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In the back of his mind he heard his brother’s laugh, urging him on, faster and faster, and it merged with the laugh from Star. He felt it in his heart, surrounded by adrenaline, excitement and all the things he hadn’t felt for so long. He could feel it. The rightness of coming here. As if he had always been meant to bring her to this place.
They were so nearly there and Mavia knew it too because she found a sudden spurt of energy. They crested a dune, trails of sand billowing in their wake for no one to see, and at the pinnacle Mavia came to a stop of her own volition as if just as awed by the sight as the humans she carried. Khalif might have known every single inch of this view, but it still struck him as something incredible and precious, known only by a rare few.
He cast his eyes deep into the valley, over the large canvas tent nestled close to the trees that lined the small lake in the middle of the basin and in the distance he looked up to see the palms Star’s ancestor had written of.
Star’s mouth had dropped open. Her eyes raced across the image before her, sure that it was a dream. A desert mirage. But it wasn’t. She could feel the heat of Khalif behind her and the pounding of Mavia’s heart beneath her.
At the mouth of the tent, rich, dark red woven rugs stretched out before a large fire pit—one that was already in full flame. Golden glints and bursts of red hinted at sequin-encrusted cushions and rich deep turquoise silks covered the sand. A low-slung table with a dazzling array of drinks and food were kept cool and contained in a glass-fronted fridge. She was sure there must have been a generator somewhere discreet, but she couldn’t see it. Nothing spoiled the fantasy.
The richness of what lay in front of her was almost too much to bear, so her eyes drifted to the far side of the crystal-blue water nestled within lush green vegetation to where she saw two palms crossed at the base to form an X.
Her heart missed a beat and she gasped.
She didn’t dare turn around because if she looked at Khalif now, he’d know. He’d know that she’d fallen in love with him. And there, wrapped in his arms, his hands loosely holding the reins, and half convinced that he would be able to feel the beat of her heart, she almost started to shake.
Khalif urged the horse forward and they jostled from side to side with the horse’s uneven but regal gait as Mavia made her way down into the basin where the oasis flourished. When they came to a stop, Khalif dismounted and she hastily swept at the moisture in her eyes, not wanting him to see how much being here meant to her.
He reached for her and took her into his arms, bringing her down from the horse, and stood her barely an inch from him. He searched her eyes in that way of his and she thought,I want you to look at me like that for ever.Finally, she looked away, hiding from his scrutiny, pretending to find the lake fascinating, when all she could think of was him.
‘Do you know where you are?’ he asked, his voice low but strong.
‘This is where Hatem brought Catherine.’Before she had to leave, Star concluded silently, trying to surf the wave of sadness that swept over her at the thought that she might soon be leaving too. ‘Why did you bring me here?’
He looked over her shoulder, the desert swallowing the sigh that escaped his lips. It was as if he needed a moment to gather himself because when he turned back to her, his eyes were fierce. His hand cupped her cheek, holding her gaze—as if she could or would ever look away from him.
‘I brought you here to remind you of the family who want you. Not just your sisters and your mother. But the family who knew you would come, following in their footsteps. To remind you of the one who trusted in her people, in the women of her blood and the women bound to those she loved. It is they who have kept her secret safe, ready and waiting for you. Not for anyone else. But you.
‘You have been waited upon for over one hundred and fifty years, Star Soames. That is no small thing.’
She felt his words in her soul, as if something ancient had been woken beneath the desert and was reaching for her. So when Khalif delved into the bag on his saddle and retrieved a small velvet pouch her heart didn’t pulse with surprise, it vibrated with an overwhelming feel ofrightness. As if something predestined was finally coming to conclusion.
He took a necklace so familiar to Star from the pouch and held it up for her to inspect. She pressed slightly shaking fingers against her lips. This was what they had been looking for. It was the key to so much. To the past, to her mother’s future... So much rested on such a small, beautiful thing. Khalif had been right. There were subtle differences, but it could have easily been mistaken for the one that she was wearing around her neck.
‘May I?’
‘Of course. It is now yours,’ he said with a solemnity that felt ceremonial.
Taking it from him, she made her way blindly to the silks and woven rugs. She folded her legs beneath her, and she looped the gold chain over her head and brought the two pendants together.
She knew that they should fit together—Catherine’s coded message had said as much—but she didn’t quite... She ran her finger over the embossed pattern on the surface of the pendant and felt something shift. Pressing down released an indented piece of silver from the bottom of the pendant. She picked up Hatem’s pendant and did the same. Staring at the two pendants, she didn’t quite know what to do next. They needed to...
Khalif reached over. ‘May I?’ He seemed as lost in the task as she and she was happy to pass him the necklaces if it meant she could spend just a moment looking at the man who had given her more than he could ever know.
He turned the pendants in his hands, twisting and turning one piece while holding the other steady, and then, as if suddenly seeing how it could be, hooked one pendant into the other.
‘Oh,’ Star marvelled. Together the pieces created one key, the thick gold base forming the head and the two thinner silver offshoots forming the blade—the indentations becoming the ridges and notches that would fit into a lock.
Khalif pressed against the head of the key and the silver blade retracted into the body of the pendant. ‘There. You can now wear them together.’
She stared at him, shaking her head in wonder.
‘You don’t like it?’ he asked as if confused.
‘Ido! I love it. I just... I don’t think I ever imagined actually finding it.’
I don’t think I ever imagined actually findingyou. Finding the man I would love for the rest of my life.
‘Are you trying to tell me that you didn’t believe your search would have a happy ending? And you call yourself a romantic,’ he tsked.
