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Phoebe wasn’t sure if it was because the staff was used to her, or scared of her, but either way, she was glad. She could move almost unseen through the palace now. Her presence was neither questioned nor noticed.
“Phoebe.” Hakim. She stopped, her heart moving faster than a horse’s gallop, when she saw her husband emerge from a side room.
“Hello,” she said, as always, sounding serene and unaffected. But how he affected her! How he moved her to a state of total desire with a simple look.
“You’re going for a ride?”
“As you see,” she responded tartly, extending her arms to show off her outfit.
Hakim’s mouth turned down in the corners. She was too thin. Always fragile, she now bordered on the waif like.
“Have fun.” He responded with a shrug.
Phoebe nodded and strode past him. It was only when she reached the stables that she realized she’d been wanting him to argue with her. To tell her not to ride, as he had done in the past. She was so desperate for a sign that he cared that she was going out of her way to bait him.
Her heart was still racing when she climbed into the leather saddle of the beautiful Fatima.
The horse and she were as in synch as ever. Phoebe rode, and Fatima ran, and together, they explored as much of the desert as they dared, and the grassed lawns behind the palace.
Phoebe couldn’t help thinking, as they returned within sight of the enormous, grand palace, how tragic it was that her closest companion was turning out to be a young mare from Russia.
She leaned forward and nuzzled Fatima’s neck at the exact moment a snake crossed their path, appearing as if from nowhere. She saw it, but had not an instant to calm the horse. Fatima reared, high on her hind legs, kicking her front legs wildly in the air as she let out a high pitched cry.
Phoebe was thrown a great distance and landed awkwardly on her arm.
She swore as she connected with the desert sand. Her first thought was of the snake, but it had quickly moved away, having left Fatima alone. Fatima, her dark eyes mournful, trotted to Phoebe and pressed her nose into Phoebe’s chest.
“I’m okay, girl,” Phoebe promised, pushing up with her good arm. She went to stand, but a sharp stab of pain forestalled her. “Crap.” She ran her unbroken arm over her legs. One, at least, was broken as well. It was possible the second was likewise.
She winced. The palace was not far. She knew she would be missed soon enough. But it was hot. So hot.
As if detecting Phoebe’s distress, Fatima set off in a fast gallop, back towards the stables.
The sight of the Sheikha’s horse returning without a mistress was a most dreadful one, and the alarm was instantly raised.
Security, the Sheikh’s personal doctor, and the Sheikh himself, were all notified. Though the desert beyond the palace was secure, and private, it was vast.
Hakim, in the midst of a budget meeting, was concentrating on the figures before him with most of his mind. There was a small part of him fixating on Phoebe, as always. When his senior aid barged in, wearing a pale mask and an expression of tight concern, Hakim knew true fear.
“What do you mean, an accident?” He demanded fiercely, as he tore through the corridors.
“She was thrown from the horse, sir. We do not know much more.”
“Is she …?”
“Conscious, yes.”
Hakim let out a small breath of relief. As he ran to the stables, he swore to himself that he would forbid Phoebe from riding horses. From swimming. From so much as breathing if the air was in any way suspect.
He had to keep her safe. He had to keep her alive. She was his. He needed her.
The sight of Phoebe on a stretcher was almost too much to bear. He could see the pain she felt clearly in her expression, and yet she was trying to hide it. Something turned in his chest, something painful and heavy moved within him.
Grimly, he strode to her. “Phoebe.”
Her eyes didn’t quite meet his. “There was a snake.”
He reached down to take her hand but she cried out in pain. He lifted his eyes to the palace medic who had arrived first on the scene. He spoke in Mehranese. “She will need to go to hospital, sir. For x-rays and to have the bones re-set.”
