“Off the record?” He prompted, scanning her face thoughtfully.
She nodded.
“When I met Ki, he was the would-be target of men like Abdim.”
“What?” She blinked, her face paper-white suddenly. “What do you mean?”
“He didn’t tell you.” Will said with a slow nod. “I’m not surprised, I guess. After all, the threat was dispensed with and perhaps he didn’t want to worry you.”
“What happened?”
He wanted to tell her everything. She was cracking open his mind and heart and it was such a relief to feel that again. He was hooked on everything she said.
“I was doing a piece on the treaty and I … happened upon some information. Quite by accident, though I guess I’d been sniffing around for something of more interest than the treaty itself.” He grinned and her heart flipped over. He lay his line down on the bank beside him and reached his hand over to hers. He pulled on it gently brushing his arm against Lilah’s knee. Even through the insulation of the snow-suit she felt the warmth of his contact. “Your brother would have been the target of a massive terrorist attack. Apparently the stability of Delani is an ongoing frustration to those in your region who would seek to destabilize your government for their own ends.”
“Yes. We have been blessed with peace and prosperity while many of our regional neighbours are not so lucky. It is one of the reasons the marriage between my brother and Melania is so vital.” She shook her head. “But I can’t believe anyone would ever try to harm Kiral.”
“He’s the ruler of your country. Why do you think his security is so intense? Yours too, for that matter.”
“And it was these people?”
“Yes.” His face ghosted with memories he had spent two years trying to process. “It wasn’t the last encounter I had with the UAC. I was embedded with a unit in the northern tip of Delani. The mountain ranges provided excellent cover for their organization.”
She would have dropped the line if he hadn’t responded so quickly. He caught hold of it as she spun to face him properly. “Will? What happened?”
“We were attacked. The unit I was travelling with. Somehow they must have got intel that we were in the area. It was a shi- a bun fight,” he corrected jerkily. “Most of us made it out, but only with the grace of God. I don’t know how, actually. We were surrounded.”
A shiver ran down Lilah’s back.
“All of the bodies we found had that same tattoo.”
“What did the tattoo say? What does it mean?”
His lips twisted in disgust. “We are equal.”
“We are equal?” The words sent a shiver down her spine. “This idea …this notion … it would be anathema to my people.”
“Would it?” He studied her thoughtfully. And though he would have loved to get into a discussion of the socio-political climate of Delani, the time scarcely felt right.
“Absolutely. My people believe in our family because of legends that tie our very existence to the land’s prosperity. The idea of removing this house from power would plunge my people into despair. Our economy would never survive even if our land could endure it.”
He buried the objections that were natural to a man such as him, yet she understood them. “You can’t possibly understand,” she pushed. “There are legends that have wrapped around us for centuries. For millennia. To dispense with these at the hands of madmen would be a disaster. If their aim was to dispose of Kiral and me…” an idea occurred to her and though it was unpalatable she spoke it aloud. “And heaven forbid, if my parents were sacrificed to these lunatics’ cause, then we have all the more reason to fight for our birthright. To remain as we are. Yesterday you said my people worship me. I am no God, Will, but my blood is sacred. At least to my people. It cannot be spilled for their cause.”
He swallowed her words with an aftertaste of bitterness. Was it because her declaration forever set them at odds? He denied it and yet, there was a grip of truth wrapping around him as a vice.
“The group had dubious credibility anyway, but shortly afterwards there was an agreement between neighbouring countries that they were completely outlawed. Most of the soldiers were imprisoned. Some fled. My guess is Abdim is one of the men who escaped.”
“I cannot believe he had me so completely fooled.”
“They are clever men, Lilah, simply drawn to an idiotic cause.”
“Yet how could he have passed the stringent tests and found employment? It seems too bold.”
“The tattoo is not widely known of. There are not many people who would recognize it for what it is, and I suspect he kept it reasonably concealed.”
“You saw it,” she said pointedly.
“Perhaps having seen it in its original context I was more on the lookout for it,” he supposed.