Followed by Fros(35)

“It’s beautiful,” I agreed, turning in a full circle as I took in the effect once more. “I can’t imagine what it must have cost . . .”

“Now, don’t worry about that,” chided Aamina. “I’ll be back in three days; Rhono will come to you tomorrow, and Havid after that.”

“Oh, I won’t need—”

“They’ll come all the same. Just in case.”

I smiled. “Thank you. Really.” I glanced to Lo, remembering his swift response with the dogs. Though I believed he was right and they had been no real threat to me, I appreciated how quick he had been to protect me. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “I imagine Prince Imad will pay his respects shortly and see you settled in.”

“I look forward to it.”

Lo left to retrieve the rest of my things—my books from home and some medical supplies. Before he and Aamina left, he waved his hand at me, signing, You will be safe here.

I signed back, Thank you, but I didn’t think he saw it.





CHAPTER 15





“You don’t know what luxury is.”

Sadriel startled me from my reading. Now that I was alone, he had wasted no time in coming to see me; the sun had not yet set behind my cavern.

He walked around the interior of the cave, studying the drapes. “You think this is nice? I suppose it’s . . . quaint, in its own way.”

“Imad put a lot of work into this for me.”

Sadriel laughed. “Imad’s servants put a lot of work into it, and they only did so to make a few coins.” His amber eyes settled on me. “In my realm, your chamber pot would be made of rubies.”

“Please don’t say that.”

“Why?” he asked, pacing the length of the room. “Because it insults your desert prince’s interior decorating, or because it tempts you?”

I shut my book and glared at him. “Do you really think such a thing would tempt me? Where have you been the last three years, Sadriel?”

“Fine clothes will change a person,” he said, rubbing his chin. “They might change you yet.”

His words stuck in my ears. But I have changed, I thought. Haven’t I?

I shook the thoughts from my head. “I am grateful for the clothes I’ve been given. They keep me from hurting anyone.”

“But they do not warm you,” he said. “I could take you somewhere where mortal concepts like warm and cold don’t matter.”

I picked up my book with gloved hands and squeezed it. “Please leave.”

“You want to discard me for your new friends?” Sadriel laughed. “They’re so unrefined.”

“And the company of the dead would be preferable?”

He grinned.

I took a deep, cool breath. “Your tactics won’t work on me, Sadriel. Why must you torture me so? Do I really still ‘amuse’ you after so long?”

“It would amuse me more if you danced. But I know others who are less prudish than you, Smitha. Until we meet again.”

His chuckle echoed between the cavern walls as he faded away.

I tried to read my book again in my quiet cavern, but I could not focus. Imagining it to be weariness from travel, I turned down my lamplight—leaving it at a soft glow—and climbed beneath the covers of my lush bed. I did not need the blankets, but I relished the comfort of their weight. Shivering and aching, I fell asleep quickly.

I dreamed of Lo. When I awoke before dawn, I did not remember much of it, only that he and Ashlen had been in it, and we had been handtalking. Every time Lo said something, however, I couldn’t read it.

I got a knock on the door while working a brush through my cold white hair. I hurried to it, eager for a visitor, and saw Rhono standing outside in the snow, her head scarf soaked. She carried a small tin bowl of soap, washcloths, and what looked like salt. Behind her I noticed a number of men out in my storm, digging long paths through the snow and shoveling the frozen clumps into stout leather bags, which they then piled into a large wagon. Snow harvesters, come for water. Or perhaps they had simply been sent to ensure the blizzard did not trap me inside this cave.

“Come in, come in,” I urged Rhono. I stepped aside so she could enter. Her eyes marveled at the room for a moment before she stepped in out of the cold. I spied her camel not far off, its reins staked into the frosty ground.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think to light the fire. Actually, I’m not sure how, with coals . . .”

I knelt at my small fireplace and looked down at the coals, wondering if the rocks would just light if given a spark. I stood up to find my flint, but Rhono had already laid down her load and walked back into the snowfall, trekking toward her camel.

I watched her go. “Thank you!” I called. Without so much as turning, she mounted her camel smoothly and started back for the city at a trot.

After shutting the door, I took Rhono’s gift and placed it with the tin tub I had found hanging on the wall in the very back of the cave. Afterward, I finished brushing my hair and ate some dates. With nothing else to do, I returned to my book of plays and started up where I had left off.

As Lo had predicted, Imad came that very afternoon. I could hear him talking before he even knocked. When I opened my door, Lo stood there with him—not surprising, as he was captain of the prince’s guard. Both of them were dusted with snow. I hurried them inside.