brushed the hair back from Selene's temple. "It's a wonder that women have more than one child if this is the way of it."
"Don't be foolish. How would they keep from it?"
"There are ways."
The illness was subsiding at last. She sat back on her heels and drew a deep breath. "You've never had a child?"
Layla shook her head. "And probably just as well. As you see, I'm not overgentle."
Selene sensed a hint of pain beneath the carelessness of Layla's words and said impulsively, "I think you'd be a very good mother."
Layla's eyes widened in surprise.
"You would," Selene insisted. "You're clever and strong and protective."
"That would make me a good father, not a good mother," Layla said dryly.
