AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A pool of water glittered darkly beneath the moon, surrounded by lush plants. Beyond the small oasis, sand dunes stretched for as far as she could see. Her cloak was folded to the side. Her satchels were there, too, untouched.
The moon cast the hashashin in shadow, sharpening the hollows of his face. “You passed out because of the heat, and you would have cracked your skull if I hadn’t caught you. Altair carried you here. I removed your cloak.” He turned his head and lifted a hand to his neck. “Nothing else.”
His voice looped with the darkness, near silent. As if the very idea of speaking disgraced him.
“Who are you?” she asked him. She folded her arms across herself, ignoring the cloth in his extended hand.
He dropped it to his side. “Depends on the slant of light.”
Desolation laced his words.
“What do you want with me?” she asked again in a whisper. Why did you try to kill me? Why did you care for me?
His lips parted.
“Ah, the sayyida blesses us with her presence, as pale as the moon herself!” Altair called as he emerged from the shadows, bathed in blue light. Zafira nearly sputtered at the sight of his bare chest. Golden, sculpted—skies. He grinned, the shameless man. “About time, too. We need to get moving.”
“We’re staying here for the night. She needs rest,” the hashashin said.
Now Zafira glanced at him in surprise. Judging by the sound Altair made, it was clear the hashashin rarely paid heed to anyone’s needs but his own.
“I’ll keep watch,” he continued.
Altair toweled his body. “But of course, sul—”
The hashashin cut him off with a growl, and Zafira lifted her eyebrows. Altair let out an exaggerated sigh and responded with a two-fingered salute.
For Sarasins, at times they seemed oddly … normal. As Zafira struggled to avert her gaze, Altair wrapped a fresh bandage around his wound. He threw on his clothes before unfurling his bedroll, an intricately woven carpet of blue and green fringed in beige. Then he lay back, crossing his arms behind his head with a wince. Kharra. Zafira hadn’t brought a bedroll of her own.
Altair grinned wickedly, noticing the same. “We can share.”
“Ah, no, shukrun,” she said quickly, tempering the flare within her as she slipped back into her cloak. Deen would have offered his bedroll and slept on the sand if he had to. She grabbed Deen’s satchel and set it against an eroding stone. Deen. Deen. Deen. All that was left of him were the things he had touched. A tin of cocoa and a vial of honey, both as empty as the world without him. She closed her eyes.
No. She wouldn’t close her eyes amid the enemy again. She had a mission. She needed to stay alive.
A chill wove across the night, and she wrapped her arms around her knees. Funny how the same desert that had given her a heatstroke such a short time ago now made her shiver.
Altair turned to her, something like earnestness on his face. “I’m sorry.” He glanced at Deen’s satchel. “About your friend.”
Ahead, the hashashin cleared a short boulder and sat with his back to her. She drew her hood over her head, letting it fall over her eyes. That was how much Sarasins valued life. Kill and apologize. Make up for a felled soul with a word.
Whatever fatigue she felt was soon overtaken by numbing grief. She slipped her finger inside the ring, rubbing her skin against the inscription. “For you, a thousand times.” She felt Altair’s gaze on her, yet she doubted he had ever known loss. She stared at the back of the hashashin’s head and guessed he hadn’t experienced it, either.
Sarasins truly were heartless.
Eventually, Altair’s breathing slowed, and she fought a losing battle to stay alert. She fought harder, unsure if sh
e was even awake when the rustle of clothes knifed the night. She watched with hooded eyes as the hashashin turned away from the oasis.
By the glint in his eyes, Zafira could tell he was focused on Altair. A long moment later, his gaze drifted to her and she stiffened, but he didn’t seem to notice.
After what felt like years, he sighed, heavy and resigned, and faced the night again.
Zafira pondered that oddly human sound before sleep dragged her away.
CHAPTER 34
The girl spoke in her sleep.
