AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shai…”
Her soft call pulled his eyes back to her like a compulsion he was defenseless against.
She never used his name. Never said it like this. Not sincethat night.
But whatever she wanted to say a moment ago was swallowed back. For, she visibly changed tack.
She gazed back into the horizon and asked, “Did you travel by sea much when you were a boy? I notice how you seem born to it. Your feet are so steady, they seem attached to the deck by magical means.”
He studied her a few moments longer, wondering what she wanted to say before that she didn’t say.
Finally, he answered, “I trained to be a stone mason like my Da. Not a lot of stone masons travel by sea. But my parents and I lived on a lush green isle. When I had free time, I often went to the nearby beach to see the sea. I wondered what was on the other side. But it was so vast that I didn’t know if there was an end.”
“Was the first time you boarded a ship when you were…captured?” she asked hesitantly.
“Aye. The slaves were locked below deck in the lightless hull. I did not…enjoy the voyage as I do now.”
She grimaced and bowed her head.
“I am sorry.”
“You were a girl,” he said. “You did not give the command to raid my village and enslave my people. It is simply war.”
She was silent after that, thinking he knew not what.
He basked in her company nevertheless. It had been so long since they conversed like this. As two individuals who might have been friends, rather than two roles they had to perform under the constant scrutiny of others.
After a while she opened her mouth to speak again.
Then closed it.
Then opened it and floundered without words.
Whatever she wanted to say, she struggled mightily to get it out.
“If…could you…that is…”
He turned to face her fully while she remained in profile not looking at him. It could have been his imagination, but he thought her cheeks bloomed a deeper shade of pink than moments before.
She took a bracing, shaky breath and tried again.
“We are amongst trusted supporters on this expedition,” she began more steadily this time.
“I beg leave to speak bluntly.”
Hatshepsut begging leave?
Ofhim?
Shai could not imagine what she could have to say.
“You do not ever have to beg leave of me, my Queen.”
Her lips flattened, and she finally looked up into his eyes.
“What if I am not the Queen, and you are not the Captain of the Guard?”
“Then even more so, you must say what’s on your mind,” he firmly replied.
