“Your concern?” She pushed.
He was silent, and Olivia’s anger trebled. She stalked towards the door, shaking her head with a fulminating rage. “Damn it, I thought you believed me. I thought I’d got through to you. I will not be treated like a criminal. If those women have to go everywhere with me then I simply won’t leave my room.”
Tamir followed her, catching her easily. He put his hand on hers, gently pulling her to a stop. He was surprised to see tears shimmering in her eyes. “Why are you crying?” He demanded, dropping her hand but remaining right before her.
She dashed her hands over her eyes and glared up at him. “I’m not.”
He shook his head, and pressed a finger to her cheek. He traced a tear then lifted his finger to his mouth and kissed it. “Salt for sadness.”
She was mesmerised by the gesture. By his lips, and his finger, and his darkly watchful eyes. “I’m not sad. I’m… I’m angry.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
“God, Tamir, if things had been different,” she said with a slow shake of her head. The unfinished sentence hung between them. Tamir lifted his hand to her cheek, touching her skin, seeking answers.
“If things had been different?” He finally prompted.
Olivia sucked in a deep breath. This could have been real. She bit down on her lower lip. But things weren’t different. And this wasn’t real. “I don’t want to be followed.” She lifted her chin. “You have me here. I am a prisoner in this beautiful palace of yours. Without the constant presence of my attendants, I will still be your prisoner. Bound by marriage and by the fact that I don’t doubt you wouldn’t hesitate to have Jack sent to prison if I were to attempt to escape.”
Tamir’s gut clenched so hard he was almost crippled. He felt like he’d been sucker punched. “I gave you my word that your friend would be safe.”
She shrugged. “You also told me I was to come to Talidar with you. You implied I would be here as your lover.” She closed her eyes. “Not your wife.”
Tamir turned away from her. His whole life, he had known black and white, good and bad, and he’d never doubted his motives nor his actions. The mirror she held up to him showed something he didn’t like. It was grey. Murky. Muddied.
“I have explained…”
“And so have I,” she interjected forcefully. “When it comes down to it, you don’t believe me. And I don’t believe you. So we’re stuck.”
He nodded. She was right. He would never be certain that she hadn’t been complicit in Jack’s would-be theft. Particularly not when she’d admitted she knew of his proclivities. Even if she hadn’t been consciously planning the heist, her role was the same as a friend who took an alcoholic to a bar. As for their marriage, even he didn’t completely buy his cover story. Yes, he’d wanted to keep her away from Kalil’s prosecution, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think that was his only reason.
He dragged a hand through his hair and stared out at the dusky orange sky. If she was a prisoner, then he was also. Trapped by a force that neither of them comprehended.
“I will ask your attendants to wait upon you only when you request it.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, turning from him and leaving before anything else was said. The words were building up inside of her like a strange bank
of water being dammed in. She could not let the dam wall fall.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A week after arriving in Liya, and the heatwave was still unrelenting. Olivia had not experienced the warmth of the desert city on her last visit. It had been Autumn, and the worst of the summer had passed by then.
Now, every day was like a scorching torture to be endured, particularly in the jewelled robes she was required to wear. Of course, the nights made up for it. Beautiful, cool breezes bounced off the desert, cooling the palace and the city below.
Olivia’s nights were filled with a different kind of heat.
She and Tamir barely spoke. In fact, they hardly saw one another in the days.
It was only at night, with the day behind them, that they fell into bed and used their bodies to release the tension that seemed to pulse between them. In his arms, she felt at peace. With his body, he made her feel happy and good, like she could do anything. For the nights, while the sky was inky and the stars were shining, were perfect. So perfect, that the breaking of the dawn over the hills in the distance brought a fresh heartbreak every day.
As golden light bathed their room, they were strangers once more. Made permanently alienated by the fact that they had formed their relationship on a bed of misunderstanding and distrust.
Olivia slipped out of her beautiful, custom-made shoes and lifted the gown to her knees. She’d discovered the fountain on her third day of married life. A crystal oasis in a small courtyard of the palace, she’d stumbled upon it quite by chance. It was a perfect, private pool of water, with an ancient goddess in the centre. Water spurted majestically from a bird upon her shoulder. She had been meaning to research the statue, for it obviously had some significance, but it was not something Olivia was familiar with.
She loved to stare at the woman though, with her striking features and perfectly carved robes, draped around her curvaceous body.
The water was always so cold, despite the heat of the day. Olivia slipped her feet in gratefully, making a sound of delight as the temperature soothed her fraught skin. For the first time since arriving in Liya, Olivia felt at ease.